IN the mid 1880s, two of the best football teams in the world came from Blackburn.

The Olympic club became the first northern team to win the FA Cup in 1883, and this was followed by three successive Blackburn Rovers’ victories in the same competition.

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Rovers had been formed in November 1875, following a meeting called by local coachbuilder and keen footballer, John Lewis.

The Olympic came into being two years later, when the best players, including John Edmondson, from the Black Star and James St clubs amalgamated in 1877.

New research, however, has now uncovered a match played on November 15, 1873, in which the founders of both clubs played on the same team, and the first captain of the Rovers, Tom Greenwood, played for the opposition along with his brother and fellow Rover, Harry.

In the archives is this account of a match between Brookhouse 2nd XI and Blackburn Ramblers: This match was played on Saturday last on the ground of the former, and resulted in an easy victory for the home team who all played excellently, winning 4 goals to none. For the ‘Ramblers’ Messrs. J Foulds, Stephens, Dean, and Cook played well.

The sides were: Brookhouse: J Edmondson (captain), J Farrand, A Blackshaw, J Hyslop, W Howard, J Ainsworth, W Shuttleworth, J Lewis, J Grimshaw, T Woodruff, R Watson, J Haworth and J Wolstenholme.

‘Ramblers’: T Greenwood (captain), A Brothers, Stephens, H Greenwood, T Dean, J Foulds, Mi Brothers, T Cook, A Brothers, T Pickup, J Porter, J Duckworth and J Radcliffe. At this time football in the Blackburn area was played according to rules that had been established by local mill owners sons, Albert Neilson Hornby, Fred Coddington, Tom Baynes and Arthur Appleby in the autumn of 1865.

These rules were a mixture of Harrow Football and the Eton Field Game; being the schools many of them had attended and which were quite similar to the rules of the fledgling football association.

One of the match reports from this earlier period stated that ‘the ball was kicked through the charmed square’, suggesting that the crossbar (probably a tape) from the Eton game was used, as opposed to the Harrow game where the ball could pass through the posts at any height.

The reason for this may well have been that the matches back in Blackburn were played in built-up areas with many factory and house windows nearby.

Hornby was soon to receive £500 per year — that’s around £40,000 today — from his exasperated father, William Henry.

This was to keep him away from his mill where he had been teaching the younger employees the rudiments of both football and cricket and which was leading to extended lunch breaks and many broken windows.

By 1873, Albert had switched to playing rugby and so he was probably out of touch with what was happening with the next generation of footballers back in Blackburn; most of the players involved in the game were around 18 years old.

You’ll notice that the match that year was played with 13 a side — not uncommon in these early years — but does it also suggest a great desire to try out this new ‘association’ game, with 26 young players turning up wanting to play.

Local football historians have always maintained that John Lewis was no lover of admixtures, preferring a pure association game.

If this is true then this game could well have been played to those rules, making this match the first ever recorded association match in East Lancashire.

A note on the players involved

(It has not been possible to trace all the players with any certainty, because names were so common)

Brookhouse team

John Edmondson, 18, was the first Olympic captain and honorary secretary.

A Blackshaw, later played cricket for Black Star, one of the clubs cherry picked to form the Olympic.

W Shuttleworth, also played cricket for Black Star.

J Ainsworth, later played cricket for James St, the other club that amalgamated to form the Olympic.

John Lewis, 18, John was a co-founder and treasurer of the Rovers.

T Woodruff, Thomas entered many events in the 6th Annual Brookhouse Sports, held in May 1873. He also played in goal for the Olympic in a 12-0 win over Liverpool in 1880. He was appointed to the Olympic committee in 1884, and re-elected in 1886.

Ramblers team

Tom Greenwood, 17, became the Rovers first captain and held the post until 1879.

Harry Greenwood, 15, was a useful half-back with the early Rovers team.

Doc Greenwood was a third, younger sibling who was the best of them all and who would go on to play for England.

Arthur Brothers, 19.

Alfred Brothers, 17.

Malam Brothers ,16, later became a solicitor.