Woodford Bridge FC was 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 ...

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

Woodford Bridge Woodford Bridge is part of the East London suburb of Woodford, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It is located on an old road between Chigwell and Leytonstone. Notable features Its notable features include St Paul's Church, Woodford B ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. The club was founded in 1880 and entered 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 ...

from 1881–82 to 1883–84 without winning a tie.

History

The club's second FA Cup entry, in 1882–83, saw it drawn to play the

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 ...

, who, although a shadow of their former selves, still easily won 3–1, despite the Bridge taking a wind-assisted early lead. The club claimed a successful season in 1884–85, winning 13 of its 22 matches, including two ties in the

London Senior Cup The London Senior Cup is the County Senior Cup of the London FA. The London Senior Cup was first won by Upton Park in 1882. Although the leading professional sides in London no longer compete, the Cup has been won in the past by the likes of ...

for the only time, and reaching the final of the second

Essex Senior Cup The Essex Senior Cup is a knock-out system football competition that has been running since 1884, and is the most prestigious cup competition in the county of Essex. The competition is run mainly for non-League clubs in the region, although leag ...

. The club survived a protest from the Forest Rangers club from Epping over whether one of the Bridge players (Pottinger) was genuinely a member of the club, although, given that Woodford Bridge had won the tie 7–1, the protest was considered to be nothing but a "waste of time". In the semi-final the club beat

Colchester (Town) Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the fi ...

at Brentwood by the same scoreline, but lost to the Old Foresters in the final at

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

7–0, in a match that only lasted 75 minutes as the referee called for time after half-an-hour in the second half; by the time he had been persuaded to bring the teams back for the last 15 minutes, many of the Bridge players had already left. Despite this successful competition run, the club did not enter the FA Cup for 1885–86, and that season was knocked out in the third round of the Essex competition by competition debutants

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

. The club was still active at the start of the 1886–87 season, being represented at the

Essex County Football Association The Essex County Football Association, also simply known as the ''Essex FA'', is the sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in the county of Essex. References External links Essex FA's official site
Count ...

half-yearly meeting and entering the

that season, but the last record of a match for the club is a friendly with

Chigwell School Chigwell School is a co-educational independent boarding and day school. It is a private school in Chigwell, in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It consists of a Pre Prep (ages 4–7), Prep School (ages 7–11), Senior School (ages 11–16 ...

in March 1887. The next reference to a club in the town after this is to Woodford F.C. in 1896, which was almost certainly a separate club.

Colours

According to the Charles Alcock annuals, the club's colours were blue and amber for 1880–81, blue and white for 1881–1884, and dark blue with an amber Maltese cross for 1884–85. In practice these all probably refer to the same design.

Ground

The club originally used the White Hart in Woodford Bridge as its headquarters, and by 1884 it had a private ground known variously as Glengate or Glenhall, in Snakes Lane, near the Railway Arms.

References

{{Reflist Association football clubs established in 1880 Association football clubs disestablished in 1887 1880 establishments in England 1887 establishments in England Defunct football clubs in England Sport in the London Borough of Redbridge Defunct football clubs in London