Fishwick Ramblers F.C. was an English

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 from

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

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 founded as a

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

club. The club's ground was opposite the Cemetery Hotel in Preston. Although the club played at least one match in 1875 to association rules, and at least one in 1877 to

Sheffield rules The Sheffield Rules was a code of football devised and played in the English city of Sheffield between 1858 and 1877. The rules were initially created and revised by Sheffield Football Club, with responsibility for the laws passing to the S ...

, it was mostly a rugby club until 1881. In January 1878, the club hosted

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 ...

in the Preston Challenge Trophy, in front of 2,000 spectators, to

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

rules, losing by 2 tries, 2 dead balls, and 4 touchdowns, to 2 tries.

Association football

In 1881, the club switched to playing solely association rules, with the first reported match against another club taking place at the end of February 1882. By the start of the next season, the club's ground was given as Walton Brow. The club entered the Lancashire Cup for the first time in 1883–84, losing to Burnley Olympic in the first round, Despite this check on ambitions, the club entered 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 ...

for the first time the following season. In a sign of changing times, the club faced an unsuccessful protest from Rishton after beating them in the Lancashire Cup because of professionalism, and neither Preston North End and Preston Zingari took part in the FA Cup because of arguments with the

Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world an ...

regarding professionalism. This left the Ramblers as the only Preston side in the competition; they beat Darwen Ramblers in the first round but lost to

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 ...

in the second. In the Lancashire Cup, the club went one round further, losing at

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Ch ...

in the third. In 1885-86, the club was drawn against

Halliwell Halliwell is a surname. It may refer to: People * Bryn Halliwell (born 1980), English football goalkeeper * Danny Halliwell (born 1981), rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s * David Halliwell (1936–2006), British dramatis ...

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ce ...

in the first round, and was initially given a walkover as the FA suspended Halliwell for using an

Astley Bridge Astley Bridge is predominantly a residential district of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. It is north of Bolton town centre, south of Blackburn, and northwest of Manchester. History Astley Bridge is quite a modern place name and onl ...

player in a friendly match without permission. However, on appeal, the FA lifted the suspension, and Halliwell won the tie 2–1, despite the FA's rules on professional eligibility requiring Halliwell to field mostly a reserve team. The club did not enter the FA Cup again; an 11–0 defeat to Preston North End in a friendly shortly after the club's FA Cup exit may have been a factor. Given the presence of the biggest club in the country on its doorstep, the club found that continuing even as a junior club to be too hard. From September 1890 it became the de facto reserve side of Preston North End, playing at Deepdale, and, in 1891, Preston asked for formal permission to absorb the club. On 12 February 1891, the

Lancashire Football Association The Lancashire County Football Association, also known simply as the Lancashire FA, is the governing body of football within the historical county boundaries of Lancashire, England. They are responsible for the governance and development of foo ...

gave that permission and contracts were duly transferred, although the Ramblers played under the original name until the end of 1892.

Colours

The club's colours were amber and black shirts, with blue knickers.Charles Alcock yearbooks 1884-6

Notable players

Frank Norris Benjamin Franklin Norris Jr. (March 5, 1870 – October 25, 1902) was an American journalist and novelist during the Progressive Era, whose fiction was predominantly in the naturalist genre. His notable works include '' McTeague: A Story of San ...

Richard Whittle Richard Whittle was born in Preston, Lancashire, in the fourth quarter of 1864 and he was a footballer who played in The Football League for Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or ...

Frank Becton Francis (Frank) Becton (11 May 1873 – 6 November 1909) was an English professional footballer at the turn of the 20th century. An inside forward, he turned out for Preston North End (in two separate spells), Liverpool, Sheffield United, Bed ...

References

{{Reflist Defunct football clubs in England Football clubs in Lancashire