Old Foresters F.C.

The Old Foresters Football Club is an Association Football club made up exclusively of former pupils of Forest School, located in Snaresbrook, near Walthamstow, London, England.

The Old Foresters Football Club is probably one of the half dozen or so oldest "soccer" clubs in the world. It has a continuous and proud history going back before its own formal constitution in 1876 and the founding of The Football Association in 1863. Forest played a considerable part in the development of Association Football and Rugby Football, and "The Common" in front of the school may well be regarded as a cradle of the game.[1]

Forest School is one of only three institutions which have been continuous members of the F.A. since 1863, the others being Civil Service and King's College, Wimbledon. It is the only school to have played in the FA Cup (Donington School entered the first F.A. Cup but never actually played a game).[1] The club's main on-field achievements are reaching the quarter final of the F.A. Cup in 1882, and the last sixteen a further three times. The Old Foresters have won the prestigious "old boys cup", The Arthur Dunn Cup three times, the Essex Cup three times and the London Senior Cup twice. Eight Old Foresters footballers have played international football.[1]

The club currently fields three regular Saturday sides in the Arthurian League. Home matches are played at "The Park" in Snaresbrook, London, a short walk from Forest School.

Club history

The role of the English public schools in the development of football

History of football (soccer)

The full history of the club can only be appreciated when put into context within the role of the English public schools into the development of the modern games of soccer and Rugby football. The development of the modern game springs directly from the various games of football played in the public schools of southern England, most notably Harrow, Eton, Rugby, Winchester and Shrewsbury. These schools adapted their own local rules based primarily to suit the dimensions of their individual playing field.

The first set of standardised rules came about in 1848 when representatives from the above schools met at Cambridge University and formulated the Cambridge Rules. The game increased in popularity in the next decade, leading to clubs being formed outside of the schools, often by public schoolboys. In 1863 twelve of these clubs formed the Football Association and drew up a new set of rules, broadly similar to the Cambridge Rules.

Early football at Forest School

Forest School was founded in 1834, and football was played from the beginning, although at this stage it was not formalised and the numbers of players and rules seemed to vary from game to game.[2] In the early 1850s cricket and hockey were the favoured games, but by the end of the decade, football became the dominant sport at the school, perhaps due to the appointment of Frederick Barlow Guy as headmaster in 1857.[2] Football was played on The Common, at the front of the school. It was a rather uneven playing surface, with the great chestnut trees "in play" and some famous iron railings marking the north end of the pitch. Tradition records some great battles between Charles W. Alcock and F.J. Poole, in which the object was to barge the other player over the iron railings![2] The earliest reported game against an outside club was on Saturday 16th November 1861, when Forest School, playing as "Walthamstow", lost to Bounding Bricks by three goals to nil.[3]

By 1863, Forest football had a major influence on the development of the game, and it was involved in the formation of the Football Association and also the leading club at the time, The Forest Club. Forest School joined the F.A. for its fifth meeting, on 1 December 1863, when John Bouch and David John Morgan represented the school on a 15-man committee.[4] W.J. Cutbill, a member of the 1863 school team, also served as an early member of the F.A. Committee.[1][2] H. Tubb, captain of Forest in 1868, has been said to have been an F.A. Committee member, but this is not backed up by F.A. records and is probably a mistaken reading of a reference from the 1888 Forest School Magazine of him being part of the school committee.

Although a member of the F.A. from almost the very beginning, the school's own rules, "The Forest Rules", were still played up until 1867. The Wanderers described the Forest Rules as "a happy mixture of Rugby, Harrow and Charterhouse rules". It was essentially a dribbling game, and "shinning, hacking and tripping" was not allowed. From the 1867-68 season Forest decided to play all its home matches under the rules of the Football Association, although away games could still be played under the local rules of the host club.[2][5]

The first recorded annual fixture between the Old Foresters and the school was in the 1864-65 season,[6] although it is likely to have been played for several years before. Forest School entered the F.A. Cup of 1875–76, and lost 6–0 to Oxford University in the first round. This was the only defeat for the school all season however, conceding only two goals in the other fourteen games. The school continued to enter the F.A. Cup until the 1878–79 season, and thus became the only school ever to compete in the famous competition.

Links with The Forest Club

The Forest Club was founded by Old Harrovian Charles W. Alcock in 1859, primarily for Old Harrovians to continue to play football, but also for other local members.[7] The club played on Epping Forest, probably between the Infant Orphan Asylum (now Snaresbrook Crown Court) and Forest Place (now Whipps Cross Road), less than a mile south of Forest School,[7][8] and several Old Foresters are known to have played for the Forest Club, including Cutbill, G. H. Edmunds, D.J. Morgan and J. Robertson.[7] The Forest Club became The Wanderers Club in 1864, and went on to win the F.A. Cup five times.

1876 - 1894: The golden era

The Old Foresters Football Club was officially founded in 1876, although as has been mentioned, played regularly against the school and possibly other clubs for many years before. Eleven games were played that first year, with seven being won. From 1877 a second eleven was fielded. Early Old Forester sides were very strong, and the club entered the F.A. Cup for twelve consecutive seasons from 1877-78 until 1888-89.

In 1882 the Old Foresters reached the quarter final of the F.A. Cup, losing 0-1 to Great Marlow at Slough in a replay after a 0-0 draw in the first meeting at The Oval. The last sixteen of the F.A. Cup was reached in 1884, 1887 and 1888. The 1887 campaign ended after a 0-3 defeat to Preston North End at Leyton, in front of 5,000 spectators.[9] Preston North End won the first ever Football League championship two years later. The 1888 campaign included a 4-2 victory over Grimsby Town. The next round was against Middlesbrough. The Old Foresters lost 0-4 at Middlesbrough, but complained that the pitch was unfit for play. A rematch was ordered, but the Foresters refused to travel to Middlesbrough to play on the same pitch, so Middlesbrough were awarded a walkover victory. The last F.A. Cup match for the Old Foresters was a 0-6 defeat to Watford Rovers (later to become Watford Town) in the 1888-89 season.[1]

The Essex Senior Cup was won in 1885, 1886 and 1887, after which the Old Foresters withdrew from the competition "to give somebody else a chance". The London Senior Cup was won in 1885 so the Old Foresters withdrew the following season. The next time they entered the competition, in 1894, the cup was won again.

During this era, two Old Foresters players were selected to represent England — Percy Fairclough in 1878 and Fred Pelly, three times in 1893 and 1894.

The Arthur Dunn Cup

The Arthur Dunn Challenge Cup was founded in 1902 and is the premier "old boys" cup competition. The Old Foresters were one of the fourteen inaugural clubs to enter, and have competed ever since. The first half of the twentieth century was barren for Old Foresters football, and they reached the semi final of the cup only once in 1908. After the Second World War, the school grew in numbers, and this meant there was a greater pool of talent for the Old Foresters to choose from. The semi final was reached again in 1958 and 1963 and in 1970 the final, only to lose 2-1 to Old Reptonians.

In 1974 the Old Foresters won the Arthur Dunn Cup for the first time, beating Old Brentwoods 2-1 after extra time at the Crystal Palace Sports Centre. The league and cup double was achieved that year.

Since 1970 the Foresters have consistently been one of the stronger Old Boys sides. The Arthur Dunn Cup was won again in 1997 and 1998 and the Arthurian Premier League was won in 1973, 1974, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2002.

Arthur Dunn winning sides

1974

  1. L. Beschizza
  2. S. Duncombe
  3. C. Forbes
  4. G. Green (captain)
  5. R. Hayes
  6. R. Marshall
  7. J. Morley
  8. G. Peacock (goalkeeper)
  9. C. Smith
  10. R. Wheeler
  11. D. Wilson
  12. S. Balme (sub)

1997

  1. J. Banks
  2. M. Butler (goalkeeper)
  3. L. Douris
  4. C. Elliott
  5. N. Francis (captain)
  6. J. Gray
  7. R. Harnack
  8. A. Heyes
  9. C. Hossain
  10. M. Kendall
  11. P. Risby
  12. M. Robinson
  13. A. Smith
  14. S. Yankson

1998

  1. P. Alexander
  2. J. Banks
  3. J. Bannister
  4. M. Butler (goalkeeper)
  5. L. Douris
  6. C. Elliott
  7. R. Harnack
  8. A. Heyes
  9. N. Keaveney
  10. B. Murphy
  11. P. Risby
  12. A. Smith (captain)
  13. S. Yankson
  14. T. Kerai

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 P.C.Adams: "From Little Acorns", 1976
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Guy Deaton: "Schola Sylvestris", 1993
  3. ↑ The Sporting Life, 20th November 1861
  4. ↑ Adrian Harvey: Football: The First Hundred Years, 2005
  5. ↑ Forest School Magazine archive, 1867
  6. ↑ Forest School Magazine archive, 1865
  7. 1 2 3 Rob Cavallini: "The Wanderers F.C.", 2005
  8. ↑ The Sportsman, 29th October 1868
  9. ↑ The Preston Herald, 2nd February 1887

External links

Coordinates: 51°35′16.35″N 0°00′48.68″E / 51.5878750°N 0.0135222°E / 51.5878750; 0.0135222

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