Reading Minster F.C.

Reading Minster was an English association football club based in Reading.

Reading Minster
Full nameReading Minster F.C.
Nickname(s)the Minsters[1]
Founded1874
Dissolved1896?
GroundProspect Park

History

The club was founded in 1874, with the Rev. C. C. Mackarness - a scorer in the 1874 FA Cup final for Oxford University A.F.C. - as the first club captain, and the club remained as a religious-based institution through its existence.[2] It was playing reported matches by the 1878–79 season.[3]

The club first entered the FA Cup in 1880–81. In the first round, the club drew 1–1 with Romford at a neutral ground in Ealing.[4] The club scratched from the competition before the replay could take place.

The club's best run in the competition was in the following season. The club beat Windsor Home Park at home in controversial circumstances; the Reading Observer reporting that Minster had won 1–0, with a disputed goal against which Home Park had made a protest,[5] and the Windsor newspapers reporting the score as being 0–0.[6] The Football Association rejected the protest.

In the second round, Minster beat Romford, again in controversial circumstances; Minster took the lead when Romford stopped playing, because of an apparent offside, and late in the match, when Earle of Romford was brought down, "a foul was claimed for this, and being allowed by one of the umpires, one of the Romford men picked up the ball for the purpose of passing it back to where the foul took place, but the referee gave “hands” to the home team." Romford considered a protest but did not file one.[7]

In the third round, the club played the Hotspur club of Battersea, who had beaten Reading Abbey in the second round, but lost in a replay.

The club entered the FA Cup until 1884–85, albeit the club scratched in 1882–83 having been given a walkover in round 1, and the club's worst performance came in a 10–1 defeat to the Old Carthusians in 1883, played for the occasion in the grounds of Park House in Reading, owned by Reading F.C. member A.C. Bartholomew.

The club was always in the shadow of other local clubs, such as Reading and South Reading F.C., and it never reached the final of the local FA's competition. However it did win the Reading Challenge Cup in 1883–84, beating surprise finalists Caversham 2–1 at Coley Park.[8] The final recorded match of the club was a 6-0 defeat at Maidenhead United in December 1895; even in this final match the club still featured an ecclesiastical in the line-up (the Rev. C. A. Sturges-Jones as centre-forward).[9]

Ground

The club played at Prospect Park.[10]

Notable players

References
  1. "The Association Cup". The Chelmsford Chronicle: 7. 11 November 1881.
  2. "Reading Minster Club - Annual Supper". Reading Observer: 2. 10 May 1884.
  3. "Reading Minster v Basingstoke". Hampshire & Berkshire Gazette. 29 March 1879.
  4. "Romford 1-1 Reading Minster". Essex Times: 7. 6 November 1880.
  5. "Reading Minster 1-0 Windsor Home Park". Reading Observer: 3. 29 October 1881.
  6. "Reading Minster 0-0 Windsor Home Park". Windsor & Eton Express: 4. 29 October 1881.
  7. "Reading Minster 3-1 Romford". Essex Times: 6. 10 December 1881.
  8. "Reading Challenge Cup". Sporting Life: 4. 4 March 1884.
  9. "Berks & Bucks Senior Cup". Maidenhead Advertiser: 7. 11 December 1895.
  10. "Reading Minster Club Matches". Reading Mercury: 6. 11 February 1882.
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