Blackburn Law, originally the Law Football and Cricket Club, was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club based in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

History

The club was founded in 1876 and membership was restricted to solicitors, who had contributed 50 guineas through subscriptions by the time the club was entering its second year. The club optimistically entered 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 ...

in 1881–82 as one of four sides from the town (the others being

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

Blackburn Olympic Blackburn Olympic Football Club was an English football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire in the late 19th century. Although the club was only in existence for just over a decade, it is significant in the history of football in England as the ...

, and Blackburn Park Road) to do so, despite not having entered the

Lancashire Senior Cup The Lancashire County Football Association Cup (commonly known as the Lancashire Senior Cup) is an association football knockout tournament involving teams from Lancashire, England. It is a County Cup competition of the Lancashire County Footbal ...

in the competition's two years of existence. The club was drawn to play

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. It is pa ...

in the first round, and took the lead in the first half, but ultimately lost 2–1. Both sides had Lancashire Cup ties on the same day; Bootle played theirs against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

straight afterwards, while Law had to send a reserve team to Bolton Hornets, which also lost. The same season saw the biggest win credited to Law, a 6–0 victory at home to

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

; soon afterwards captain Rylance moved to Southport and essentially took over the town's club. For the 1882–83 season the club's opponents were much lower key sides than in previous seasons, and the club lost to teams such as Cherry Tree F.C. and Darwen Hibernians. The club had also gone out of the Lancashire Cup in the first round at Farnworth, a comeback from 2–0 down made pointless by a "screw kick" from Williams winning the tie for the home side. The last reference to a game being played by the club was a 9–0 defeat at the emerging

in January 1883 and the club's Football Association membership lapsed at the end of the 1882–83 season, and was listed as having been a "loss" before the start of the next season.

Ground

The club played at Lane Ends.

Notable players

Harry Fecitt Herbert Lincoln "Harry" Fecitt (1864–1946) was an English footballer of the Victorian era. Born in Blackburn, he played for the Blackburn club King's Own F.C. from 1881 to 1882. He then joined Blackburn Rovers in 1882 for his first spell at t ...

, FA Cup winner with Blackburn Rovers, played for the club in 1882 * Jimmy Brown, winner of 3 FA Cup winners' medals with Rovers and future England international * Ralph Rylance, key figure in the history of Southport F.C. and inventor of the artificial football pitch

References

{{Blackburn with Darwen culture Defunct football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in Lancashire Sport in Blackburn Association football clubs established in 1876 Association football clubs disestablished in 1883