East Sheen Football Club was an English football and rugby club from Surrey in England.
| Full name | East Sheen Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | the Sheenites[1] | |
| Founded | 1873 (rugby); 1882 (football) | |
| Dissolved | 1906 | |
| Ground | St Margarets | |
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History edit
The club was one of the first to be active in Surrey and started off playing rugby union rules.[2] The club's first reported matches under the association code were in the first Surrey Senior Cup in 1882.[3] It is a measure of the lack of competition in Surrey that the club reached the first final in the tournament, and the most successful club in the 1880s, Reigate Priory, who reached the first five finals, had only ever won one FA Cup tie.
One notable fixture was in the first round of the Surrey Cup in 1887–88. The club had originally lost to Barnes F.C., but put in a protest, on the basis that darkness had ended the match early,[4] which the Surrey Football Association upheld. The replayed match saw only eight Barnes players turn up to face only ten from East Sheen; despite this, Barnes won by ten goals to nil.[5] The club had been handicapped by the emigration and retirement of a number of players, leaving the club denuded of backs and half-backs.[6]
The Sheenites finally entered the national Cup in 1887-88, and were drawn away at Old St Mark's. The club was one goal behind at half-time, but conceded four in the second half, to go out by seven goals to two.[7]
The club's last rugby match seems to have taken place in 1898, a defeat by five goals and two tries to Oxford University R.F.C.[8]
By 1904 the club was sometimes struggling to raise a team, and before the start of the 1905–06 season, the club was left without a ground.[9] Given the club had long been struggling for crowds,[10] it seems to have dissolved at the end of the season.
Grounds edit
The club's home matches were originally played on Sheen Common, three-quarters of a mile from Mortlake railway station or at a field in Barnes.[11] By 1886 the club had its own enclosed ground in East Sheen, and in 1898 the club was playing at Mortlake. From 1900[12] until 1905 it played at the St Margaret's ground, which was notorious for its lack of facilities, with no stands and a pavilion with obstructed views.[13]
Colours edit
The earliest recorded colours for the club are narrow blue and white hooped shirts, white knickers, and scarlet stockings, in 1876–77.[14] By 1886 the club was wearing red and green,[15] and by 1888 light and dark blue, probably in halves as that was a popular combination.[16]
Notable players edit
Future England backs A.M. and P.M. Walters both played for the club in the 1883–84 season,[17] the latter continuing to 1885, and gaining representative honours by playing in the South v North match that year while with the club.[18]
Honours edit
FA Cup:
- Best performance: 1st round, 1887–88
London Senior Cup:
- Best performance: 2nd round, 1899–1900[19]
Surrey Senior Cup:
- Winners: 1884–85, 1899–1900
- Runners-up: 1882–83
References edit
- ^ "notes". Surrey Journal: 7. 12 March 1904.
- ^ "Football". The Graphic: 10. 12 January 1878.
- ^ "Football". Daily Telegraph: 6. 30 December 1882.
- ^ "East Sheen v Barnes". West Surrey Times: 8. 19 November 1887.
- ^ "Barnes v East Sheen". West Surrey Times: 3. 31 December 1887.
- ^ "Notes By The Way". West Surrey Times: 9. 10 December 1887.
- ^ "report". Sportsman: 4. 17 October 1887.
- ^ "Rugby Union Rules". The Times: 11. 24 February 1898.
- ^ "East Sheen v Clapham Rovers". Surrey Mirror: 7. 20 October 1905.
- ^ e.g. fewer than 100 at a Surrey Senior Cup tie in 1903; Surrey Advertiser, 21 November 1903, page 7
- ^ Alcock, Charles (1877). Football Annual. p. 140.
- ^ "Yesterday's Football". Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper: 24. 4 November 1900.
- ^ "notes". Surrey Advertiser: 4. 15 January 1902.
- ^ Alcock, Charles (1877). Football Annual. p. 140.
- ^ Alcock, Charles (1887). Football Annual. p. 179.
- ^ Alcock, Charles (1889). Football Annual. p. 172.
- ^ "Surrey v Sussex". Surrey Mirror: 6. 5 January 1884.
- ^ "The Day's Football". Nottingham Evening Post: 3. 31 January 1885.
- ^ Cavallini, Rob (2022). A Complete Record of the London FA Cups. London: Dog & Duck. p. 67.