Argonauts
The Argonauts Football Club was a football club from London that competed three times from 1928 to 1930 for admission to the Football League without ever having played a game or had a team.
history
In March 1928, the plans of Richard W. "Dick" Sloley , an official at the amateur club AFC Ealing and a former player of the AFC Cambridge University and the English amateur national team , were first known, which were based on the Scottish club FC Queen's Park , with a pure Amateur team to join the professional game operation of the Football League. As the club's secretary, Sloley ensured that the club was properly established, had sufficient financial support and formed a committee with some of his colleagues. He also had an important advocate for his project in the sports newspaper Athletic News . The club was named after the Argonauts from Greek mythology , a popular source of names for the educationally elite English amateur football.
The White City Stadium was originally intended as the home stadium . After writing to all Football League clubs to promote the idea, Brentford FC and the Queens Park Rangers , both located near White City Stadium and with a rather low audience, raised concerns. Although those responsible argued that they did not see themselves as a local club and primarily wanted to appeal to fans of amateur football, the objections were taken seriously and, after negotiations with stadium owner Arthur Elvin , Wembley Stadium, a little further north, could be used as a potential home ground instead present.
Shortly before the annual general meeting of the members of the Football League, at which the applications to (re) admit the clubs were decided, the Argonauts announced that they had commitments from 33 amateur top players, a number particularly in view of the possible scheduling conflicts the amateurs with their professional obligations was needed. Despite all efforts, the club finally missed admission to the Football League Third Division South for the 1928/29 season with 16 votes , the two bottom of the preseason, Torquay United (42) and Merthyr Town (27), were with their request for resumption instead successfully.
Although the dissolution was announced after the failed attempt in 1928, they stood for election again in 1929. With Exeter City and Gillingham FC , however, two seasoned and established clubs had to apply for resumption, so that only six votes fell for the Argonauts, despite everything the best result of the five clubs asking for new admission. After the failure, the end of the project was announced again, but in 1930 the club ran for the third time in a row. However, the momentum of the amateur project was long gone and although a club with Merthyr Town was not re-elected, the Argonauts received no vote. Instead, the short-lived, also London-based club Thames AFC was elected to the Football League.
literature
- Dave Twydell: Denied FC Yore Publications, Harefield 2001, ISBN 1-874427-98-4 , pp. 30-31 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ independent.co.uk: Magnificent monument to vision of one man (Oct. 6, 2000)