23.3.15

A 'League Table' for 1885

Imagine the speculation over the relative merits of various clubs before the existence of leagues.
Cricket had come to terms (to some extent) of deciding which was Champion County, but in football the only honours available were cups decided on the knock out basis. (The challenge aspect of the Football Association Challenge Cup was short lived- Wanderers received a bye to the 1873 final).
On March 7th  1885The Preston Chronicle  published a League table.
The selection is broad:  There are 34 teams: 8 of the original 12 League clubs (no West Bromwich Albion, Stoke, Everton, Derby County); The Universities; 6 Scottish clubs; 4 'Old Boys' clubs. 13 of the teams came from Lancashire.

Ingeniously the compiler devised a system ('average to 1') of goal ratio by which to rate the teams. So a stingy defence was rewarded.


P
W
D
L
F
A
ave
Cambridge University
20
18
1
1
93
15
6.20
Wolverhampton Wanderers
25
17
6
2
103
18
5.72
Walsall
24
16
2
6
110
23
4.78
Preston North End
37
25
7
5
137
40
3.42
Hibernians
25
20
1
4
119
37
3.21
Oxford University
18
12
1
5
58
19
3.05
Bolton Wanderers
41
31
2
8
165
55
3.00
Great Lever
34
24
3
6
135
45
3.00
Queen’s Park
25
18
5
2
80
29
2.75
Blackburn Olympic
32
19
5
8
142
52
2.73
Notts Club (County)
29
20
4
5
90
34
2.61
Accrington
28
23
1
4
82
33
2.48
Blackburn Rovers
37
23
7
7
128
55
2.32
Upton Park
21
12
4
5
65
29
2.27
Vale of Leven
23
13
5
5
61
28
2.17
Glasgow Rangers
26
16
3
7
90
44
2.05
Church
27
16
4
7
80
45
1.97
Burnley
44
25
6
13
105
62
1.89
Walsall Swifts
29
14
7
8
70
44
1.89
Nottingham Forest
23
16
2
5
63
40
1.57
Old Foresters
25
13
3
9
66
42
1.57
Aston Villa
32
17
6
9
87
60
1.45
Darwen
30
10
7
13
68
48
1.41
Wednesbury Old Athletic
24
13
3
8
71
51
1.39
Halliwell
31
14
3
14
87
65
1.33
Pollockshields Athletic
20
14
0
6
45
34
1.32
Padiham
29
17
4
8
74
53
1.32
Old Carthusians
12
8
0
4
33
28
1.21
Old Westminsters
23
11
4
8
51
53
1.0
Wednesday
28
12
5
11
55
59
0.93
Blackburn Park Road
23
7
7
9
44
50
0.88
Witton
28
12
1
15
51
59
0.86
3rd Lanark RV
24
9
5
10
37
48
0.77
Old Etonians
17
5
3
9
36
51
0.70

One big name from this era not included was Corinthian FC. Granted, Corinth was still a relatively new outfit. I looked at their fixtures from September 1884 to March 1885. The figures were not impressive:

Corinthian FC
10
3
1
6
24
34
0.70


I have redone the table using a points system (3 for a win and 1 for a draw) and determined what percentage of the points available each team obtained. Cambridge still come out clear winners, but there are significant differences in the placements of some of the other teams.

%

91.66
Cambridge University
83.33
Accrington
81.33
Hibernians
78.66
Queen’s Park
77.23
Bolton Wanderers
76
Wolverhampton Wanderers
73.87
Preston North End
73.56
Notts Club (County)
73.52
Great Lever
71.66
Upton Park
70
Pollockshields Athletic
69.44
Walsall
68.51
Oxford University
68.46
Blackburn Rovers
66.66
Old Carthusians
65.38
Glasgow Rangers
64.58
Blackburn Olympic
64.19
Church
63.76
Vale of Leven
63.76
Nottingham Forest
63.21
Padiham
61.36
Burnley
59.37
Aston Villa
58.33
Wednesbury Old Athletic
56.32
Walsall Swifts
56
Old Foresters
53.62
Old Westminsters
48.80
Wednesday
48.38
Halliwell
44.44
3rd Lanark RV
44.04
Witton
41.11
Darwen
40.57
Blackburn Park Road
35.29
Old Etonians









































The success of the team had an impact on the sporting culture of the Universities.  On 5.3.85 at the Cambridge Union Society's Debate it was agreed to promote Football to a 'full blue' (elevating the  game to the same exalted level as athletics, cricket and rowing).
This is the Cambridge team for the 1885 Varsity Match:


GK
M.J Rendall


FB
A.M Walters

9 England appearances (1885-90)

FB
H. Buckley


HB
A. Amos

2 England appearances (1885-86)

HB
T.W Blenkiron


HB
F.E Saunders

1 England cap (1888) when playing for Swifts

F
B.W Spilsbury

3 England caps, 5 goals (1885-86)

F
T.H Marsh


F
T.Lindley

Later played for Nottingham Forest and won 13 England caps (1886-91) scoring 14 goals. England’s top scorer before Bloomer.

F
W.N Cobbold

Also of Old Carthusians- 9 England caps (1883-87) scoring 6 goals.

F
F Marchant






































I've scoured the newspaper archives in order to try and identify the 20 matches that the compiler had drawn Cambridge's record from ('up to the end of February 1885').
I could only find the following :

01.11.84 
Cambridge University
13
0
Swifts
??.11.84
Cambridge University
2
0
Old Foresters
15.11.84
Cambridge University
6
2
Sussex
19.11.84
Cambridge University
5
0
Corinthian FC
22.11.84
Brentwood 
0
2
Cambridge University
29.11.84
Cambridge University
12
1
Carthusians
11.12.84
Cambridge University
4
0
Middlesex
13.12.84
Aston Villa
3
1
Cambridge University
??.12.84
Cambridge University
5
2
Nottingham
04.01.85
Stoke
1
2
Cambridge University
08.01.85
Liverpool Ramblers
2
2
Cambridge University
12.02.85
Cambridge University
9
0
Brentwood
14.02.85
London 
0
4
Cambridge University
16.02.85
Cambridge University
1
1
Aston Villa
21.02.85
Cambridge University
4
0
Clapham Rovers
25.02.85
Cambridge University
1
0
Oxford University

These results compute as:

P
W
D
L
F
A
ave
Points %
16
13
2
1
72
13
5.53
85.41


Which would still place Cambridge at the top of the table.