Derby St Luke's Football Club was an English amateur

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

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gain ...

that existed from the 1870s to the 1890s. They competed 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 ...

between 1884 and 1888.

History

Founded in 1870 and nicknamed the Churchmen, the club's origins lay in connection with the recently built St Luke's Church on Parliament Street. St Luke's was one of the founder members of the

Derbyshire Football Association The Derbyshire County Football Association, simply known as the Derbyshire FA, is the governing body of football in the county of Derbyshire, England. The Derbyshire FA runs a number of cups at different levels for teams all across Derbyshire. A ...

in 1883. By the 1880s, they were entering the

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...

, Sheffield & Hallamshire and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

Senior Cup competitions. In the 1884–85 Birmingham Cup, they recorded a 13–1 away victory over Sawley Rangers. In November of that season, they lost 3–1 to the recently formed

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

in a Derbyshire Cup tie at the County Ground; 3,000 people watched what was both the latter's first competitive match and their first home win. StLukesRH

St Luke's entered the

for the first time in 1884-85, and were drawn against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Ro ...

in the first round. After drawing 1–1 at Wolves'

Dudley Road Dudley Road was a football ground in Wolverhampton in England. It was the home ground of Wolverhampton Wanderers between 1881 and 1889, and was used during the first season of the Football League. History The ground began to be used in 188 ...

ground in front of a crowd of 3,100, St Luke's won the replay in Derby 4–2. In the second round, they lost 1–0 against

Walsall Swifts Walsall Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Walsall, West Midlands, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club's nickname, "The Saddlers", reflec ...

. They played in the FA Cup for the next three seasons but lost in the first round on each occasion. In 1885-86, Wolves gained revenge with a 7–0 win. In 1886-87 they faced

Walsall Town Walsall Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Walsall, West Midlands, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club's nickname, "The Saddlers", reflects ...

, drawing 3–3 at home but losing 6–1 in the replay at

The Chuckery The Chuckery was a cricket and football ground in the Chuckery area of Walsall, England. It was the home ground of the Walsall Swifts and Walsall Town football clubs until they merged in 1888, after which it was used by the new Walsall Town Swif ...

. In their final appearance in 1887-88, St Luke's lost 3–2 to local rivals Derby Junction, who went on to reach the semi-finals of the competition. Qualifying rounds were introduced the following season, and St Luke's were subsequently unsuccessful in reaching the competition proper, reaching the 2nd qualifying round twice and the 3rd qualifying round on one occasion. Along with other local amateur clubs, St Luke's struggled to compete for players and support following the emergence of Derby County, and particularly once the latter became a founder member of

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

in 1888. St Luke's joined

the Combination The Combination was a league during the early days of English football. It had two incarnations; the first ran only for the 1888–89 season for teams across the Northern England and the Midlands, and was wound up before completion. The secon ...

as a founder member for the 1890–91 season, but they failed to complete their fixtures and their record was expunged;. They scratched their Derbyshire Cup tie and the following season, 1891–1892, scratched before the draw of the first round. On St. Luke's demise, (Derby) St. Luke's Sunday School took the decision to shorten their name from 1892 to 1893. A cul-de-sac called Olive Street was built across the site of their former ground. Goalkeeper WE Parsons appears to have played the most competitive games for the club having played 33 games (11 FA Cup, 16 Derbyshire County FA Senior Cup, 6 Birmingham and District FA Cup). G Halksworth appears to have scored the most competitive goals for the club, scoring 11 goals (3 FA Cup, 8 Derbyshire County FA Senior Cup)

Colours

The club's colours were originally Oxford and Cambridge blue, before changing to blue and white by 1890.Charles Alcock Football Yearbook 1890

Grounds

The club's regular home ground on Peet Street was situated just north of the church; it also staged some important games at the County Cricket Ground. It moved to the Vulcan Ground in 1890.

References

Sources

* * {{refend Defunct football clubs in Derbyshire Sport in Derby Association football clubs established in 1870 Association football clubs disestablished in 1891 1870 establishments in England 1891 disestablishments in England The Combination Defunct football clubs in England