Farningham F.C. was a short-lived English

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club from the village of Farningham in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

History

The club played two matches in its first season (1872–73). Its first match was against the

Harrow Chequers Harrow Chequers Football Club was a football club from London, England in the 1860s to early 1890s. It played as the Harrow Chequers from 1865 to 1876, when it was then renamed the Old Harrovians, and continued play until at least 1891. Derive ...

, and resulted in a win for Farningham, although that was to a large extent down to the Chequers only turning up with four players and relying on three substitutes against the ten men of Farningham. For its first match outside Kent, against the Philistines of Leytonstone, the club was able to secure the services of F. E. Maddison, who scored an equalizer right at the death. The club entered the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

on two occasions. In 1873–74 the club was drawn to play at home to

the Trojans ''Les Troyens'' (; in English: ''The Trojans'') is a French grand opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself from Virgil's epic poem the ''Aeneid''; the score was composed between 1856 and 1858. ''Les Tr ...

, but scratched. In the following year, the club was drawn against the Wanderers, at the Kennington Oval, and the club decided to play the match rather than scratching. The game ended 16–0 to the home side, at the time a record score. The newspapers praised the performance of Farningham's goalkeeper W.D.O.Greig, whose play was described as "very brilliant" and "excellent goalkeeping". The club appears to have been handicapped for the match by only having four of its regular players available for the tie (the others being captain and club secretary Revd. George Rashleigh, and backs Burnside and English). Greig's reward was to be chosen for the London representative side in the match against the

Sheffield Football Association The Sheffield and Hallamshire Football Association is a County Football Association in England. It was formed in Sheffield in 1867 as the Sheffield Football Association, and is the second-oldest football governing body after the Football Associ ...

representative side, albeit not as a goalkeeper. However, there are no further fixtures recorded for Farningham, which had been struggling in previous matches to put out a full side. On one occasion the club relied on a spectator to help fill out a 10-man side, and two weeks before the Wanderers game the club only turned up with eight men for a match with

South Norwood South Norwood is a district of south-east London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon, Greater London and formerly in the historic county of Surrey. It is located 7.8 miles (12.5 km) south-east of Charing Cross, north of Wood ...

. The next season, Greig joined the Wanderers, and played in goal in their Cup Final victory.

Colours

The club's colours were dark blue and white, which were probably in hoops.

Notable players

* The Revd. George Rashleigh, vicar of Horton Kirby, and secretary to two

Masters of the Rolls Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

* Frederick Maddison, England international and Cup-winner with Oxford University F.C.

References

{{Reflist Defunct football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in Kent Association football clubs established in 1872 Association football clubs disestablished in 1875