East Sheen Football Club was an
English
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* English people
English may also refer to:
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football
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and
rugby
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club from
Surrey
Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
in
England
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.
History
The club was one of the first to be active in Surrey and started off playing
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
rules. The club's first reported matches under the association code were in the first
Surrey Senior Cup
The Surrey Senior Cup is the senior Saturday cup competition of the Surrey FA. It is currently competed for by teams playing in the top nine levels of the English football league system who are affiliated to the Surrey FA. The competition was i ...
in 1882. It is a measure of the lack of competition in Surrey that the club reached the first final in the tournament, and the most successful club in the 1880s,
Reigate Priory, who reached the first five finals, had only ever won one
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 ...
tie.
One notable fixture was in the first round of the Surrey Cup in 1887–88. The club had originally lost to
Barnes F.C., but put in a protest, on the basis that darkness had ended the match early, which the
Surrey Football Association
The Surrey County Football Association was founded in 1877 and affiliated to The Football Association in 1882, at the same time as a County Senior Cup competition, the Surrey Senior Cup, was established. The organisation administers all levels ...
upheld. The replayed match saw only eight Barnes players turn up to face only ten from East Sheen; despite this, Barnes won by ten goals to nil. The club had been handicapped by the emigration and retirement of a number of players, leaving the club denuded of backs and half-backs.
The Sheenites finally entered the national Cup in
1887-88, and were drawn away at
Old St Mark's. The club was one goal behind at half-time, but conceded four in the second half, to go out by seven goals to two.
The club's last rugby match seems to have taken place in 1898, a defeat by five goals and two tries to
Oxford University R.F.C.
By 1904 the club was sometimes struggling to raise a team, and before the start of the 1905–06 season, the club was left without a ground. Given the club had long been struggling for crowds, it seems to have dissolved at the end of the season.
Grounds
The club's home matches were originally played on Sheen Common, three-quarters of a mile from
Mortlake railway station
Mortlake railway station is in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, in south London, and is in Travelcard Zone 3. It is down the line from .
The station and all trains serving it are operated by South Western Railway. Postal district a ...
or at a field in
Barnes
Barnes may refer to:
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*Barnes (name), a family name and a given name (includes lists of people with that name)
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United Kingdom
* Barnes, London, England
** Barnes railway station
**Barnes Bridge railway station
** Barnes High Stree ...
. By 1886 the club had its own enclosed ground in East Sheen, and in 1898 the club was playing at Mortlake. From 1900 until 1905 it played at the St Margaret's ground, which was notorious for its lack of facilities, with no stands and a pavilion with obstructed views.
Colours
The earliest recorded colours for the club are narrow blue and white hooped shirts, white knickers, and scarlet stockings, in 1876–77. By 1886 the club was wearing red and green, and by 1888 light and dark blue, probably in halves as that was a popular combination.
Notable players
Future England backs
A.M. and
P.M. Walters both played for the club in the 1883–84 season, the latter continuing to 1885, and gaining representative honours by playing in the South v North match that year while with the club.
Honours
FA Cup:
*Best performance: 1st round, 1887–88
London Senior Cup:
*Best performance: 2nd round, 1899–1900
Surrey Senior Cup:
*Winners: 1884–85, 1899–1900
*Runners-up: 1882–83
References
{{Reflist
Association football clubs established in 1873
Association football clubs disestablished in 1906
Defunct football clubs in Surrey
Football clubs in Surrey