New Crusaders F.C. was an English association football club from

Sidcup Sidcup is an area of south-east London, England, primarily in the London Borough of Bexley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, bordering the London Boroughs of London Borough of Bromley, Bromley and Royal Borough of Greenwich, Greenwich. Before ...

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 ...

which folded in 1915.

History

The club was founded by six Farnfield brothers (including Percy Farnfield), who had all earned Cambridge blues in football from 1897 to 1903. The club's name came from the brothers' father being a supporter of the former Crusaders club, but a junior side already having registered the Crusaders name with 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 ...

. The club was instantly a power in the amateur game, one of its earliest competitive matches being a 16–0 win over

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

in the

1905–06 FA Cup The 1905–06 FA Cup was the 35th staging of the world's oldest association football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (more usually known as the FA Cup). Everton won the competition for the first time, beating Newcastle United ...

qualifying rounds. Woking only started with 9 men, and, although a tenth soon joined, for the second half the club secretary (E. T. Engall) had to take the field and played in goal. The Farnfields shared out the 16 goals between them - H.V. and B.S. scoring five each. The club was a founder member of the

Southern Amateur Football League The Southern Amateur League (SAL) is an association football league in England affiliated to the Amateur Football Alliance (AFA). It is based in and around Greater London and caters for 11–a–side men's adult teams. A feature of the league i ...

for the 1907/08 season and were Champions in the 5 of the 6 seasons they competed in it up to them joining the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

for the 1913/14 season. In the 1905/06 and 1906/07 seasons New Crusaders competed in 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 ...

and the

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of professionalism within footba ...

Colours

The club wore all white, with a change kit of red shirts with white sleeves.

Ground

The club played at Sidcup College, whose ground facilities were so meagre that

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

, when drawn to play there in the FA Cup first round in 1906, offered money to switch the tie to

Home Park Home Park is a football stadium in Plymouth, England. The ground has been the home of Football League One club Plymouth Argyle since 1901.

, and protested to the

when the Crusaders turned the money down. In August 1908 the club moved to Sidcup Place (the former ground of Sidcup A.F.C.), whose "old country seat" the Farnfields had taken over for setting up a school.

References

Defunct football clubs in England Southern Amateur Football League Isthmian League clubs Defunct football clubs in Kent Association football clubs disestablished in 1915 {{England-footyclub-defunct-stub