Barnes Football Club

Barnes F.C.
Full name Barnes Football Club
Founded 1862
Dissolved uncertain
Ground Barnes Green, Barn Elms Park

Barnes Football Club was an association football club of great importance in the development of the game in the nineteenth century.

History

According to most sources, Barnes Football Club was founded in 1862 by Ebenezer Cobb Morley, who became the club's first Captain.[1]

The first known rules of the club, dating from 1862, ban running with the ball and "holding" or "hacking" an opponent. They specify that the "place for play" should be Barnes Green, and that the "balls and other property of the club" should be kept at the White Hart public house.[2] Barnes FC's earliest recorded result, played at Barn Elms Park against Richmond F.C. on 29th November 1862, was a 2-0 victory. A contemporary newspaper report described the club as "only having been in existence a short time", but "already numbering a large number of members, and consequently powerful".[3] The club proceeded to win the return match played at Richmond Green in December of that year.

Barnes FC was a founder member of the Football Association, with Morley being elected the Association's first Secretary,[4] and consequently being responsible for drafting its first set of laws that were published in December 1863. Morley subsequently served as President of the body, and "could be called the 'father' of The [Football] Association".[5] On December 19, 1863, Barnes participated in the first ever match under FA rules, against Richmond. The first three secretaries of the FA were members of Barnes.

Barnes forward Charles Morice represented England in the first ever international association football match between Scotland and England played at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow in 1872.[6] The club took part in the first ever FA Cup in 1871-72, and went on to compete in fourteen of the first fifteen editions of the competition, the last being in 1885-86.[7] The club's best performance came in 1878-79, when it reached the third round before losing 2-1 to Oxford University.[7][8]

The club's subsequent history is more sparsely documented. There are newspaper reports of a club named "Barnes" playing in local leagues during the 1930s, 1950s, and 1960s.[9] A "History of the Football Association", published in 1953, stated:

Of the 'only and original' clubs forming The Football Association the Barnes Club alone has throughout the ages been an active and faithful member of The Football Association.[10]

Claim of earlier foundation and of continuity with Barnes Rugby Football Club

In 2002, Barnes Rugby Football Club claimed on its website to be the successor of Barnes FC, stating that "Barnes rugby club is one of the oldest in the country. Our earliest recorded match was November 1862 versus Richmond, played at Barn Elms."[11]. In 2005, this claim was amplified in a Daily Telegraph article by BBC sports presenter John Inverdale. Inverdale, who stated that he was "[f]or reasons that I'm not altogether clear about, ... one of a number of vice-presidents" of Barnes RFC, wrote that "in 1839, according to the club records, Barnes RFC were born, playing fixtures against a whole mish-mash of teams of which no match results have been kept."[12]

In 2008, a much weaker version of this statement appeared on rugby club's website, stating only that "Barnes Rugby Club is a club with a rich history and was established in Barnes in the 1920s. Although there are indeed possibilities that our earliest recorded match was in November 1862 versus Richmond and played at Barn Elms, it is from the 1920s that our true history is clear."[13] As of 2018, similar wording remains on the current version of the rugby club's website.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Butler, Bryon: The Official History of the Football Association, page X. ISBN 0-356-19145-1
  2. ↑ Wikisource link to Rules of Barnes Football Club (1862). Wikisource. 1862.
  3. ↑ "Barnes Club v. Richmond Club". Sporting Life: 4. 1862-12-03.
  4. ↑ "Miscellaneous Football". Sheffield & Rotherham Independent. XLIV (2826). British Newspaper Archive. 30 October 1863. p. 4. Retrieved 29 June 2014. (Subscription required (help)).
  5. ↑ "The History of The FA". The Football Association. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  6. ↑ 1872 Scotland vs England football match
  7. 1 2 Brown, Tony (1999). The F.A. Cup Complete Results. Nottingham: Soccer Data. ISBN 1899468722.
  8. ↑ Barnes at the Football Club History Database
  9. ↑ e.g. "Notes of the Week". Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser (3070): 8. 1950-06-16.
  10. ↑ n.a. [Geoffrey Green] (1953). History of the Football Association. London: Naldrett Press. p. 428.
  11. ↑ "About BRFC".
  12. ↑ Inverdale, John (2005-11-02). "My assumptions about 'oldest' were confounded by Barnes". Daily Telegraph.
  13. ↑ "Barnes RFC - a club going places!".
  14. ↑ "Barnes RFC History".


Coordinates: 51°28′30.28″N 0°14′13.03″W / 51.4750778°N 0.2369528°W / 51.4750778; -0.2369528

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