Grey Friars 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 ...

club based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

History

The club was founded in 1877, made up mostly of members of the now-defunct

Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

. Its players were mostly mercantile middle-class; club secretary Rutherford was a wine importer based at the prestigious 34 Great Tower Street, playing captain Edwin Ellis came from a lace manufacturing family and ran the London sales operation, and the club itself was considered a

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

outfit. The club's first match, against Woodgrange, included seven ex-Saxons players. The club played 21 matches in its first season, all against London clubs, winning 16 and losing one. The club did not enter 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 competi ...

in this first season, but did so for the next three seasons; in 1879–80 the club reached the fourth round (which, that year, was made up of the last ten clubs), losing 1–0 to the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

. The club was invited to play at Notts County in the aftermath of that match (possibly due to Ellis' family being Nottingham-based), and held the home side to a 3–3 draw, thanks mostly to the Friars' superior passing game. Ellis was an umpire in the semi-finals that season, nominated by the

Old Etonians Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

. In 1880–81 the club reached the same stage, this time a final 12, but lost the Old Etonians. Despite a strong showing, the club ceased playing before the 1881–82 season. The last reference to the club is to one of its members acting as umpire in an FA Cup tie in November 1881. The club's players either left the game or joined other clubs; two played for Upton Park in 1881–82, one played for St Bartholomew's Hospital, two played for

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

, and two for Mosquitoes - perhaps notably the last recorded match for the Friars was a 3–2 home defeat to Mosquitoes.

Colours

The club wore cerise and French grey halves.

Ground

The club played at the following home grounds:

Notable players

*T.G. Stafford, who played in a trial match to determine the England side to face Scotland in the 1879 international. *Edwin Ellis, reserve for England v Scotland in 1879

References

{{Reflist Defunct football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in London Association football clubs established in 1877 Association football clubs disestablished in 1881