Post by Jon on Sept 25, 2011 21:21:34 GMT
I have previously mentioned what was probably Torquay's first football club - playing Harrow Rules back in 1862 before the Football Association was formed:
www.torquayfansforum.com/index.cgi?board=tufchistory&action=display&thread=7296
So when was the first association football club? The earliest I have found so far is the Excelsior club active in the 1887/88 season. Here is a report of a match from the Torquay Times dated 13 January 1888:
It is interesting that the report gives the score as "five goals and five corners to one corner".
Scores of rugby games at the time were given as goals and tries to goals and tries. The greater number of goals won the game, with the number of tries only coming in to play if goals were tied.
I don't think it was common to give corner counts in association games at the time.
Tries and corners both evolved from the same thing - a ball touched down beyond the goal line giving rise to an attempt to score a goal - which evolved to have a greater importance in rugby than in soccer.
It is interesting to see that both teams lined up in the 1-2-7 formation.
Excelsior's full back J.Harrison was to become a central figure in the development of soccer in Torquay - donating the silver cup for the Torquay and District League when it was formed in 1903.
The second cutting comes from 14 September 1888 and tells us that Excelsior's record for 1887/88 was P11 W9 D1 L1. I don't know who their opponents were - I would imagine a mixture of school teams and scratch elevens. I assume that Excelsior ceased to be at this point - as their officers seem to have thrown in their lot with the new YMCA team.
www.torquayfansforum.com/index.cgi?board=tufchistory&action=display&thread=7296
So when was the first association football club? The earliest I have found so far is the Excelsior club active in the 1887/88 season. Here is a report of a match from the Torquay Times dated 13 January 1888:
It is interesting that the report gives the score as "five goals and five corners to one corner".
Scores of rugby games at the time were given as goals and tries to goals and tries. The greater number of goals won the game, with the number of tries only coming in to play if goals were tied.
I don't think it was common to give corner counts in association games at the time.
Tries and corners both evolved from the same thing - a ball touched down beyond the goal line giving rise to an attempt to score a goal - which evolved to have a greater importance in rugby than in soccer.
It is interesting to see that both teams lined up in the 1-2-7 formation.
Excelsior's full back J.Harrison was to become a central figure in the development of soccer in Torquay - donating the silver cup for the Torquay and District League when it was formed in 1903.
The second cutting comes from 14 September 1888 and tells us that Excelsior's record for 1887/88 was P11 W9 D1 L1. I don't know who their opponents were - I would imagine a mixture of school teams and scratch elevens. I assume that Excelsior ceased to be at this point - as their officers seem to have thrown in their lot with the new YMCA team.
