Mohicans was a 19th-century football club that played football by the

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

codes. It is notable for being one of the twenty-one founding members of the Rugby Football Union.

History

Mohicans was established in 1869 with about fifty members. It fielded two teams of twenty a side for rugby matches. The derivation of the club's name appears to have been lost in the midsts of time. The teams' colours were chocolate and magenta. On 26 January 1871, they sent representation to a meeting of twenty-one London and suburban football clubs that followed

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

rules (Wasps were invited by failed to attend) assembled at the

Pall Mall Restaurant The Pall Mall Restaurant was a hostelry situated at Number 1 Cockspur Street, Westminster, London, just off Pall Mall and near Trafalgar Square. The site was subsequently the offices of the White Star Line, and was then occupied by a Tex Mex res ...

Cockspur Street Cockspur Street is a short street in the City of Westminster, London, within which a very short part of Trafalgar Square links Charing Cross to Pall Mall/Pall Mall East at the point where that road changes name, opposite the traffic exit from ...

. E.C. Holmes, captain of the Richmond Club assumed the presidency. It was resolved unanimously that the formation of a Rugby Football Society was desirable and thus the Rugby Football Union was formed. A president, a secretary and treasurer, and a committee of thirteen were elected, to whom was entrusted the drawing-up of the laws of the game upon the basis of the code in use at Rugby School. Although Mohicans was considered prominent enough to have been invited, they did not gain any of the thirteen places on the original committee.Marshall, Francis, ''Football; the Rugby union game'', p68, (1892) (London Paris Melbourne, Cassell and company, limited) The club played its football at the Battenham Road, Lower Edmonton. In 1873 the club relocated to Coleraine Park,

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Wal ...

and whilst there they changed at the Red Lion pub in

Disbandment

The club disbanded in 1874 after just five seasons.

Notable players

Despite their apparent prominence, the club produced no international players.

References

English rugby union teams Rugby clubs established in 1869 Rugby union clubs in London Defunct English rugby union teams 1869 establishments in England {{London-sport-stub