South Reading was an

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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

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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

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, after 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 ...

ordered a replay as South Reading had arrived at the

West Ham Park West Ham Park is a privately owned public park in West Ham in the London Borough of Newham. Spanning , it is the largest park in the borough. The park has been managed by the City of London Corporation since 1874. Records from 1566 show that ...

ground too late to complete the game in daylight. South Reading repeated their 2–1 win in a "warmly contested" match. The club received a bye to the third round, where they played

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

, and took an early lead, but then conceded 11 goals without further reply. The club entered the FA Cup until 1887–88, when the FA introduced qualifying rounds, and the club stopped entering. The club's best run came in 1885–86, despite only playing one game in the season before the competition started. After beating

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and being awarded the tie against

Clapton F.C. Clapton Football Club is a football club based in Plaistow, East London. The club are currently members of the and play at the Terence McMillan Stadium in Plaistow following their 2019 eviction from their long-term home, the Old Spotted Dog G ...

, who turned up too late to a replay to allow extra time to be played, the club walked over the

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, who refused to play because of poor weather conditions, in the third round;

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and

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were expelled from the competition for also refusing to compete, after there had been an extreme frost. The club was unlucky to be one of only four that did not draw a bye in the fourth round, and lost 3–0 at home to Brentwood, at the club's new ground at Mr Colebrook's farm. The club reached the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup Final in 1886–87, losing to Windsor. The club seems to have disbanded in around 1894, around the time

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 ...

joined the Southern League, as there was no longer enough support to run an amateur club in the town.

Colours

The club's colours were black shirts with a white Maltese cross.

Ground

The club played at Whitley Park Farm.

References

Association football clubs established in 1878 1878 establishments in England Football clubs in Reading Defunct football clubs in England Association football clubs disestablished in 1894 {{England-footyclub-defunct-stub