Gresham F.C. was an association football club who played at Victoria Park in South Hackney in London, originally using the Penshurst Arms public house for the club facilities.

History

The club was founded in 1874 and shared a name with a rugby union club from Peckham Rye founded in the same year. The club was associated with the City firm of Messrs Morley, a firm of solicitors whose partners included Ebenezer Cobb Morley, one of the founding fathers of the

Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world an ...

, and who stepped down as President the year of Gresham's foundation. The firm was based at Gresham House on Old Broad Street, London. The first recorded match for the club was in November 1874. It first entered the FA Cup in 1876–77, losing to

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in the first round. It next entered the competition in 1879–80, beating Kildare away from home in the first round, but losing heavily to the Grey Friars club in the second. Despite conceding nine goals, the press had praise for Gresham's goalkeeper J. Davis "for his excellent defence in the Gresham goal,thus saving his side from a more overwhelming defeat." Grey Friars were impressed enough to invite Davis to join them, and in the

1880–81 FA Cup The 1880–81 Football Association Challenge Cup was the tenth staging of the FA Cup, England's oldest football tournament. Sixty-two teams entered, eight more than the previous season, although four of the sixty-two never played a match. First ...

Davis played in the Friars' goal in all of their ties. The Grey Friars defeat was Gresham's final match in the Cup. Club secretary H. J. Morison acted as referee in an FA Cup match in 1881, and the club was not among the founder members of the

London Football Association The London Football Association (LFA) is the regional Football Association for inner areas of London. The London FA was established in 1882 and is affiliated to The Football Association. The London FA administers all levels of men's, women's and ...

in 1882. However the club played at a low-key amateur level for at least the next 15 years, including reaching the final of the City of London Shield in 1896, for clubs whose base was within the traditional

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

. The club is recorded as playing in Palmers Green up until at least 1898. Line-ups for the 1896 City of London Challenge Shield final

Colours

The club's colours were black jerseys with a broad scarlet stripe around waist and arms, black stockings, and black caps with a scarlet stripe.

References

{{Reflist Defunct football clubs in England