The Argonauts name was used by two separate London football clubs.

Original club

The original Argonauts club played home games on South Hackney Common in the 1870s. Its first reported matches date back to 1875 and the club 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 competi ...

in 1879-80, losing to Hotspur in a replay; by this time the club had moved to

Forest Gate Forest Gate is a district in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England. It is located northeast of Charing Cross. The area's name relates to its position adjacent to Wanstead Flats, the southernmost part of Epping Forest. The town ...

. For the 1880–81 season its captain (J. Wylie) and some of its players had moved to Dreadnought F.C. and the club seems to have been wound up.

1928 incarnation

The second version was a unique amateur football

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

. Despite never playing a match or having a published squad, they became notable in the late 1920s for attempting to join

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

three times. The team was formed in

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhan ...

by Dick Sloley,

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

and England amateur international, and president of the Ealing Association Football Club, as an equivalent to the Scottish Queen's Park club to play in the Football League. Stoley claimed to have secured the services of the top amateur players of the day for his new national amateur club and the 100,000 capacity

White City Stadium White City Stadium was a stadium located in White City, London, England. Built for the 1908 Summer Olympics, it hosted the finish of the first modern marathon and other sports like swimming, speedway, boxing, show jumping, athletics, stock ...

to play in. After objections from local

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...

clubs

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

and Brentford, he then proceeded to hire

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

as a venue. The club applied for Football League status that year, falling in third place but earning a creditable 16 votes. The club went inactive for a year, but reapplied in 1929, this time with Lord Lonsdale as club chairman, coming again in third – one place off acceptance but this time with only 6 votes. Yet again, the club became inactive for a year. A third and final attempt was made in

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will b ...

; this time no votes were gained whilst even

Llanelly Llanelly ( cy, Llanelli) is the name of a parish and coterminous community in the principal area of Monmouthshire, within the historic boundaries of Brecknockshire, south-east Wales. It roughly covers the area of the Clydach Gorge. The popu ...

gained 4 votes.

References

*{{cite book , last=Twydell , first=Dave , title=Denied F.C.: The Football League Election Struggles , publisher=Yore Publications , location=

Harefield Harefield is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England, northwest of Charing Cross near Greater London's boundary with Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the north. The population at the 2011 Census was 7,399. Haref ...

, date=5 November 2001 , pages=30–31 , isbn=1-85983-512-0 Association football clubs established in 1928 Association football clubs disestablished in 1930 Defunct football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in London 1928 establishments in England 1930 disestablishments in England