FC Darwen

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The FC Darwen (officially: Darwen Football Club ) is an English football club based in the north-west - in the county of Lancashire  - town of Darwen . The club, which was founded in 1870, played in the then highest English league at the end of the 19th century , but is now only to be found in the lower-class amateur leagues.

Darwen FC, 1879-80

Originally as football and cricket club Club Founded played from 1875 according to the official soccer rules of the Association " FA " and was in 1879 in the midst of a serious controversy when he in a game of the FA Cup with the use of two of Glasgow originating Scots Fergus " Fergie "Suter and Jimmy Love violated the strict amateur code (and thus provoked votes against, which denied the right to participate in the cup competition for teams that are not exclusively made up of amateur players). Ultimately, however, the excitement was cleared and FC Darwen traveled a total of three times to the quarter-finals in London to play against the then extraordinarily good amateur team of the Old Etonians in the “ Oval ” stadium . After two games without a winner - a 5: 5 followed by a 2: 2 - FC Darwen lost 2: 6 in the second replay. In the following year the rule was changed that the last three rounds of the FA Cup were played in London, as the clubs from the north of England had successfully defended themselves against the supposed distortion of competition due to the long journey times. In addition, the competition now took place in the initial rounds in regional groups. The club reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 1881, where they lost 4-1 to the Old Carthusians .

Between 1891 and 1899 FC Darwen completed eight seasons in the English professional league " Football League " and was first class for two years and played six more years in the second-class Second Division . In the 1898/99 season, the club said goodbye in its last professional season after a series of 18 defeats, which is a negative record to this day (only Sunderland FC almost set the record in 2003 when this was just a second from a 2 : 0 win against Preston North End at Deepdale Stadium could be prevented).

The 12-0 away defeat of FC Darwen at West Bromwich Albion in the 1891/92 season is also the highest defeat in the history of English top division football. It is also believed that the club was the first of its kind to use artificial floodlights and had professional football players in its own ranks.

After the turn of the century, the club disappeared more and more in the lowlands of English football. After winning the championship in the "Lancashire League" in 1902, only the two consecutive title wins in the "Lancashire Combination" in 1931 and 1932 are to be mentioned. Shortly after the end of the Second World War , the club reached the fourth round in the 1946/47 season, but lost the home game against Lancaster City 2-5. Today the club plays in the "North West Counties Football League Division Two", which means that FC Darwen is only 10th class.

Known players

Trivia

The TV series The English Game , which appeared on Netflix in 2020 , is historically incorrect about the phase of FC Darwen, in which the two Scottish guest players, Fergus Suter and Jimmy Love, were under contract.

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