Darwen F.C.
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| Darwen | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Darwen Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | The Salmoners | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1870 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | The Anchor Ground Darwen |
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| Manager | Dennis Hill | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | North West Counties League Division Two |
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| 2007–08 | North West Counties League Division Two, 11th |
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Darwen F.C. are a football club from Darwen in Lancashire, north west England. The team, formed in 1870, currently play in the Second Division of the North West Counties Football League. They play their home games at the Anchor Ground.
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[edit] History
Darwen F.C. was established as a football and cricket club, and began to play by Association rules in 1875.
They caused controversy in the 1879 FA Cup with the selection of two Scottish players Fergie Suter and Jimmy Love from Glasgow with one London amateur club even proposing that "no side which does not consist entirely of amateurs, as defined by the rules to be drawn up by the committee, be entitled to compete in the Challenge Cup competition". The motion was defeated and Darwen travelled down to the Oval three times to play the great amateur side Old Etonians in the quarter-final, drawing 5-5 and 2-2 before losing 6-2 in the second replay.
The following year, a regulation that ruled that the final three rounds were to be played in London was changed and entries were grouped by region after complaints from northern clubs about the unfairness of travelling.
They were a Football League club between the years 1891 and 1899, in total spending eight seasons in league football. Six of these were in the Second Division, and only two in the top flight. They are famous chiefly for having suffered 18 consecutive league defeats, during their last season as a league club in 1898-99. Sunderland narrowly managed to avoid equalling this unwanted record in 2003, when they beat Preston North End 2-0 at Deepdale.
Darwen also hold the record for the heaviest league defeat in a First Division match: 12-0 away to West Bromwich Albion in the 1891-92 season. They are also believed to be the first club to install electric floodlights as well as employing football's first two professional players.
[edit] League and cup record
- 1879-80 - Winners of the first ever Lancashire Cup competition defeating Blackburn Rovers in the Final.
- 1880-81 - FA Cup semi-finalists (after beating Romford 15-0 in quarter-finals)
- 1889-90 - Founder member of Football Alliance
- 1891-92 - Elected into Football League
- 1892-93 - Not re-elected into First Division, but elected as a founder member of Football League Division Two. Promoted after Test Match
- 1893-94 - Relegated after Test Match
- 1899 - Did not seek re-election to Football League
- 1899-00 - Joined Lancashire League
- 1901-02 - Lancashire League Champions
- 1902-03 - Lancashire League runner-up (on goal average)
- 1903-04 - Joined Lancashire Combination Division One
- 1905-06 - Lancashire Combination runner-up
- 1909 - Relegated to Division Two
- 1914 - Left Lancashire Combination
- 1920-21 - Rejoined Lancashire Combination
- 1930-31 - Lancashire Combination Champions
- 1931-32 - Lancashire Combination Champions (2nd time)
- 1963 - Relegated to Division Two
- 1965-66 - Promoted to Division One
- 1967 - Relegated to Division Two
- 1967-68 - Lancashire Combination Division Two runner-up
- 1971-72 - Lancashire Combination Champions (3rd time)
- 1973-74 - Lancashire Combination runner-up (on goal average)
- 1974-75 - Lancashire Combination Champions (4th time)
- 1975-76 - Joined Cheshire County League
- 1982-83 - Founder members of North West Counties League
- 1984 - Relegated to Division Two
- 1984-85 - Escaped relegation due to Padiham having 2 points deducted
- 1986-87 - Promoted to Division One
- 1998 - Demoted to Division Two due to ground gradings
- Best league position: 14th (of 14) in (only division) Football League, 1891-92; or 15th of 16 in 1893-94 in the 1st Division of the Football League.
- Best (post-war) league position: 5th in North-West Counties League (then level 8), 1988-89
- Best FA Cup performance: semi-final, 1880-81. (Post-war: 4th qualifying round, 1946-47)
- Best FA Trophy performance: 2nd round replay (three times) in 1972-73, 1978-79 and 1981-82.
- Best FA Vase performance: 3rd round 1990-91
[edit] Honours
- Lancashire Combination champions 1931, 1932.
- Lancashire League champions 1902.
- Lancashire Cup winners 1880, finalists 1883, 1891.
- Lancashire Junior Cup winners 1933, finalists 1929, 1930, 1949, 1999.
[edit] Notable former players
- Joe Smith (player-manager), formerly manager of Blackpool for 23 years, guiding them to victory in the famous 1953 FA Cup Final
- Horace Fairhurst, former Blackpool player who died as a result of a head injury sustained during a game.
[edit] England internationals
Four Darwen players were capped for England.
The full list of England players (with the number of caps received whilst registered with Darwen F.C.) were[1]:
- Thomas Brindle (2 caps)
- Joseph Marsden (1 cap)
- Thomas Marshall (2 caps)
- Thurston Rostron (2 caps)
[edit] References
- Darwen at the Football Club History Database
[edit] External links
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Ashton Athletic | Ashton Town | Blackpool Mechanics | Bootle | Castleton Gabriels | Chadderton | Cheadle Town | Daisy Hill | Darwen | Eccleshall | Holker Old Boys | Kirkham & Wesham | Leek CSOB | New Mills | Norton United | Oldham Town | Padiham | Stone Dominoes |
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