Fulham

1934, Fulham

...because football nostalgia sites have to feature quirky pictures from time to time.

Ostend 1907

A 2 day festival of football took place at the Wellington Hippodrome, Ostend on 19th &20th May 1907.  On the 19th 2 Southern league teams,  champions Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur , who had finished the season in 6th, faced Belgian opposition.  

Union Saint Gilloise were the Belgian champions.

19.05.07
Union Saint Gilloise	1	8	Tottenham Hotspur
Combined Belgium	1	10	Fulham
20.05.07
Tottenham Hotspur	2	1	Fulham

Tottenham's scorers in the win over Union were Leipzig born Max Seeburg (3),England legend Vivian Woodward (2), George Payne (2) and Alf Whyman.
Whyman and full back Walter Bull scored against Fulham.
The attendance for the Tottenham Fulham game was approximately 1,500.
Fulham joined the Football League for the 1907-08 season, becoming the 4th London club.

Our Winter Game

Summer is here. Time to remember, perhaps, that Association Football is primarily a winter game. Queen's Park started off playing in the summer but on the whole, whether in the Northern or Southern hemisphere it's the winter months that see the bulk of the football action. Those lovely sunlit Cup Finals and sweltering international matches are the exception rather than the rule.
Thursday 14th January 1926, an FA Cup 3rd round replay at Craven Cottage. Fulham beat Everton 1-0 thanks to a Bert White goal. Snow fell throughout the game, which was, according to newspaper reports, played in semi darkness. Here the groundsman is uncovering the pitch markings.

We at Before the D are taking our customary May break- be back about June 5th.

Jock Hamilton

Jock Hamilton was a centre half who signed for Wolverhampton Wanderers from Ayr FC in 1894. Injury restricted Hamilton to 5 appearances for Wolves. He then spent 2 seasons with Loughborough in Division 2, making 59 league appearances. On leaving Loughborough in 1897 Hamilton played for Bristol City in the Southern league for 3 seasons. He then returned to the Football League with Leicester Fosse (28 games in 2 seasons). Hamilton then had spells with Watford and Wellingborough before joining Fulham in 1903.
 The following season he took on the role of assistant trainer at Craven Cottage, graduating to trainer in 1908. He returned to Bristol City as reserve team trainer in 1910, becoming first team manager in 1915.
 This is an unremarkable career, a Scottish professional playing in England, a journeyman who moved into management. 
There is one episode, however, that sets Hamilton aside from his contemporaries. 
On April 23, 1907 he was appointed manager of Paulistano Athletic Club. He was the first professional coach in Brazilian football. He introduced what is known as Systema Ingleza - the short passing game, as well as a systematic programme of training and preparation. 
Hamilton was in São Paulo for 5 months before returning to Fulham, during which time Paulistano won the Campeonato Paulista.

London 1863-1900

 For the first 20 years of its history, Association Football was centered around London. This situation changed in the 1880s. In 1883 Blackburn Olympic became the first northern club to win the FA Cup. In 1885 professionalism was accepted and in 1888 the  Football League was formed, consisting of northern and midland based clubs.  Woolwich Arsenal became the first London club to join the Football League in 1893.
Looking at the pre league era- if we go back to the foundation of the Football Association in 1863 we see that of the 10 clubs listed as members, 9 were from London,  (Barnes, Blackheath, Civil Service, Crusaders, Surbiton, Crystal Palace*,  N.N. Kilburn,  Kensington School and Perceval House).


When the FA Cup was first contested in 1871-72 8 of the 15 entrants were London clubs (Wanderers, Clapham Rovers, Barnes, Civil Service,Crystal Palace*,Upton Park, Harrow Chequers and Hampstead Heathens).
By 1883 there were 56 London based clubs listed as members of  the Football Association.
Amateur football, mainly in the form of 'old boy's' clubs, continued to thrive in the London area during the 1880s and 1890s.  Noteworthy clubs being Corinthians (founded 1882), former cup winners Old Carthusians, who won the inaugural FA Amateur Cup (1894), and Casuals (founded 1883).

* not the present club of the same name

In the 11 seasons of FA Cup football prior to Blackburn Olympic's victory, London based clubs had won the Cup on 9 occasions (Wanderers (5 wins),Old Etonians (2), Clapham Rovers and Old Carthusians )
According to some sources, 1890 saw Millwall Athletic become the first  professional club in southern England.
 In 1891 Woolwich Arsenal  turned professional . This brought them into conflict with the strictly amateur London Football Association. Woolwich Arsenal attempted to set up a south of england based  version of the Football League, but the London FA quashed the plan, and Arsenal were banned from any competition under that association's auspices. 


In 1892-93 there was an amateur league established for clubs in the  south east of England, This league, the Southern Alliance, lasted for one (uncompleted) season. The London clubs to feature in this league were:

Old St Stephen's
Erith
Tottenham Hotspur
Polytechnic (Chiswick)
Upton Park


As mentioned above, League Football first came to London in the 1893 -94 season when Woolwich Arsenal were elected to the second division. 

Football League
season		Div	Pos
1893-94	Woolwich Arsenal	Div.2	9

Football League
season		Div	Pos
1894-95	Woolwich Arsenal	Div.2	8

For the 1894-95 a rival league had also been established for southern clubs. Millwall Athletic were prime movers in the establishment of this, the Southern League, which was open to professional and amateur clubs and survived as a respectable if poorer relative to the Football League up until the 1914-18 war. 

Millwall Athletic 1894

Southern League
season		Div	Pos
1894-95	Millwall Athletic	Div.1	1
	Royal Ordnance Factories	Div.1	7
	Clapton	Div.1	8
	Old St Stephen's	Div.2	3
	Uxbridge	Div.2	4
	Bromley	Div.2	5

Football League
season		Div	Pos
1895-96	Woolwich Arsenal	Div.2	7

Southern League
season		Div	Pos
1895-96	Millwall Athletic	Div.1	1
	Clapton *	Div.1	8
	Royal Ordnance Factories	Div.1	9
	Uxbridge	Div.2	4
	Old St Stephen's	Div.2	5
	Bromley*	Div.2	9

* Left league at the end of the season

Football League
season		Div	Pos
1896-97	Woolwich Arsenal	Div.2	10

Tottenham Hotspur 1897

Southern League
season		Div	Pos
1896-97	Millwall Athletic	Div. 1.	2
	Tottenham Hotspur	Div. 1.	4
	Royal Ordnance Factories *	Div. 1.
	Uxbridge	Div.2	4
	Southall	Div.2	7
	Old St Stephen's	Div.2	11

* left the league during the season

Football League
season		Div	Pos
1897-98	Woolwich Arsenal	Div.2	5

Southern League
season		Div	Pos
1897-98	Tottenham Hotspur	Div. 1.	3
	Millwall Athletic	Div. 1.	9
	Uxbridge	Div.2	4
	Southall	Div.2	7
	Old St Stephen's*	Div.2	9

*Renamed  Shepherd's Bush

Football League
season		Div	Pos
1898-99	Woolwich Arsenal	Div.2	7

Thames Ironworks

Southern League
season		Div	Pos
1898-99	Millwall Athletic	Div. 1.	3
	Tottenham Hotspur	Div. 1.	7
	Thames Ironworks	Div.2	1
	Brentford	Div.2	4
	Southall	Div.2	6
	Shepherd's Bush	Div.2	9
	Fulham	Div.2	10
	Uxbridge*	Div.2	11

* Left league at the end of the season

Football League
season		Div	Pos
1899-1900	Woolwich Arsenal	Div.2	8

Southern League
season		Div	Pos
1899-1900	Tottenham Hotspur	Div.1	1
	Millwall Athletic	Div.1	7
	Queens Park Rangers	Div.1	8
	Thames Ironworks*	Div.1	14
	Fulham	Div.2	2
	Shepherd's Bush	Div.2	6
	Brentford	Div.2	9
	Southall	Div.2	10

* Renamed West Ham United