Early years - part 2



The match against Blackburn Rovers was surrounded with more controversy though, the rules of the competition required that players should reside within a certain distance of their clubs. In this instance there was one questionable player in each team, the Rovers sought from the association a ruling of the matter, and received the incredible reply, to the effect that, each player could play their suspect player if they wished; Their final ruling would then be determined after the game thus Rovers choose not to play their star A. N. Hornby, whilst Darwen went ahead and played their "foreigner" R. Kirkham. The Darwen committee maintained that only Hornby was the questionable player and saw no reason why they should not play Kirkham, Darwen also created a smear campaign against their neighbours, this plus the decision to play the final at Barley bank the home of Darwen FC had the Rovers quite riled long before the day of the game. Darwen showed their overall superiority two weeks later, this time in Blackburn were they ran out 3-0 winners once again.
The Lancashire cup games had produced a staggering goal difference of 39 goals for and only 2 goals against. The early rounds had included a 12-0 hammering of Haslingden Association before a one thousand plus home crowd. The previous two seasons had seen the club rise in status, and they were by now one of the top clubs in the north of England, but even more triumphs awaited them in the 1880/81 season. The first game on the 25th September got of to a cracking start on merseyside, with a 13-0 demolition of newly formed Liverpool, at Newsham Park, Fairfield. This win was, however, overshadowed when a sensational win was achieved over the famed Partrick side infront of 2,000 Scots. The overall power of the team continued with another "cricket score" this time by 14 goals to one against Preston North End, a team yet to rise in the football world, and who until shortly before the game had been playing under the Rugby rules.
Poor old Haslingden were again on the wrong end of a big score this time by nine goals, and once again in the Lancashire cup. The winning ways were put to a stop when 8 goals were shared at Barley Bank before a crowd of 4,000, but this was no disgrace for the opponents were the well respected Nottingham Forest side.
During this period some four Darwen FC players were capped for England.
The first victims in the cup campaign of 1880/81 were Brigg who were overwhelmed by 8 unopposed goals, before Sheffield were hammered 5-1 at Brammall Lane, The third round draw gave the Darreners a bye, and in the next match another game with a Sheffield side was decreed. Although the weather was poor, the crowd anticipating a repeat of the FA cup excitement of two years earlier turned out in great numbers at Barley Bank, and another victory was achieved by the Darwen club this time against "the Wednesday" of Sheffield the score 5-1.
Once again the club had reached the quarter-finals stage, but on this occasion did not have to play the game at the Oval! but the luck of the draw was as bad, as fate required them to travel to the London area again, this time to Romford.
Not relishing the thought of a long and tedious journey, Darwen managed to persuade ( with a financial inducement ) the men from Essex to play the game in Lancashire.
Darwen ran riot against the Essex men and created (at the time) the record goal winning margin in the competition. Rostron scored first, followed by Mellor, and by 7 minutes were 3 up. The fans had difficulty keeping up with the score as the unfortunate Romford goal was bombarded with scoring shots.
By halftime the score was 11-0, and although the pace slackened in the second period the final tally was 15-0.
The club had reached the Semi-final stage in no uncertain manner!. The semi-final against the Old Carthusians did however have to be played at the Oval, a ground the Darreners were considering their second home, but on this occasion far from being the under-dogs as two years earlier the Darreners fame and winning ways had made them the favorites to win the cup. just one game was between them and another clash with the Old Etonians - who had a bye through to the final. although the southerners had competely dominated the cup up to that date, the rapid rise of the northerners abilities produced the prospect of a facinating first ever North vesus South conflict on the football field.
The weather at the Oval was fine but cold, and a large crowd of 2,000 - matches in the south were not considered as spectator attractions to the same degree as in the North - attended.
Despite winning the toss, Darwen chose to play into the sun in the first half, and Brindle got the game into motion. Darwen missed several early chances, including two shots that hit the Carthusians crossbar, before they took a deserved lead at the interval, Marshall netting for Darwen.
In the second half Darwen's earlier domination vanished and the Old Carthusians stormed the Darreners goal , and after 90 minutes they ran out 1-4 winners, the Lancastrians had been unable to reproduce their famous fighting back spirit, and the prospect of a classic confrontation with the Old Etonians in the final vanished.
The Darwen streets were packed with people - all anxious to get news of the final result, and were shattered when news that the Darreners had lost came through, for they had hoped and expected their favorites to win.
Between the FA cup games friendlies had continued, on Christmas day, a hastily arranged fixture was suprisingly lost to Church away by 4 goals to 6. followed by another in Scotland, were Dumbarton were the hosts, in the first half which was said to have been played to "scotch" rules - which differed somewhat to the English version and Darwen were overcome by 3-1.
Earlier on the 27th November a friendly was played at Alexandra meadows against Blackburn Rovers, and once again the two neighbours attracted unsurpassed interest.
This match, although only a friendly encounter, played between what were by now recognised as the top two premier clubs in Lancashire, attracted a interest that once again overshadowed all others, It was estimated that 12,000 supporters packed into the ground.
The two sets of supporters excitement this time spilled over into violent confrontation that had threatened in previous games between the two. Darwen opened the scoring in the first half, which lead to a pitch invasion: the inadequate number of police present had difficulty in clearing the field of play, thus the game was held up for ten minutes, the salmoners lead was shortlived however when the Rovers leveled the score just before half-time, In the second half of a rough and tough game, a serious confrontation occurred between Suter who by now had transferred his allegience to the Rovers, and Marshall of Darwen the ugly scene happened infront of a broken barrier (from a earlier pitch invasion) and a number of fans joined in with the fighting. The fight gave rise to the following verse,

"Aw see thad Suter-marshall scrap
A yarra brief and bloodless mill
An aw'm quite sure as nayther chap
Bore t'other player t'least ill will
Yo'see eawrDarren friends were cute
But t' Rovers proved a trifle cuter
An t'gradley cause o't' whul cuter
Were t' Rovers nobblin 'Mac and Suter'


The Darwen News in a article featuring the game claimed that their contemporaries in Blackburn, had highly coloured their report, and exagerated the friction as well as giving a one-sided account. The Darwen's papers opinion was that the ground had been unsuitable for such a enormous crowd! the final result was a cooling down of members of both sides, and although Marshall of Darwen issued a apology, Fergus Suter never did!
Although increased addmision charges were made at the Aston Villa ground on the 8th January, a record attendance for the Villa at the time (5,000) came to see their favorites take on Darwen, The Salmoners weakened by injuries to several players were a great dissapointment and lost by 4 goals to nil. This game was followed by another match against the Forest of Nottingham dispite their prowness the salmoners had never beaten Forest and this record was kept intact as Forest ran out winners 3-0
More friction was created between the Salmoners and Rovers in March 1881 The Lancashire cup tie between the two had been sheduled for the 5th March, but had to be posponed because of Darwen's FA cup commitments. The Rovers took this as a snub, and at the eleventh hour called off the re-sheduled game a week later, and played Nottingham Forest in a friendly fixture. Meanwhile Darwen who had arranged to play Partick, but had to pospone this match because of the Lancs cup-tie, hastily arranged a game at Accrington! such were the vagaries of the rules at this period, which allowed such arbitary decisions!
The antagonism between the two clubs reached the point were both were thrown out of the Lancashire cup competiton that year. There was little doubt that the in-fighting between these two teams, whilst the natural competitive element and desire to win, was overshadowed by the importance of each to be the best! securing the best (professional) players being the ultimate necessity and hence requiring high attendances to pay these players. The football records of 1881 stated:

".......What an unwholesome prominence the gate occupies in the consideration of football clubs in the North. Indeed there is no need to disguise the speedy approach of a time when the subject of professional players will require the earnest attention of those on whom devolves the management of association football"

And this time indeed was fast approaching!
Despite the late notice, nearly 3,000 fans were present at the Accrington game, but Darwen were highly critical of their hosts pitch which was barely 50 yards wide.
At the seasons end, a match " to the benefit of the players" ( ie professionals ), was played against Staveley on the 16th April. Several cancelled games in April led to financial problems, which but for this would have been a highly entertaining and profitable season.
The 1881/82 season proved that some of the edge had gone from Darwen F.C. from a team that had carried virtually everything before them, they were to find that although far from being a poor combination, there were others reaching and passing their level.
The previous four seasons had been the most successful for the club, and were to prove to be superior to the future. In many aspects they had led the way and set trends within the game; meanwhile a host of clubs from neighbouring towns were to reach and surpass the previous superiority of the Salmoners
One of these neighbouring clubs was their bitter enemies Blackburn Rovers who were run by John Lewis, ( Who himself had played football for Darwen FC and is widely regarded as scoring the first ever FA cup goal for Darwen FC in a game against Manchester on the 7th November 1877 which Darwen won 3-0 ) he was a man who loved to win at all costs, and he transformed the Rovers in the early 1880's, building a team including three former Darwen players who he "poached" ( a quote from the local Darwen press at the time ) to become the best in the land and their record of winning 24 consecutive games in the FA cup in the mid 1880's is still the longest unbeaten run in the history of the competition..( Immortals click here )
One of the players he poached from Darwen was the immortal Fergus Suter who he persuaded to change allegiances in 1881 Fergie won three FA cup winners medals whilst with the Rovers 1884/85/86 and a losers medal in 1882. John Lewis himself had played football for the Salmoners in 1879 as a center forward, before returning to the Rovers, he married the Mayor of Darwens daughter in 1880 and was well known at Barley Bank, although not always a popular visitor, many people in Darwen blamed him for the Darwen players defections to the Rovers, and with good reason!
Another local team which up to that time had not been any threat to the Salmoners were the Olympic team from the Revidge area of Blackburn, a team made up from the amalgamation of two teams St. James and Black star. The Olympic were to shock everyone in football one day with the first FA cup win by a northern team, but unlike the Rovers the Olympic were regular visitors to Barley Bank, and far from being rivals to the Salmoners like the Rovers , Olympic would actually assist the Salmoners with fixtures, players, kit etc. and vice-versa, many of the players guesting with the others team. the main reason was that both sides were made up mainly of mill workers unlike the Rovers who thought of themselves as a chip above all others with their roots in public and grammar school quarters.
The campaign of 1881/82 started on the 10th September with a practice game against Lower Darwen,who played their games on the Leys Meadow and changed at the Railway Inn, the score finished with a 2-0 win to the Salmoners.Two weeks later a trip to Scotland was made, and although starting well - a suprise since the changed team was very much experimental but eventually sucumbing to a 6-0 defeat against a Scottish 1X at Dumbarton. October the 8th brought Turton to Barley Bank, but only a moderate attendance of 1,700 were present to see the Salmoners win 1-0, another game played at home that month was against the Forest of Nottingham, and despite the attractive opponents barely 2,000 saw the Salmoners go down by the single goal.
On the 29th October, something like the previous seasons support were present 3,000 to 4,000, for Blackburn Olympics FA Cup visit for the first round tie; non-the less a large number of the crowd were from Blackburn, there was never any doubt who was the better team and Darwen went on to the next round with a 3-1 victory, Bury, Rostron and Towers scoring for the Salmoners, but the crowd watching that day did not realise that the young Olympic side with a average age of 20 and a 18 year old team captain (James Ward) would not be beaten again for 14 cup-ties during which they would write themselves into football folklore with their FA Cup win the next year. Darwen went on to the next round on the 26th November in a game against a much improved Accrington the Salmoners ran out 3-0 winners with Rostron (2) and Marshall getting the goals.
The thoughts of earlier cup sucesses must have come to the fore, as the team continued to flourish in the competition. December was the month that the next round was played and won! On a frozen and therefore very slippery Barley Bank pitch, Turton were beaten 4-2, but before only 1,500 spectators.
The 30th January was the date of the next round and when news of the draw came through that their next opponents were to be the dreaded enemy Blackburn Rovers away, The Rovers were to play the game ( their first ) on their newly accuired pitch at Leamington Road.
The past ill-feeling between the two clubs had now subsided slighty but the passion to win was just has great for the clubs as well as the supporters, especially this being the FA Cup. the weeks leading up to the game generated terrific interest, this new ground of the Rovers was better suited to playing football than their previous home at Alexandra Meadows, which had doubled up for cricket during the summer months. At Leamington Road a sturdy barrier( two railed)was erected ajacent to the pitch on all four sides to contain the crowds whilst a purpose built seated grandstand was also in place.
Spectators started to arrive for the game two and a half hours before kick-off and with one hour to go before kick-off the ground was considered full! with nearly 8,000 paying spectators inside. Although the match passed trouble free, the Rovers with their new "imports" proved too much for the Salmoners and romped away with a 5-1 victory after being 4-0 up at half-time. This result was to be no one-off event as the Rovers went on to reach the final of the competition and so become the first team outside of the still amatuer south to do so.
It was a severe blow to the once mighty Darreners to suffer such a defeat and especially to the Rovers, the next match following this defeat was against Accrington which resulted in a 2-2 draw at Barley Bank which could only raise an attendance of 2,000.
On the 10th March a return game against the Rovers was arranged, but this time with nothing more than pride at stake, played at Barley Bank the crowds again came out in great numbers, but to Darwens distress another heavy defeat was sustained by the same scoreline as two months earlier. the main reasons for such a poor display were said in the local Darwen News as goalkeeping errors, bad luck and the poor play of Cross! Cross being in fact a Welsh Druids player recruited especially for the game after Rostron was found to be injured and could not play.
The season trailed off with variable results, a 2-3 defeat at little known Staveley (attendance 1,000), a single goal victory in a entertaining home game against Walsall Swifts in front of 2,000 spectators, and a morale boosting win against the year old North End From Preston, North End were another of the Lancashire clubs that started off as the pupil and quickly became the masters of Darwen FC, In all the season had been one of mixed fortunes and a unsettled team, the final record whilst not poor by normal standards, was non the less discouraging - 16 wins, 4 draws and 14 defeats continue

Acknowledgements for the history and images in this section are made to : Darwen RBL -- who originally published this page in 2002  Paul Breeze -- Posh up North publishing, Darwen Football Club, Dave Twydell -- Yare Publications, Stewart Fells, Lancashire Evening Telegraph, Blackburn Rovers, Burnley FC, League Football and the men who made it -- Simon Inglis, The Guinness record of the FA Cup -- Mike Collett, Richard Rundle -- The Football club History database, Nora Thompson, Marjorie Bibby, Bert Pross, England Football Online website: www.englandfootballonline.com Blackburn with Darwen Library.