Shropshire Wanderers F.C. was an amateur

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club based in

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

, England. The club was active during the 1870s and once reached the

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 ...

semi-finals.

History

The club was founded out of the Shropshire Wanderers cricket club. It entered the FA Cup competition in each of the years from 1873–74 to 1877–78. Its greatest success came in 1874–75, when it reached the

semi-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

. In the second round the club conceded a late equalizer to the Civil Service F.C. at the

Kennington Oval Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between th ...

, but the Service scratched from the replay, being unable to travel to Shrewsbury. The only match the club won in the tournament - and the only one the club would ever win in the Cup - was a replay win against

Woodford Wells Woodford Wells is a small settlement on the edge of Epping Forest, in Woodford, East London. The area lies about north-east of Charing Cross. The name is shown in the Chapman and Andre 1777 map of Essex, and shortly after on an Ordnance Surve ...

. The initial tie (at the

) ended 1–1, even after the sides played an optional 15 minutes of extra-time. The replay, at the same venue, was an easier match for the Salopians, a goal from Randall (following up his own shot coming back off the post) and an own goal from Frazer (getting in the way of a clearance at a scrimmage) putting the club into the last four. The club played the

Old Etonians This is a list of notable former pupils of Eton College, a 13–18 public fee-charging and boarding secondary school for boys in Eton, Berkshire, England. Former pupils of the school are known as Old Etonians. Former pupils Politics *Robert ...

at the Kennington Oval in the semi-final; unfortunately the Countrymen were without their star half-back John Denning, and lost 1–0. This was the club's only defeat in its first five years of existence. The club also has a unique place in FA Cup history, as the only team to be eliminated from the competition by coin toss, the fateful coin toss taking place at the Raven Hotel in Shrewsbury, where the club and opponents

Sheffield F.C. Sheffield Football Club is an English association football, football club, currently based in Dronfield, Derbyshire. They compete in the , on the eighth level of the English football league system, English football pyramid. Founded in October ...

had retired to dine together after their Cup tie. The Shropshire Wanderers were notable as a team that employed passing as early as 1875. The club shared a number of players (including

John Hawley Edwards John Hawley Edwards (21 March 1850 – 14 January 1893) was an English footballer who played as an inside forward. He made one appearance for England in 1874, before going on to play for Wales in 1876. He was a member of the Wanderers team tha ...

) with the Shrewsbury football club, which focussed on more local competition. The club had ceased activity after the 1877–78 season, but reformed for a handful of matches at the start of the 1880s. The last recorded match of the club was a 5–3 defeat to

Druids F.C. Druids F.C. were a Association football, football club based in the village of Ruabon near Wrexham, Wales. The club was founded in October 1872 as Ruabon Rovers F.C. by David Thomson (footballer born 1847), David Thomson and his brother, George ...

in March 1882. A match was scheduled against a club named Shrewsbury Town the following week but seems not to have taken place; this was not the current club.

Colours

The club's colours were white jerseys, blue serge knickerbockers, and maroon stockings.

Ground

The club played at the Racecourse, using the Raven or the Lion hotels for facilities.

Notable players

, who made his only international appearance for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1874 whilst a Shropshire Wanderers player, scored for the more famous Wanderers club in the 1876 FA Cup Final and played for

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

against Scotland a week later. *

Llewelyn Kenrick Samuel Llewelyn Kenrick (9 June 1847 – 29 May 1933) was a Welsh solicitor who became the founder of the Football Association of Wales and organised the first Wales national football team, Welsh international football match against Scotland nati ...

, one of the founders of the

Football Association of Wales The Football Association of Wales (FAW; ) is the Governing bodies of sports in Wales, governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Wales national football team, its Wales women's national football team, correspo ...

played for the Shropshire Wanderers in the 1874–75 season, including the FA Cup semi-final. * David Thomson, who won a cap for Wales (alongside Kenrick and Edwards) while a Shropshire Wanderers player. * John Wylie, chosen for the England v Scotland match in 1874 while a Salopian, but forced to withdraw through injury and replaced by Hawley Edwards. However, as "one of the finest dribblers in the country", he did play for the

Football Association A football association, also known as a football federation, soccer federation, or soccer association, is a governing body for association football. Many of them are members of the sport's regional bodies such as UEFA and CONMEBOL and the world gov ...

in a representative match against the

Sheffield Football Association The Sheffield and Hallamshire Football Association is a County Football Association in England. It was formed in Sheffield in 1867 as the Sheffield Football Association, and is the second-oldest football governing body after the Football Assoc ...

the same year.

FA Cup history

FA Cup 1873–74 FA, Fa or fa may refer to: People * Fa of Xia, King of China 1747–1728 BC * Fa Ngum (1316–1393), founder and ruler of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang * Fa Ziying (1964–1999), Chinese serial killer Places * Fa, Aude, a commune of the Au ...

**1st Round: Drew 0–0 with

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

; replay also drawn 0–0; eliminated on the toss of a coin * FA Cup 1874–75 **1st Round: Walkover v

(scratched) **2nd Round: Drew 1–1 v

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

; walkover in the replay **3rd Round: Drew 1–1 v

; won replay 2–0 **Semi-final: Lost 1–0 v

FA Cup 1875–76 FA, Fa or fa may refer to: People * Fa of Xia, King of China 1747–1728 BC * Fa Ngum (1316–1393), founder and ruler of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang * Fa Ziying (1964–1999), Chinese serial killer Places * Fa, Aude, a commune of the Au ...

**1st Round: Scratched (v

) *

FA Cup 1876–77 FA, Fa or fa may refer to: People * Fa of Xia, King of China 1747–1728 BC * Fa Ngum (1316–1393), founder and ruler of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang * Fa Ziying (1964–1999), Chinese serial killer Places * Fa, Aude, a commune of the Au ...

**1st Round: Walkover v

Druids A druid was a member of the high-ranking priestly class in ancient Celtic cultures. The druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no wr ...

(scratched) **2nd Round: Lost 3–0 v

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

* FA Cup 1877–78 **1st Round: Lost 1–0 v

References

External links

*{{fchd, id=SHROPSHW, name=Shropshire Wanderers Defunct football clubs in England Sport in Shrewsbury Defunct football clubs in Shropshire Association football clubs established in 1870 Association football clubs disestablished in 1882