Shepherd's Bush Football Club were an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a suburb of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, its ...

, in the

London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham () is a London boroughs, London borough in West London and which also forms part of Inner London. The borough was formed in 1965 as the London Borough of Hammersmith from the merger of the former Metr ...

, although they originally played in central and south London.

History

The club were founded as Old St Stephen's FC in

1880 Events January *January 27 – Thomas Edison is granted a patent for the incandescent light bulb. Edison filed for a US patent for an electric lamp using "a carbon filament or strip coiled and connected ... to platina contact wires." gr ...

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

, although they soon moved out to play in

Denmark Hill Denmark Hill is an area and road in Camberwell, in the London Borough of Southwark, London, England. It is a sub-section of the western flank of the Norwood Ridge, centred on the long, curved Ruskin Park slope of the ridge. The road is part of ...

and

Nunhead Nunhead () is an inner-city suburb in the London Borough of Southwark, England,Southwark Council Nunhead and Peckham Rye Community Council southeast of Charing Cross. It is the location of the Nunhead Cemetery.BBC London Nunhead Cemetery/ref> ...

. In

1892 In Samoa, this was the only leap year spanned to 367 days as July 4 repeated. This means that the International Date Line was drawn from the east of the country to go west. Events January * January 1 – Ellis Island begins processing imm ...

they were founder members of the

Southern Alliance The Southern Alliance was a short-lived football league competition for teams in the South of England. At the time, there were no Southern teams in the Football League and no equivalent competition existed for clubs in the south. John Oliver, a ...

, one of the first attempts at a league in southern England, and topped the table before the competition was abandoned before the 1892–93 season was out. In 1894 they went on to become a founder member of the Southern League Second Division and finished third in their inaugural season; however they lost a test match against

Royal Ordnance Factories Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, ...

and did not achieve promotion to the First Division. They continued to play in the Southern League under the Old St Stephen's name for another three seasons, never performing better than their inaugural season. During this time, in 1895, they moved across London to

, playing on Shepherd's Bush Green itself, which was to host

football at the 1908 Summer Olympics At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, England, an official football tournament between national representative selections was contested for the first time; football had been played between club teams at the Games of 1900 and 1904. Like the h ...

(linked article says this event took place at White City stadium). In

1898 Events January * January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queen ...

Old St Stephen's merged with another local team to become Shepherd's Bush FC. They took Old St Stephen's place in the Southern League and continued to play up until the 1901–02 season. Gaining the nickname of "the Bushmen", the club moved to Wormholt Farm, but when that site was threatened with development in 1904, Shepherd's Bush built and moved into the

Loftus Road Loftus Road, currently known as MATRADE Loftus Road Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Shepherd's Bush, West London, Greater London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers F.C., Queens Park Rangers Football Club, w ...

ground nearby; they played their first game there against Old Malvernians on 22 October 1904. In 1907, the club joined the

Spartan League The Spartan League was a football league in England covering London and adjacent counties. Established in 1907, it merged with the South Midlands League in 1997 to form the Spartan South Midlands League. History The Spartan League was establi ...

, after winning the 1906–07

Great Western Suburban League The Great Western Suburban League was a football league that was primarily held in the Home counties, founded in 1904. History The Great Western Suburban League was founded on the 18 May 1904, at a meeting called by Mr. W. G. Langdon of Staine ...

, and a year later the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

, where they played until the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

During wartime, Shepherd's Bush F.C. were unable to play any further fixtures and disbanded in 1915. In 1917, their ground, Loftus Road, was taken over by

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

, who continue to occupy it.

History

References

Further reading