Wanderers F.C.

The ground at Leyton Flats, Epping Forest (pictured in 2019), where the Forest Club played its earliest football

The club was initially formed as Forest Football Club in 1859 by a number of former public school pupils, primarily recent Old Harrovian school leavers who wanted to continue to play the sport.[1][2] The founding members included Charles W. Alcock, who had just left Harrow School, his brother John F. Alcock, J. Pardoe and brothers A. and W. J. Thompson.[3] Several Old Foresters also played for the Forest club, as Forest School was located less than a mile north of the ground.[4]

Forest's home ground from 1859 to 1865 was at Forest Place on Leyton Flats, a part of Epping Forest by the Whipps Cross Road between Snaresbrook and Leytonstone.[4][5][6] For the first two years of the club's existence, the players organised matches among themselves at Forest Place. The first match against another club took place on 15 March 1862, and resulted in a victory over Crystal Palace (not the modern club of the same name).[7] Both this match, and a return fixture between the two teams the following month, involved fifteen players on each team.[8] At the time, the rules of association football had not been codified, and many variants existed, differing in the number of players per team, whether players were permitted to play the ball with their hands, or the method of scoring goals. The club's rulebook from 1861 was based on the Cambridge rules of 1856 with a small number of additions.[9][10] In a September 1862 newspaper advertisement, the club sought opponents for matches "on the rules of the University of Cambridge".[11]

The only known photo of the team, taken in 1863 when the club was still known as Forest F.C.

In 1863 the Forest club was among the founder members of The Football Association (the FA) and adopted the rules set down by that body, although they continued to play occasional matches under other sets of rules against clubs not affiliated to the FA.[12]

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Rules of Forest Football Club (1861)

The following year, the club played its first match under the name Wanderers Football Club, against N.N. Club of Kilburn.[13] Alcock had decided, possibly because of the expense the club was incurring by organising its own ground, to turn it into a "wandering" team with no fixed home venue, however it appears that some of the club's members opposed this idea.[14] For the following season teams operated under both names, with several players appearing for both, and indeed Forest and Wanderers even played each other in one match, but after 1865 there is no record of any further matches under the Forest name.[15] The Wanderers initially fared well, losing only one of their sixteen matches in the 1865–66 season, but over the subsequent four seasons the team's fortunes declined significantly and Alcock also found it increasingly difficult to ensure that eleven of his players actually turned up for a match, with the club often forced to play with fewer than the required number of players or borrow some from their opponents.[16] During this period the club played a number of "home" matches at Battersea Park and Middlesex County Cricket Club's Lillie Bridge Grounds.[17] Wanderers subsequently made Kennington Oval its semi-permanent home in 1869.[18] The club played 151 matches at The Oval.

The second FA Cup trophy, pictured here, is identical in design to that won by Wanderers. The original trophy was stolen in 1895 and never recovered

In the 1870–71 season, the Wanderers finally turned around their fortunes, losing only five of thirty-seven matches played.[19] For the following season the FA, following a suggestion by Alcock, initiated the Football Association Challenge Cup, a knock-out tournament open to all member clubs. Due to a combination of their opponents withdrawing and an unusual rule in place at the time which allowed both clubs to progress to the next round in the event of a draw, Wanderers won only one game in the four rounds leading up to the final, held at the Kennington Oval on 16 March 1872. The club beat the Royal Engineers 1–0 to become the first ever winners of the cup, the winning goal being scored by Morton Betts, who was playing under the pseudonym "A. H. Chequer".[20]

The programme from Wanderers' match away to Queen's Park in October 1875

The following season, under the competition's original rules, Wanderers, as holders, received a bye all the way to the final. In the final Wanderers beat Oxford University 2–0 to retain the cup, thanks in large part to the performance of A. F. Kinnaird.[21] The club was unable to replicate this success over the next two seasons, although the team did manage a club record 16–0 victory over Farningham in the first round of the 1874–75 FA Cup.[22]

In October 1875, Wanderers travelled to Scotland for the first time, to play a match against the leading team from north of the border, Queen's Park. Despite fielding their strongest team, Wanderers were outclassed by the Scots and lost 5–0. The London club gained its revenge four months later, when Queen's Park travelled to London for a re-match and lost 2–0. This was the first match the Glasgow club, which had been formed nine years earlier, had ever lost.[23] Wanderers reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup without conceding a goal and then defeated Swifts to set up a final against Old Etonians. The Etonians' team contained five former Wanderers players, including Kinnaird.[24] After the initial match finished in a 1–1 draw, Wanderers won the replay 3–0 to win the tournament for the third time.

The following season, with Kinnaird back in the team, Wanderers overcame indifferent early form to again reach the Cup final, and defeated Oxford University to retain the trophy. Wanderers again dominated the competition in the 1877–78 season, scoring nine goals in both their first and second round matches. The final was a rematch of the 1872 final and Wanderers again defeated Royal Engineers to win an unprecedented third consecutive FA Cup. The rules of the competition stated that under such circumstances the trophy would be retired and become the permanent property of the victorious club, but Alcock returned the cup to the FA on the condition that the rule be removed and no other team permitted to claim it on a permanent basis. Following the final, Wanderers played the reigning Scottish Cup holders, Vale of Leven, but lost 3–1.[25]

The Wanderers' fortunes declined rapidly following the club's hat-trick of FA Cup wins. By 1878, football clubs had been set up for former pupils of all the leading public schools, and many leading players chose to play for their respective old boys' team instead. Wanderers' fixture list was dramatically reduced in the 1878–79 season, and the team was knocked out of the FA Cup in the first round, losing 7–2 to an Old Etonians team led by Kinnaird.[26] The following season Wanderers managed to reach the third round of the Cup, but lost again to the Etonians, after which many more key players left the club.[27]

The club struggled on into the 1880–81 season, but was forced to withdraw from the FA Cup after being unable to raise a team for the scheduled first round match. After 1881, the club was reduced to playing only one match per year, against Harrow School each Christmas.[28] A book published by the newspaper The Sportsman claimed that the club folded in 1884,[29] however a match at Harrow was reported in The Times in December 1887, which Harrow won 3–1.[30]

In 1868, the Forest club was revived in Woodford, Essex, wearing jerseys, caps, and stockings which were scarlet in front and black behind, with white shorts.[31] In October 1868, it was reported that the reformed club played its first match on the "old ground" in front of Forest Place.[5] Subsequent matches were played 200 yards from George Lane station in Woodford.[32] In imitation of the Wanderers, the club's members were often members of other clubs, and the secretary would choose whichever members were willing and able to play, but after the creation of the FA Cup this model was not sustainable, and the club's final match was a 0-0 draw away to Clapton Pilgrims in March 1872.[33] Pilgrims raised an issue with the FA about clubs borrowing players from other clubs after that match.[34]