Blackburn Law
Full nameBlackburn Law Football Club
Nickname(s)Law
Founded1876
Dissolved1883
GroundLane Ends[1]
PresidentMr T. Ainsworth
ChairmanH. T. Platts
Hon. SecretaryArthur Constantine

Blackburn Law, originally the Law Football and Cricket Club, was an English association football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire. The club was founded in 1876 and membership was restricted to solicitors, who had contributed 50 guineas through subscriptions by the time the club was entering its second year.[2]

The club optimistically entered the FA Cup in 1881-82 as one of four sides from the town (the others being Blackburn Rovers, Blackburn Olympic, and Blackburn Park Road) to do so, despite not having entered the Lancashire Senior Cup in the competition's two years of existence.[3] The club was drawn to play Bootle in the first round, and took the lead in the first half, but ultimately lost 2-1.[4] Both sides had Lancashire Cup ties on the same day; Bootle played theirs against Preston North End straight afterwards, while Law had to send a reserve team to Bolton Hornets, which also lost.[5] The same season saw the biggest win credited to Law, a 6-0 victory at home to Southport;[6] soon afterwards captain Rylance moved to Southport and essentially took over the town's club.[7]

The last reference to a game being played by the club was a 2-2 draw with Blackburn Zingari in December 1882.[8] For the 1882-83 season the club's opponents were much lower key sides than in previous seasons, and the club lost to teams such as Cherry Tree F.C.[9] and Darwen Hibernians.[10] The club had also gone out of the Lancashire Cup in the first round to Farnworth,[11] suggesting that, as some of the better players had moved to more high-profile clubs, there was no longer enough interest in a club with such a narrow constituency, and the club's Football Association membership lapsed at the end of the 1882-83 season,[12] and was listed as having been a "loss" before the start of the next season.[13]

Notable players

Harry Fecitt, FA Cup winner with Blackburn Rovers, played for the club in 1882[14]

Jimmy Brown, winner of 3 FA Cup winners' medals with Rovers and future England international[15]

Ralph Rylance, key figure in the history of Southport F.C. and inventor of the artificial football pitch[16]

References

  1. ^ "St John's v Blackburn Law". Blackburn Standard: 3. 9 March 1878.
  2. ^ "The Law Football and Cricket Club". Blackburn Standard: 5. 31 August 1878.
  3. ^ First round details for 1879-80 in the Blackburn Standard of 8 November 1879 and 1880-81 in the Blackburn Standard of 25 September 1880
  4. ^ "Bootle 2-1 Blackburn Law". Liverpool Daily Post: 7. 7 November 1881.
  5. ^ "Football". Blackburn Standard. 12 November 1881.
  6. ^ "Law v Southport". Blackburn Standard: 3. 4 February 1882.
  7. ^ Hayes, Daniel (11 September 2013). "Who do you think you are, Ralph Rylance?". Southport FC Former Players Association. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  8. ^ "Football". Blackburn Standard: 3. 2 December 1882.
  9. ^ "Cherry Tree v Blackburn Law". Blackburn Standard. 25 November 1882.
  10. ^ "Football". Blackburn Standard. 21 October 1882.
  11. ^ There is no report of the game available, but the 9 September 1882 edition of the Blackburn Standard shows the clubs were drawn together in the first round, and Farnworth were later knocked out by Darwen St John's (16 December 1882).,
  12. ^ The club is cited as an FA member in the Alcock yearbook of 1883, covering the 1882-83 season, but not the 1884.
  13. ^ "Football Notes". Manchester Courier: 3. 17 September 1883.
  14. ^ "Blackburn Law v Halliwell Jubilee". Blackburn Standard. 21 January 1882.
  15. ^ "Jimmy Brown". England Football Online. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  16. ^ Rylance, Ralph. "Artificial Floors for Football, Bowling, Lawn Tennis &c" (PDF). Retrieved 7 June 2022.


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