Blackburn Rovers: The early years
As another football season draws to a close,
time to look at the birth of a football club...
One hundred and thirty years ago, on 5 November 1875, a meeting was held at the St Leger Hotel on King William Street to discuss forming a football club. John Lewis and Arthur Constantine, local business men and both ex-public schoolboys called the meeting for local townsmen with money, power and influence. As a result of this meeting of 17 well-educated middle class men, Blackburn Rovers was born.
Unlike today, football was originally a mainly upper class sport in England. Football clubs had first started in the 1820's, often in independent and public schools, each with their very own set of rules. Problems arose as each school had different ideas on the size of the pitch, how much handling of the ball was allowed, and whether or not hacking was permitted. When students moved onto university they needed a set of rules for the game so a standard code was drawn up. The Simplest Game, which had 10 rules, was established in 1862 and the following year representatives of English clubs formed the Football Association (FA).
Although the game of football, played under Association rules was still in its early days, Rovers played their first match, against the Church club, in December 1875. The match was reported by the Blackburn Times on 18 December and despite Rovers scoring first, the match ended in a draw.
Rovers' first ground was Oozehead. From there they moved to Pleasington Cricket Ground then onto Alexandra Meadows, all in the space of three years. In 1881 they moved to a new rented ground in Leamington Road. Their final move to the permanent site of Ewood Park, came in 1890 when the rent for the Leamington Road ground was increased. An all purpose sports ground that staged mainly athletics and dog racing, Ewood Park had a number of advantages. The tram line ran right outside, along Bolton Road, linking the ground to the town centre and railway station and it had also been used to stage an international match between England and Scotland in 1887. It was the natural choice for Rovers.
Rovers quickly rose to fame. In the 1881-82 season they reached the FA Cup final, eventually winning the trophy in 1884. From then they won the FA Cup in 1885, 1886, 1890 and 1891. The team continued to flourish and became League champions in the 1911-12 and 1913-14 seasons. That period up until the First World War was a golden age for Rovers, an age that has never quite been repeated.
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