Calthorpe F.C.
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Calthorpe was an
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association Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...
club based in
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.


History

The club was informally founded in October 1873, its first formal meeting being held on 23 November that year. The club's name came from its original home ground at
Calthorpe Park Calthorpe Park is a public park in Birmingham, England, created in 1857 and managed by Birmingham City Council. Geography The park lies in the city council ward of Balsall Heath West, adjacent to and east of the A441 Pershore Road, a short ...
. The club was founded by legal clerks in Birmingham, led by two Scotsmen who had recently arrived in Birmingham; John Carson and John Campbell Orr, both from Glasgow, and both of whom had experience in football, Carson with Queen's Park and Campbell Orr (albeit under the
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code) at
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in 1868–70. The club was occasionally referred to as the Birmingham Clerks Association in its first matches. Carson was the club's first chairman and Campbell Orr its first secretary. Campbell Orr claimed that not only was Calthorpe the first club in Birmingham, but for one season the only association club, and its only matches were between club members. In November 1873, Campbell Orr had a letter published in the local press, following which a number of other clubs were founded in and around the town. Calthorpe's earliest recorded matches against other sides in the town come from 1874.


Role in rise of Aston Villa

In 1878, Archie Hunter, already well known as a footballer in Scotland, came to Birmingham for work, and, knowing about the Calthorpe club from its friendly games with Queen's Park, resolved to join. According to Hunter: ' The explanation does not deal with the Calthorpe club also being run by 'brither Scots'. Calthorpe however was a resolutely amateur club, while one of Hunter's team-mates at
Third Lanark Third Lanark Athletic Club was a Scottish football club based in Glasgow. Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, the club was a founder member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in 1872 and the Scottish ...
was J.J. Lang, considered the first-ever professional footballer.


Competitive football

The club was a founder member of the
Birmingham Football Association Birmingham County Football Association, also simply known as Birmingham County FA or BCFA, is an association football governing body covering the historic county of Warwickshire (including Birmingham) and the Black Country region, England. The c ...
and Campbell Orr was named its first secretary. The club donated seven guineas to the association to contribute to a trophy for the
Birmingham Senior Cup The Birmingham Senior Cup is a regional Association football, football competition for Birmingham County FA club teams, organised by the Birmingham County Football Association. It began in 1876 and is the oldest County Football Association, count ...
competition. Calthorpe regularly entered the competition, including in the first season, in which it reached the quarter-finals, its best run in the competition. The club gained its record victory (7–0 against Perry Athletic) in a first round replay in the Senior Cup in 1880. In
1879 Events January * January 1 ** The Specie Resumption Act takes effect. The United States Note is valued the same as gold, for the first time since the American Civil War. ** Brahms' Violin Concerto is premiered in Leipzig with Joseph Joachim ...
, the club 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 ...
for the first time, and was the first club from Birmingham to play an FA Cup tie, losing 3–1 away to
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, in a match refereed by Charles Alcock. The club was forced to field reserves, as many of its first team were attending "a great Conservative gathering at Birmingham". The comparative wealth of the club's players was demonstrated when, in 1878–79, the Birmingham FA hosted two charity matches, and only recovered receipts of less than £2. The association appealed to its member clubs to donate; the total amount which clubs donated was £9 8/6, of which over half - £5 10/ - came from Calthorpe alone. It is perhaps because of the club's wealthy membership that it remained amateur while the rest of the game became professional, and as a result was eclipsed by the other Birmingham and Black Country clubs; Calthorpe never won an FA Cup tie, and none of its players appear to have played for any other club in the competition. Its last FA Cup appearance was a home defeat to Walsall Town in
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, by a score given as either 9–0 or 8–0, some confusion being caused by a goal for Collington that was "for some unaccountable reason" disallowed. The last records for the club are to matches in the 1886–87 season; the club scratched from its last Birmingham Senior cup entry to Crosswell's Brewery.


Colours

The club's colours changed over time and were influenced by its Scottish links.


Ground

The club originally played at Calthorpe Park. By 1877, the club had moved to an athletics and cycling stadium at Bournbrook on the Bristol Road, as Lord Calthorpe refused permission to charge admission to Calthorpe Park, and the 3d per match charge at the new ground helped to defray the club's expenses. The biggest recorded crowd for a Calthorpe home match was 1,000, for a first round Senior Cup tie against
West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...
in 1881; the well-funded visitors won by a surprisingly narrow 3–2.


Notable players

*
Ludford Docker Ludford Charles Docker (26 November 1860 – 1 August 1940) was a businessman and an English cricketer. He played first-class cricket for Derbyshire County Cricket Club, Derbyshire between 1881 and 1886, captaining the side in 1884, and for War ...
, captain of
Derbyshire County Cricket Club Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Derbyshire. Its limited overs team is called the Derbyshire Falco ...


References

{{reflist Association football clubs established in 1873 Association football clubs disestablished in 1887 Defunct football clubs in England 1873 establishments in England 1887 disestablishments in England Defunct football clubs in the West Midlands (county) Football clubs in Birmingham, West Midlands Defunct football clubs in Warwickshire Sport in Birmingham, West Midlands