West End F.C. (London)

West End
Full nameWest End Football Club
Nickname(s)W.E.
Founded1868
Dissolved1914?
GroundWormholt Farm, Shepherd's Bush
SecretaryR. A. Palmer
to 1881 colours
from 1883 colours

West End was an English association football club from London, with a claimed foundation date of 1868.

West End Football Club, Illustrated London News, 7 November 1891

History

1882–83 West End Challenge Cup final, West End 3–0 Prairie Rangers, Sportsman, 3 April 1883

West End was the works side of the Marshall & Snelgrove department store.[1] The club's first recorded match was in October 1873.[2]

Its first year of entry to the FA Cup was 1879–80, and the club reached the fourth round (last ten), albeit thanks to one bye and one walkover after the Swifts withdrew from the competition. The club reached the second round of the Cup in the next two years. In 1881–82, the club drew 1–1 with Reading, but was disqualified before the replay could take place for an unknown reason.[3]

The club's last FA Cup tie was a 3–3 draw with Upton Park in 1884–85 as it withdrew from the competition before the replay. It had success on a more local level, winning the West End Challenge Cup (set up in 1881 for works sides from "large retail houses")[4] for the first time in 1882–83, by beating Prairie Rangers (the works side of Harvey Nichols)[5] 3–0 in the final replay, at Wormholt Farm; the match attracted an attendance of 1,500, and Cooper gave West End the lead in the first half, Foster scoring twice in the second (the first from following up a parry by Houghton in the Rangers' goal, the second "breasting" home a corner) to secure the cup.[6] It repeated the triumph in 1895.[7]

The club continued playing until at least the 1913–14 season,[8] but references to West End afterwards refer to the West End FA rather than an individual club.

Colours

1878–81 Black & amber stripes and stockings, with white knickers[9]
1881 Blue & amber
1881–83 Blue & white
1883–85 Black & white[10]

Grounds

In 1875, the club was playing at Wormwood Scrubs.[11] By 1877, the club had moved to Wormholt Farm[12] in Shepherd's Bush,[13] In 1878–79, the club was playing at the Royal Oak in Harlesden,[14] but by 1879–80 the club was once more playing at Wormholt Farm, using the Askew Arms for facilities.[15]

In 1905, the Marshall & Snelgrove amalgamated athletic association - the Magpie Athletic Club, formed in 1895 to bring together disparate sports under one umbrella - moved to a new ground in Wembley Park, and the football club took up residence there, albeit keeping the name West End.[16]

References

  1. ^ "Old Etonians 5-1 West End". The Sportsman: 4. 9 February 1880.
  2. ^ "Olympic 1-0 West End". Sporting Life: 4. 29 October 1873.
  3. ^ "report". Bell's Life. 10 December 1881.
  4. ^ "The West-End Challenge Cup". Sporting Life: 1. 4 October 1881.
  5. ^ "West End Football Association". Penny Illustrated Paper: 11. 28 April 1888.
  6. ^ "West End Challenge Cup". Field: 461. 7 April 1883.
  7. ^ "Magpie Athletic Association". Sporting Life: 8. 6 February 1907.
  8. ^ "Harrow Weald v West End". Harrow Observer: 2. 31 October 1913.
  9. ^ Sportsman's Year-Book. London: Cassell. 1881. p. 189.
  10. ^ Alcock, Charles (1885). Football Annual. London: Wright & Co. p. 243.
  11. ^ "Gresham 2-0 West End". The Field: 158. 13 February 1875.
  12. ^ "West End 0-1 St Stephen's Westminster". The Sportsman: 10. 12 February 1878.
  13. ^ "West End 0-0 Argonauts". The Sportsman: 4. 19 November 1877.
  14. ^ Alcock, Charles (1879). Football Annual. p. 152.
  15. ^ Alcock, Charles (1880). Football Annual. p. 152.
  16. ^ "Magpie Athletic Association". The Referee: 12. 3 December 1905.