Reading Abbey was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

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 t ...

club based in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, which 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 competit ...

in 1880–81 and 1881–82.

History

The club was founded in 1875 under the name Reading St Lawrence, based at the Abbey Institute, an organization for young men affiliated with St Lawrence's Church; its earliest recorded matches are from the 1877–78 season. The changed its name to Reading Abbey in 1880, in time for its first entry to the Cup. This was an ambitious step for the club, which had not yet played the leading club in the town (

Reading F.C. Reading Football Club ( ) is a professional football club based in Reading, Berkshire, England. The team play in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is managed by Paul Ince. Reading are nicknamed ...

), but by now the club included some players from the now-defunct Reading Hornets F.C. side, such as Abbey captain Charles Pontin. In the first round, the club beat the St Alban's club from Forest Gate, thanks to an own goal from a corner in the last five minutes. In the second round, held at the Reading Cricket Ground, Abbey beat

Acton Acton may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Acton Australia * Acton, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Acton, Tasmania, a suburb of Burnie * Acton Park, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, formerly known as Acton Canada ...

, coming from a goal behind to win 2–1, thanks to injuries and illness reducing Acton to 9 men for much of the second half. The third round tie at

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romfo ...

was postponed after Abbey refused to travel after a hard frost - the home side eventually beat Abbey 2–0. The club also played Reading for the only time, in the

Berks & Bucks Senior Cup Berks may refer to: Places * Berkshire, England * Berks, Nebraska, United States * Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Other uses * ''Berks'' (TV series), Filipino television series * Berks station, a SEPTA station in Philadelphia, Penn ...

second round, losing 2–0. The club reached the second round in 1881–82, beating

Woodford Bridge F.C. Woodford Bridge FC was an England, English association football club based in Woodford Bridge, Essex. The club was founded in 1880 and entered the FA Cup from 1881-82 FA Cup, 1881–82 to 1883-84 FA Cup, 1883–84 without winning a tie. History ...

in a replay in the first, thanks to a very late goal by full-back Maxwell (who was "playing well up"), but its defeat (again at the Reading Cricket Ground) to the Hotspur club of Battersea was its last appearance in the competition. The biggest problem the club had was that it had no permanent enclosed ground; it had to beg use of the Cricket Ground for big Cup ties. This seems to have caused the club to forgo membership 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 ...

after 1882, and, therefore, not be able to enter the FA Cup. The club had some strength within the town, being runners-up in the Reading Challenge Cup to

South Reading F.C. South Reading was an English association football club based in Reading. History The club gave its foundation date as 1878 and it first entered the FA Cup in 1882–83. In the first round, the club beat Dreadnought F.C., after the Football A ...

in 1883, but the Abbey Institute closed during the 1883–84 season, and the club played very few matches during it. The club's 2–0 win over Culham College on 10 February 1884 appears to have been the club's last match, with players spreading to various other clubs in the region thereafter.

Colours

The club's colours were blue shirts with red sleeves.

Ground

The club played at the Recreation Park in the King's Meadows in Reading.

References

{{reflist, 30em Association football clubs established in 1875 1875 establishments in England Football clubs in Reading Defunct football clubs in England Association football clubs disestablished in the 19th century Defunct football clubs in Berkshire