1st Surrey Rifles F.C.
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1st Surrey Rifles F.C. was an amateur
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club from
Camberwell Camberwell ( ) is an List of areas of London, area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles' Church, Camberwell, St Giles ...
, open to members of the
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, who featured in the early years of the
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...
from 1872 to 1878 and from 1885 to 1887.


History

The club claimed a foundation date of 1869, and was open to all members of the corps, unlike the officer-only
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. Its first reported match played against external opposition was a 1–0 victory against the
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club at the latter's Rosemary Branch ground in 1871. At least five of the Lausanne players (Davenport, Foster, Dümmler, Dearle, and F. Maynard) were also members of the regiment, and from 1872 played for the Riflemen as the Lausanne association side disbanded. The club's first Cup tie, in 1872–73, resulted in a 2–0 win over Upton Park, in poor weather, the second goal coming near the close of play. It lost 3–0 in the second round away at
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, all three goals coming in the second half; it was the Rifles' first-ever defeat. The club did not win again in the competition until 1877–78, with a home win over Forest School. The only goal came after "Allport, calling on his men for a sort of infantry charge, went bodily through the ranks of his enemies, and Kirkpatrick,taking advantage of an opportunity that presented itself, made a splendid long kick, and although Littlewood tried hard to turn aside the ball with his hand,it bounded off and went under the tape." R. L. Allport, the club captain, had started the game in goal, but soon swapped out. The club's second-round defeat to the Old Harrovians was its last in the competition for seven years, as the club went into abeyance; both Allport and John Maynard played in the club's first and last matches in the Cup. It was revived in 1884, and entered the national competition again in 1885–86. The 12–0 home defeat in the first round to
Clapham Rovers Clapham Rovers was from its foundation in 1869 a leading English sports organisation in the two dominant codes of football, association football and rugby union. It was a prominent club in the late 19th century but is now defunct. The club play ...
(eight coming before half-time), and the 9–0 defeat in the first round the following year at home to Upton Park, demonstrated that the game had passed the club by; to add insult to injury, one of the Upton Park goals was scored by goalkeeper Evans, who had swapped with forward Inglis after the latter was injured. Although the club remained a member of the Football Association until 1887, it never played competitively again.


Colours

The club's colours, according to the Charles Alcock annuals, were as follows: *1870–75: scarlet cap, blue jersey (with a gold bugle specified from 1872) *1875–76: red and black *1876–78: red & black cap, white shirt, white knickers, red & black stockings *1884–87: red & black


Ground

The club originally played home games at its barracks in Brunswick Road, Camberwell. By 1877, the club was playing at Flodden Road.


Notable players

* W. J. (John) Maynard, who played in the first-ever official football international and earned two caps while with the Riflemen.


References

{{Reflist Association football clubs established in 1869 Surrey Rifles Defunct football clubs in London Defunct football clubs in Surrey Association football clubs disestablished in 1887