The early history of the club is somewhat obscure and reliable information concerning those far off days is difficult to obtain. One thing is certain however the club is one of the oldest soccer organisations in the world but the exact date of it's inception is not clearly known but we could say with near certainty it was formed sometime in 1870 as a football / rugby and Cricket club. The club was formed by the amalgamation of two mill teams one of them Orchard mill, whose owner a Mr. Walsh had three sons who had attended Harrow school and had played the game there.
The first game played to the Harrovian rules was against Brookhouse mill (Blackburn) that Darwen lost 3-1, Playing for the Brookhouse that day was the immortal Albert N. Hornby who would achieve fame with Blackburn Rovers years later, he also played Rugby for England and captained Lancashire and England at Cricket. In 1875 Darwen FC adopted the Association rules instead of the Harrovian/Rugby code. Thus the football club as we know it was born, It was around this time that the team travelled to neighbouring Turton to play the local eleven, the game however turned nasty and was abandoned due to fighting.
Games were played against teams with names like the "Star of England" who came from nearby Rawtenstall and played their games on Marl pits, Higher Cloughfold, and the "Black star" who played at the hole in the wall ground, Blackburn and would one day become the Blackburn Olympic. Queens park and Partick of Glasgow two strong amateur teams from Scotland played friendly games in Darwen around the late 1870's. In those days the headquarters of the club was based at Barly Bank, a district of the town now covered by a school and private property, the first pitch used was at Lynwood behind Lynwood avenue the club had to move due to lack of spectator space, and adequate changing facilites. The pitch at Barley Bank was by all accounts a "gem" with adequate room for both cricket and football pitches within the same enclosure, sadly nothing of the old ground now remains except for a small part of the old boundary wall at the top of Bright street. A prominent figure in those early days for the club both as a player then as a administrator was Thomas Hindle, who went on to work for the club in some capacity for over fifty years.
It was at Barley Bank that Darwen enjoyed their great days, with wins against Aston Villa 5-4, Bolton Wanderers 7-0 Heart of Midlothian 7-1 and Blackburn Rovers 4-0 to name a few. In 1879 Darwen became the first northern team to challenge the supremacy of the Public schools of the south in the FA cup, the team largely recruited from the local factories astounded everyone by reaching the quarterfinals against the Old Etonians, in the first game played at the Kennington Oval on the 13th February the Old Etonians went into a 5-0 lead at halftime, in the second half a own goal and goals from Love (2), Bury and Marshall pulled the score back to 5-5 this is how the game ended, Darwen wanted to play extra time but the Old Etonians refused. In the second game again played at the Kennington Oval on the 8th March finished 2-2, Kirkham and Bury scoring for Darwen. This time the game went to extra time but no more goals were scored and the tie was set to go to a third match. By now Darwen were struggling for funds the cost of travelling to London was too much for a third time, and the club was about to scratch from the tie, hearing of this the Citizens of the town rallied and formed the "London fund". The Times newspaper picked up on this and referred to this as "cup fever" the first time this phrase had ever been used. A total of £175 was raised which included a £10 donation from the Football Association and £5 from Eton College. Alas the travelling had taken its toll and Darwen lost the third game 6-2, beaten but their deeds kindled a tiny flame in the hopes of the north that would one day become a raging fire.
Two years later Darwen were again in the quarterfinals this time successful against Romford who they beat 15-0. Was this to be Darwen's year a semi-final against the Old Carthusians stood in their way for a place in immortality, alas it was not to be and Darwen were again beaten by the eventual winners. Darwen had started the game favorites and in the first half had hit the bar twice, before Marshall scored to make it 1-0 to Darwen at half time, in the second half The Old Carthusians stormed back and Darwens earlier superiority vanished as the Old Carthusians scored four times to win 4-1. During this period Darwen had recruited the services of two young Scotsmen Fergie Suter and James Love who had been members of the Partick Glasgow team that had played friendlies in Lancashire a few years earlier.
In 1880 Darwen won their first competition the Lancashire Senior Cup, in its inaugural season, defeating Blackburn Rovers in the final 3-0. The game was played at Barley Bank infront of a little over 9,000 spectators, the gate receipts were £165 Tom Marshall a member of the successful team was capped for England the same year against Wales.
On the 28th October 1878 Darwen played a select team made up of players from Blackburn Rovers, Blackburn Olympic and others at Barley Bank in what was to become the first attempt of a floodlight game. It was actually a success the light was by two magneto electric engines providing 36,000 candle power and was said to be clear, constant and steady. Several thousand spectators attended the game that saw Darwen win 3-0, although a success at the time it proved too expensive to run. Many of the games pre-football league were friendlies against local teams one of them was Darwens great rivals Blackburn Rovers who in 1890 had moved to just over a mile and threequarters from Barley Bank at their new headquarters Ewood park.
In December 1890 Darwen were the visitors to Ewood for a Lancashire cup game, and so incensed were the Darwen supporters that Rovers did not field a full strength side that they invaded the pitch and pulled up the goalposts, smashed dressing room windows and tore up carpets in the reserved seating section.
The first division of the football League was formed in 1888 and Darwen were one of the original applicants only losing out by one vote to Accrington. In 1891 the Football league was extended from 12 to 14 teams and along with Stoke Darwen were elected. The first season however was a disaster for Darwen being relegated to the newly formed second division. It was in the first season in the Football League that Darwen were forced to change from their original Black and White hoops (the reason being fellow League team Notts County played in the same colours) to a Salmon / pink shirt and White shorts, hence the nickname "Salmoners" was born, even though Darwen only played in this strip for two seasons 1891/92 and 1892/93, the nickname is still mentioned in reference to Darwen FC. On the 4th March 1892 Darwen were beaten by West Bromwich Albion 12-0, this score still stands as the heaviest defeat inflicted on any club in the history of the First Division. Darwens first season in the second division was highly successful they finished third from top in the table and in the subsequent play-off won promotion to the first division by defeating Notts County 3-2. Darwens stay in the top flight was brief, already commercialism was beginning to make its mark in the game, and the present league giants, with their huge potential of support from heavily populated centres made the position of small clubs like Darwen seem hopeless.
At the beginning of the 1898/99 season Darwen were so hard up that they asked for extra time to pay their two guineas entrance fee, eventually thanks to the League president John Bentley who was also the secretary of Bolton Wanderers, Darwen were loaned £20 just to keep them afloat, without which they would have folded. Darwens final season 1898/99 in the football league was a disaster. This included three 10-0 defeats against Walsall, Man City and Loughbourgh, also scores of 9-0, 9-2, 8-0, 8-1 and 7-0. in a run of 18 consecutive defeats. It gradually became impossible to meet the ever-increasing expenses needed to maintain a club in first-class football, so that by the turn of the century Darwen had dropped out of the Football League altogether and found themselves playing in the Lancashire combination after a short spell in the Lancashire league. So ended an era in Darwens history, a glorious chapter indeed.
It was in 1900 that Darwen were compelled to leave Barley Bank, due mainly to lack of funds and support, making the sale of Barley Bank a necessity, reading old records it would seem that the ground could have been purchased for a reasonable sum, which would have meant a splendid sports ground could have been saved and preserved for prosterity. The Barley bank had been the home of Darwen football and cricket club since 1874 the main entrance was at the corner of Barley bank street and Hindle street with another entrance at the top of Bright Street. There was a covered stand that held Approx 1,200 spectators, the changing quarters were at the Clough end ( Harwood Street side). Programmes from Darwens time at Barley bank ( and a few have survived ) are extremely valuable collectors items. The ground was not immediately demolished in-fact Darwen were holding trials on the ground in 1904 some four years after the move to the Anchor, but soon after the builders moved in. Shame on the council and buisness men of the day whose apathy and miserliness caused such a wonderfully situated arena to pass into the hands of the speculative builders.
The move to the Anchor ground was made in 1900, at the time the present playing pitch was open pasture part of the land belonging Anchor farm. The tenant of the farm was a Mr R. Smith whose generosity kept the club going in those hard times, he loaned the club £100 to save the covered stand at Barley Bank from demolition, and to transport it to the Anchor. The first season at the Anchor was a memorable one in so far as the club won the East Lancashire trophy defeating their deadliest rivals Blackburn Rovers in the final at Ewood Park in front of 11,000 spectators, Bob Crompton who would go on to captain England played for the Rovers that day, The cup was paraded on the top of a tram from Ewood to the Anchor in triumph to the joy of Cheering supporters. Some of the Darwen players in that team were: Pomfret, Haslam, Pollord, Walker, Bridge, Cooper, Hulligan, Quinn and Dawson. Dawson later signed for the Rovers.
The first season in the newly formed Lancashire League (1902) saw Darwen win the title, and were runners-up in 1903. The same year they met Arsenal at home in the FA cup, in the earlier rounds Darwen had beaten Blackpool, Southport Central and Nelson. Seven thousand fans attended that day, there was no terraced banking so horse lorries were placed around the ground as makeshift stands. The game ended with Arsenal winning 2-0, Darwens team that day was:. McIver in goal Collinson and Haslam fullbacks, Bridge, Walker, Kenyon, Humphreys, Cooper, Hulligan,,Gate and Leeming. With the outbreak of the First World War the club was disbanded and it was not until 1920 that a new start was made.
On the 24th August 1920 football resumed at the Anchor and the first game was against Accrington Stanley played in front of 7,000 spectators Stanley were victors 3-1. It was in November of that year that a record crowd for a game at the Anchor was made with Fleetwood the visitors, 10,100 people turned up for the Lancashire cup tie.
The twenties passed and it wasn't until 1930 that a fantastic change in the clubs fortunes came about, from languishing in the oblivion of the lower half of the Combination table season after season the clubs affairs suddenly took a dramatic change for the better. Joe Smith, the famous Bolton and England centre forward was engaged as player coach and around him was built a side the like of which has never been seen at Darwen since. The side was: Rowlands in goal, Murray and Jenkinson full backs, Slater, Crompton and Leeming the half back line, Robinson, Dale, Preedy, Quigley and Shaw the forwards. This was the team Joe Smith left behind when he left to become the manager of Reading. Under Joe's dynamic leadership the league championship was won in 1930/31, and added to this was the Combination cup and the East Lancashire Charity Shield. The Darwen team of 1930/31 was almost unbeatable, Reg Preedy scored more than fifty League and cup goals, and victories like 12-1 away from home were recorded. A civil reception was held at the municipal buildings by the Council to greet the Double winning side home after the final league game of the season. Yet although 1930/31 was one of Darwens most successful campaigns, it was to be eclipsed by the wonderful show the following season.
In the 1931/32 season not only was the Championship retained as well as the Combination cup, Darwen also found themselves facing Arsenal at Highbury in the third round of the FA cup. Such a magnificent feat captured the imagination of the National press who devoted column after column to describing the possible outcome of this David and Goliath encounter, but what happened in the end is as they say ....... history Darwen were defeated 11-1. ( 8-0 at half-time ) Arsenal fielded eight full Internationals for the game, but at least Darwen scored in the 75th minute and the roar from the large following from Darwen when Dales shoot went in could be heard all over London. The following day hundreds lined the rail-line between Spring-vale and Darwen station and thousands lined Railway road to welcome home their "shell shocked" heroes, Darwens share of the gate receipts ( 37,486 gate/reciepts £2,468) was just over a thousand pounds a fantastic sum in those days. Darwens route to the third round had seen victories against Burscough, Lytham, Dick Kerrs, Prescott Cables, Peterbough and Chester who were top of the third division. The game against Chester played on the 12th December 1931 ended 2-1 for Darwen and was watched by a crowd of 6,500 at the Anchor (receipts £302) Darwen erected a new stand "Affectionately known as the Gracie Fields stand" from the proceeds of that great cup run.
The 1931/32 season was to be the last season Darwen would play in their Black and White stripe shirts, the following season Arsenal sponsered Darwen and presented them with a complete set of their own colours and from that season the Salmoners have always played in the colours of Arsenal ( apart from a season in the sixties when green was worn and a short spell of two seasons in the seventies when Darwen played in all blue 1973/74 --74/75, but reverted back to the Gunners colours in 1976.) In the 1932/33 season the Lancashire Challenge Trophy was won, but sadly in the following years the all conquering side began to disintegrate and it was back to the oblivion of the lower half of the table struggling year after year.
Darwens home crowd which had become accustomed to seeing the very best would not be satisfied with a lower standard and the crowds began to dwindle, and in the lean years upto the Second World War crisis after crisis developed in the financial affairs of the club. Public appeals and loans helped to keep the flag flying, but money worries were never far away from the Anchor. In 1939 competitive football ceased but bad luck followed the club in the bleak winter of 1941 strong winds wrecked the stand situated on the popular west side of the ground, this was not replaced until the 1950's.
With the end of hostilities in 1945 efforts were made to revive the club, and thanks to the generosity of a few Darreners and a timely transfer fee received from Burnley for the services of Harry Johnson, it was possible to make a new start. Darwens most successful season in the postwar period was in 1948/49, in that year Darwen finished the season in fourth place in the league and were beaten finalists in the Lancashire Junior Cup.
In the 1950's the game at all levels prospered, and Darwen enjoyed a spell of about ten years were the gates steadily increased and the clubs finances improved keeping the wolves at bay. Its just a pity the fortunes on the field did not reflect this.
In the sixties the honours eluded the Salmoners and it was not until the early seventies that success again came to Darwen, a merger with the ambitious Bury based Manchester league club Clarence Athletic in the summer of 1972 brought team manager Glyn Watson and a very talented squad of players to the Anchor. Darwen also had for a short period a change of strip to all blue. In the following season 1972/73 Darwen won their first Championship for over 40 years by five clear points, along with this was won the Lancashire Junior Cup for the second time in Darwen's history, with twin strikers Frank O'Kane and Graham Hopkinson netting a total of 73 goals between them. O'Kane was to score over 100 goals for the Salmoners in a little over three seasons at the anchor. Other members of the championship team included: Collins, Atkinson, Hamer, Waywell, Barrass, Burke, Moore, Lord, Dunning, Richards, Farnworth and Wickers. The following season Darwen finished as runners-up in the league, but in the next season 1974/75 they again won the championship and league cup, plus the Lancashire F.A. non league Youth Cup. In the last game of the 74/75 season needing just one point to clinch the title Darwen faced their nearest rivals the Blackpool Mechanics at the Anchor in front of 1,600 fans, the game ended 2-2 with Martyn Farnworth's penalty giving Darwen the point needed.
The following season Darwen took what seemed a gamble by joining the Cheshire league but as so often happens the championship side soon began to break up and Darwens most successful manager for over 40 years Glyn Watson departed, he was replaced by Jim Birkett. The clubs fortunes in the Cheshire league were an uphill struggle. And in the 1982 season after seven seasons in the league, the Cheshire league disbanded leaving Darwen as founder members of the newly formed North West Counties league. On the 14th may 1983 against Prescot cables Jim Burkett announced his retirement from management, after seven years in charge. Jim had taken the team to the final that year of the North west Counties league cup, which they won.
The next season started with Malcolm Darling taking over the manager's job with Harold Martin his assistant. The eighties went by with only a drop into the second division to show for their efforts, It was around the late eighties that Ian McGarry took over the running of the team.
The only honour from the mid-eighties to date was the Lancashire floodlight Trophy winners in 1990, towards the late nineties Ian McGarry stepped down and at the present time the Darwen manager is ex Preston North End captain Steve Wilkes with Matt Atkinson his assistant. In the 1998/99 season the club reached the final of the Lancashire A. T. S. Trophy only being beaten in a penalty shoot-out against Conference side Morecambe, Darwen had beaten Accrington Stanley and Southport on the way to the final. In the 1999/2000 season Darwen finished a repectable fourth, dispite being in the top two all season dropping of towards the end, but things looked bright for the 2000/01 season but at present the team are in midtable with some games in hand!........ Whatever the future holds for the club it's past is there for all to see, pick up any book on the history of football, the Football League, or the FA cup, and you will find the name of:
Darwen football club. ....... the Salmoners.

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