Darwen Ramblers FC was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

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 based in

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 ...

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 originally called Hill-Houses and its first recorded match was against the Black Prince club of

Little Harwood Little Harwood is a suburb of Blackburn in Lancashire, England, situated at the northern edge of the town. Use of land Located within the ward are areas of mixed housing, industrial units and open land, including Blackburn Cemetery. Culture ...

in December 1878; by this time the club had enough members for a second team which played the Black Prince reserves. By 1881 the club had changed its name to Darwen Ramblers and rose in prominence in Lancashire, being considered one of the rising sides in Darwen; however there was competition from other sides such as

itself,

Lower Darwen Lower Darwen is a village in the unitary borough of Blackburn with Darwen, contiguous with the town of Darwen, in the county of Lancashire. It is located between the towns of Blackburn and Darwen. Nearby places include Ewood and Blackamoo ...

, and Lower Chapel, all of whom had, unlike the Ramblers, entered 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 ...

. The Ramblers entered the competition for its third instalment, being drawn against Irwell Springs in the first round, and surprisingly losing 6–3 having been 3–0 up. Paradoxically the club had more success in 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 ...

than the Lancashire Cup; in 1882–83 the club beat South Shore and Haslingden Association to reach the third round of the FA Cup, where they lost to the eventual winners

Blackburn Olympic 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 ...

, but in the Lancashire Cup they lost 4–3 at

Padiham Padiham ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Calder, about west of Burnley, Lancashire, England. It forms part of the Borough of Burnley. Originally by the River Calder, it is edged by the foothills of Pendle Hill to the north-west ...

, having been 2–0 and 3–1 up. The Ramblers protested the result on the basis that the winning goal came three minutes after the referee should have called for time; the protest was not successful. That season however marked the only wins in the FA Cup for the Ramblers. Their entries in the next two years saw them eliminated in the first round, although they were unlucky in 1883–84 to be drawn against the holders. The 1883 game against Olympic was the first of that season's competition to be played, as Olympic offered Ramblers £10 and a return fixture to move the fixture up in the calendar, so that the Olympic players would be Cup-tied for the season. However the Ramblers were not attractive opponents and the crowd was a mere 400. The club remained prominent on the local scene in 1882–83 and 1883–84, including

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syst ...

among their opponents, and sent a representative to the Football Association AGM in 1883. The club also finally won a tie in the Lancashire Cup, beating Blackburn West End in the first round in 1883–84, but a sign of the distance between the club and the professionals was demonstrated when they lost 4–0 in the second round to a Blackburn Olympic reserve side, as the Light Blues' first team was on a Scottish tour, playing

Edinburgh University F.C. Edinburgh University Association Football Club are a football club representing the University of Edinburgh. Established in 1878, they are third oldest club in East of Scotland football and have been a member of the Scottish Football Associati ...

on the day of the tie.

Demise

By 1885–86, very few of the club's fixtures were attracting media attention. The last recorded fixture was a 4–1 defeat at Wigan A.F.C. in the Lancashire Senior Cup. The club did not pay its subscription to the Lancashire FA for the 1886–87 season and seems to have been wound up.

Ground

The club played at Hill Houses, from which it took its original name.

Notable players

* Sam Fish, future Darwen captain * James Kenyon, future Darwen player

References

{{Reflist Defunct football clubs in England Sport in Blackburn with Darwen Defunct football clubs in Lancashire Darwen