Dreadnought was an

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club based in

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History

The club gave its foundation date as 1875, and its first recorded match was a 3–0 defeat away to Upton Park in November that year, although Dreadnought turned up with only eight men and had to rely on three unnamed substitutes. The club came out of a cricket club and its secretaries were from the middle classes - Francis Bacon, also the club's goalkeeper, being a commercial traveller and William Pettigrew, who also played as a right-winger, an engineer. 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 ...

on four occasions. In the first round in 1880–81, the club beat Rochester 2–1, but in the second round lost 5–1 at Old Carthusians. In 1881–82 the club's first round opponents from

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withdrew and the club had a bye in the second round, but lost 2–1 at Marlow in the third. In 1882–83, the club hosted South Reading in the first round, but the match kicked off at 4.15pm because of the late arrival of the visiting South Reading side. Although South Reading won 2–1, Dreadnought appealed the result on two grounds; firstly, having had a goal wrongly disallowed; secondly, the game had ended in darkness, which allowed South Reading to score the winner. The

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ordered a replay, which South Reading won again, by the same score, in a "warmly contested" match. The last match for the club in the competition was its first round defeat by Old Foresters in 1883–84, a match played at the

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in Walthamstow rather than the old boys' regular pitch in

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; as a sign that the day of the amateur club at the highest levels was over, the crowd did not exceed 200, when ties in the north were attracting over twenty times that amount. The club took part in the first three editions of the

London Senior Cup The London Senior Cup is the County Senior Cup of the London FA. The London Senior Cup was first won by Upton Park in 1882. Although the leading professional sides in London no longer compete, the Cup has been won in the past by the likes of ...

, but only won one tie. After a 3–0 defeat at Hanover United in the first round of 1884–85, the club reverted to more local football, entering the

Essex Senior Cup The Essex Senior Cup is a knock-out system football competition that has been running since 1884, and is the most prestigious cup competition in the county of Essex. The competition is run mainly for non-League clubs in the region, although leag ...

(which included other clubs from north-east London) until 1886–87.

Colours

The club's colours were described black and white shirts (rather than jerseys) until 1880, and navy shirts, white knickers, and navy socks afterwards.

Ground

The club played at the West Ham Park, using the Manor Taven, and later the Upton Tavern, for facilities.

References

{{reflist Association football clubs established in 1875 Defunct football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in London 1875 establishments in England Association football clubs disestablished in 1887