Bradshaw F.C. was an English

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

club from the village of Bradshaw Brow, near

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ce ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

History

The club was founded in 1878. It was an early member of the

Lancashire Football Association The Lancashire County Football Association, also known simply as the Lancashire FA, is the governing body of football within the historical county boundaries of Lancashire, England. They are responsible for the governance and development of foo ...

, entering the

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

for the first time in 1880–81, the second year of the competition's existence, but losing 9–0 to

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

in the first round.

FA Cup

The club entered the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

for the first time in 1883-84, losing in the first round to the newly founded

Bolton Association F.C. Bolton Association F.C. was an English association football club from Bolton in Lancashire. History The club was founded in 1883 by a Mr J. Walker of the Bolton Cricket Club, who became the club's captain, as a contrast to the illegal professio ...

The following year the club was unlucky to draw

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the south ...

for their first tie; the Darreners were not the force they had been half-a-decade earlier, but they were still professional, and Bradshaw went down 11–0. Darwen were so dominant that goalkeeper Richmond went up front during the second half and scored two goals. Bradshaw's third and final FA Cup appearance was the club's most competitive, being drawn against

Hurst Hurst may refer to: Places England * Hurst, Berkshire, a village * Hurst, North Yorkshire, a hamlet * Hurst, a settlement within the village of Martock, Somerset * Hurst, West Sussex, a hamlet * Hurst Spit, a shingle spit in Hampshire ** Hur ...

in the first round. Bradshaw lost 2–1, but protested that the Hurst player Nussey was registered with

Astley Bridge Astley Bridge is predominantly a residential district of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. It is north of Bolton town centre, south of Blackburn, and northwest of Manchester. History Astley Bridge is quite a modern place name and onl ...

, and a regional committee in Liverpool ordered a replay. That replay ended 1-1, and, as Hurst refused to play extra-time, referee Downs awarded the tie to Bradshaw. Unfortunately for the village side, Hurst protested this decision, and the

Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world an ...

ordered another replay, this time at a neutral venue. At the third time of asking, in

, Hurst finally beat Bradshaw 3–2, with Bradshaw nearly coming back from 3–0 down at half-time. Both sides played the first half with ten men after a Hurst player missed his train and a Bradshaw player did not turn up; in the second half both sides were up to eleven, Bradshaw pressing a reserve player into service. Although the club did not enter the competition again, it remained active as a club until at least 1888.

Colours

The club's colours were white and blue.

References

Defunct football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in Lancashire Association football clubs established in 1878 Association football clubs disestablished in the 19th century {{England-footyclub-defunct-stub