Upton Park Football Club was an amateur

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club from Upton Park,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in the late 19th and early 20th century, now defunct. As well as being one of the fifteen teams that played in the inaugural

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 ...

1871 Events January–March * January 3 – Franco-Prussian War – Battle of Bapaume: Prussians win a strategic victory. * January 18 – Proclamation of the German Empire: The member states of the North German Confederation and the sout ...

, they also represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

at the first ever Olympic football tournament in 1900, which they won.

History

Founded in

1866 Events January–March * January 1 ** Fisk University, a historically black university, is established in Nashville, Tennessee. ** The last issue of the abolitionist magazine '' The Liberator'' is published. * January 6 – Ottoman tr ...

, the club were one of the 15 teams to play in the very first edition of the

in 1871–72; they never won the competition but did reach the quarter-finals on four occasions. They were also the inaugural winners of the

London Senior Cup The London Senior Cup is the County Senior Cup of the London FA. The London Senior Cup was first won by Upton Park in 1882. Although the leading professional sides in London no longer compete, the Cup has been won in the past by the likes of Ar ...

in 1882–83. Though resolutely an amateur club, they inadvertently sparked the legalisation of

professionalism A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

in the game after complaining about

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

's payments to players after the two met in the FA Cup in 1884; Preston were disqualified, but the incident made the FA confront the issue and, under threat of a breakaway, they allowed payments to players the following year. The club were wound up in 1887 but were resurrected four years later in 1891. In 1892 they were founder members of the

Southern Alliance The Southern Alliance was a short-lived football league competition for teams in the South of England. At the time, there were no Southern teams in the Football League and no equivalent competition existed for clubs in the south. John Oliver, a ...

, an early league competition amongst teams from southern England, but were bottom of the league with only one win to their name when the competition folded before the 1892–93 season ended. Despite the obvious similarity of name to Upton Park stadium (officially known as the Boleyn Ground), the club had no connection with the ground and never played there; however there were formal links between Upton Park and

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

(then known as Thames Ironworks) and many players did play for both. In addition, Upton Park's home games in

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 th ...

attracted large crowds to their games, which may have influenced Thames Ironworks' decision to move to the area from

Canning Town Canning Town is a district in the London Borough of Newham, East London. The district is located to the north of the Royal Victoria Dock, and has been described as the "Child of the Victoria Docks" as the timing and nature of its urbanisation ...

, where football was not as popular.

1900 Olympic Games

The Amateur Status Committee of the Football Association offered the club the opportunity to play in Paris at the inaugural Olympic Games. Records show that Upton Park were the first club to agree to play but were unlikely to be the first to be asked. Upton Park were not participating in a league at the time playing only cup games and friendlies. They had never reached the semi-final stage of 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 ...

and the competition was now in its seventh year. The club secretary and goalkeeper James Jones selected the team and brought in players from other amateur teams; Richard Turner joined from Crouch End Vampires, William Gosling, a soldier on leave, joined from

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...

Alfred Chalk Alfred Ernest Chalk (27 November 1874 – 25 June 1954) was a British Railway clerk and footballer who competed in the 1900 Olympic Games The 1900 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1900, link=no), today officially known a ...

joined from Ilford and

Jack Zealley Walter John Zealley (2 November 1874 – 15 May 1956) was an English people, English Association football, footballer who played as an inside-left. He represented Great Britain at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, winning a gold medal as a membe ...

joined from Bridport FC. Gosling's Chelmsford side had beaten Upton Park 7–1 in January 1900. Upton Park won the competition in Paris, beating a USFSA XI representing

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, 4–0. Although a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

was not awarded to the side at the time (it being a

demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games, but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration spor ...

), the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

have since retrospectively awarded one. The team that day (playing a 2–3–5 formation) was: : James Jones;

Claude Buckenham Claude Percival Buckenham (16 January 1876 – 23 February 1937) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Essex and England. He also won a gold medal playing football at the Olympic Games in 1900. Life and career Tall and gangling, an ...

, William Gosling;

, T. E. Burridge, William Quash; Richard Turner, F. G. Spackman, John Nicholas,

Henry Haslam Henry Cobden Haslam (4 October 1870 – 7 February 1948) was a British medical researcher and Conservative Party politician. The son of Henry Haslam, a "member" or insurance underwriter of Lloyd's of London, he was born in the north London subur ...

(captain) Note that the spellings of names differs slightly from names listed by RSSSF. The scorers were Nicholas (with two), Turner and Zealley.

Famous players

Famous players for the side included Charles Alcock, later president of

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

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

Alfred Stair Alfred Stair (15 May 1845 – 2 March 1914) was an English civil servant, who was the referee at the first three FA Cup Finals, all of which were played in London in 1872, 1873 and 1874. He entered the civil service in 1864 in the Treasury, becomi ...

and Segar Bastard (who was also an

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

international), and

Charlie Dove Charlie Dove (1879–?) was an English footballer. Career Dove was regarded as being very physically fit for a footballer; in 1895 he stood nearly 6 feet tall and weighed 12 stone, which was considered large for a sixteen-year-old from a worki ...

, one of the early leading players for Thames Ironworks. Upton Park also supplied two other England internationals,

Clement Mitchell Clement Mitchell (20 February 1862 – 6 October 1937) was an English sportsman who represented the England national football team and played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club. Mitchell was born at Cambridge in 1862 and was educa ...

and Conrad Warner.

, who played in the Olympic team of 1900, represented

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

Legacy

Upton Park continued to play until at least 1911, according to modern-day records. The

Upton Park Trophy The Upton Park Trophy is awarded to the winners of an annual association football match in the Channel Islands between the champions of Guernsey's Priaulx League and Jersey's Football Combination. The venue alternates each year between Guernse ...

, the annual playoff between the league champions of

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

and

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

, is named for the Upton Park side, to commemorate their tenth annual tour of the islands, which they made in 1906. In 2016, coinciding with West Ham United's move to the

London Stadium London Stadium (formerly and also known as Olympic Stadium and the Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park) is a multi-purpose outdoor stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in the Stratford district of London. It is located in the Lower Lea ...

, Upton Park were 'reformed' as an amateur club and staged the final game at the

Boleyn Ground The Boleyn Ground, often referred to as Upton Park, was a football stadium located in Upton Park, east London. It was the home of West Ham United from 1904 to 2016, and was briefly used by Charlton Athletic in the early 1990s during their years ...

, against

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

. Upton Park FC was responsible for proposing two of the most important rule changes in the history of association football: in 1870, the club proposed abolishing all handling of the ball (previously, any player was allowed to catch the ball). In 1871, the club introduced a proposal to create the special position of

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, who alone would be allowed to handle the ball.

References

{{Summer Olympics football tournament winners Association football clubs established in 1866 Association football clubs disestablished in 1911 Defunct football clubs in England Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Football at the 1900 Summer Olympics Sport in the London Borough of Newham Defunct football clubs in London 1866 establishments in England 1911 disestablishments in England Great Britain Olympic football team