Newark F.C. was a football club from the town of Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire. It was one of the first clubs to play

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 ...

History

The club was formed in 1868, and its first activity was a match between eleven of the club members on 31 October 1868, under association rules, at the Grove Ground on the London Road. Its first match against an external side took place in January 1869, under the

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

code, against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. Newark had the advantage of Forest not knowing the rugby rules, but the match ended in a draw. For the next season, the club adopted the association code, and its first recorded match under the FA laws was a 3–0 defeat to

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

in November 1869, the heavier Newark side unable to cope with the speed of the County players; also not helped by Newark playing with 10 men against 12. The club's experimentation with codes continued in December 1869, the club losing to

Sheffield F.C. Sheffield Football Club is an English football club from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, although now based in nearby Dronfield, across the county boundary in Derbyshire. They currently compete in the . Founded in October 1857,

in a match played "to no particular rules", the Sheffield club not requiring strict adherence to the Sheffield code. The club first 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 competi ...

in 1884-85, beating Spilsby F.C. in the first round (coming from 3–0 down to win 7–3), and losing at

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

in the second. As the Newark shirts of chocolate and cherry were similar to the Boro shirts of green and cardinal halves, the latter's players tied white handkerchiefs around their arms to aid distinguishing. The following season was the club's second and last entry into the main draw, ending in the first round with a defeat at home to

in front of a crowd of just 100, reduced by appalling weather. The club had not turned professional as the rest of the game did, and played in the

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History Th ...

from 1892 to 1896, and 1899 to 1909. The club's best League seasons were in 1903-04 and 1904–05, when the club finished third. By 1909 though the club was struggling, and at the end of the 1908–09 season the club withdrew from the League, an appeal for help from the public having received a poor response. The club was defunct by 1914, with an overdraft of £78, and with the club's bank suing the guarantors for reimbursement. The role of the town club was taken up by

Newark Town F.C. Newark Town Football Club is a association football, football club from Newark on Trent. They are currently members of the . History The original Newark F.C. was formed in 1868 and played for much of the time in the Midland Counties League.. Th ...

in the 1920s.

Colours

The club's original colours were white shirts and red knickerbockers, with blue and red caps. The club retained the red, white, and blue colours until at least 1875. By 1885, the club had changed to chocolate and cherry, probably in halves, and had changed to white shirts with black knickers by 1892; that season the Midland League forced the club to adopt different shirts (the club choosing black and white halves) to avoid clashing with

Leicester Fosse Leicester City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Leicester in the East Midlands of England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home ...

. In the 20th century, the club usually wore white shirts and black shorts.

Ground

The club originally played at the Grove Ground; in 1870 the club moved to Hunt's Field on Balderton Road, and in 1875 to the Newark Cricket Ground on Kelham Road. By 1889 Newark was playing at Muskham Road, using the facilities of the Midland Hotel.

References

{{Reflist Football clubs in Nottinghamshire Defunct football clubs in Nottinghamshire Football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in England Association football clubs established in 1868 Midland Alliance (1890)