Sunderland Royal Rovers F.C.

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Sunderland Royal Rovers
Full nameSunderland Royal Rovers Football Club
Nickname(s)the Royalists,[1] the Rovers
Founded1884
Dissolved1918
GroundBlue House Field
CapacityUnknown
PresidentGeorge Bell[2]
SecretaryW. T. Lazenby
Change colours

Sunderland Royal Rovers Football Club[3] was an English association football club based in Sunderland, England, formed in 1884.

History

Ralph Scott, from the Sunderland Daily Echo, 3 September 1904

The club was founded in 1884 by a group of eight- and nine-year old friends, who clubbed together to buy an India rubber football for fourpence; the boys chose the name Royal Rovers after a public house near to the home of one of the boys' grandparents. As the side grew and aged together, the players looked for more competitive football, and was a founder member of the Wearside Alliance in 1892, winning the title in 1894–95;[4] the club increasingly used the name Sunderland Royal Rovers following this triumph.[5]

The club's 1901–02 season record, Sunderland Daily Echo, 3 May 1902

The club joined the more prestigious Wearside League in 1896, and at the turn of the century became the strongest non-league side in the area; it won the League every year from 1900–01 to 1903–04, and in the first of those seasons also won two local competitions (the Shipowners' Cup and Monkwearmouth Charity Cup).[6] One of its founder players - Ralph Scott - was still vice-captain for the club as late as the 1904–05 season.[7]

The Rovers moved up to a national level by entering the FA Cup qualifying rounds from 1901–02 onwards. The club never reached the first round proper; its best run was to the final qualifying stage in 1902–03, at which stage the club lost at Bishop Auckland.[8]

The club left the Wearside League in 1906 to become one of the founder members of the new North Eastern League, which featured the stronger non-league clubs and the reserve sides of the Football League clubs - although the Rovers attended the initial meetings,[9] the decision to restrict the first season to ten clubs meant the club was left out as first alternative,[10] but the withdrawals of West Hartlepool and Hull City created space for the Rovers and West Stanley.[11] This required the club to turn semi-professional, paying 10s per match.[12]

After a couple of decent seasons, the lure of better pay meant the club haemorrhaged players to better-resourced sides, and it spent the last part of the decade at the bottom of the table.[13]

Before the 1910–11 season, the club shortened its name to Sunderland Rovers,[14] and by the start of the First World War had recovered to mid-table status. However, the club's existence ended during the War, as the British Army took over its ground in April 1918,[15] and the club's failure to send a representative to a meeting of the new North Eastern League in April 1919 was taken as tacit acceptance that the club had died.[16] The Rovers' final reported game was a first round Shipowners' Cup defeat at Sunderland West End in February 1918.[17]

Colours

The club wore red and white stripes - colours common in many Wearside clubs, including Wallsend Park Villa, North Shields,[18] and, of course, Sunderland A.F.C. - with photographic evidence demonstrating the shirts were accompanied by black shorts and socks. The club's change shirt was blue.[19]

Ground

After its initial games on ad hoc patches of ground behind the dockside cattle sheds, the club found a permanent home in 1895 at the old Blue House Ground in Hendon,[20] re-christened the Royal Rovers Ground.[21]

Honours

  • Wearside League
    • Champion: 1900–01, 1901–02, 1902–03, 1903–04
    • Runner-up: 1904–05
  • Wearside Alliance
    • Champion: 1894–95
  • Shipowners Cup
    • Champion: 1898–99, 1900–01, 1901–02
  • Monkwearmouth Charity Cup
    • Champion: 1900–01
    • Runner-up: 1901–02[22]

Notable players

See also: Category:Sunderland Royal Rovers F.C. players and Category:Sunderland Rovers F.C. players

External links

References

  1. ^ "Shipowners' Cup - Semi-final". Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette: 3. 1 April 1899.
  2. ^ "Royal Rovers Football Club". Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette: 3. 25 March 1903.
  3. ^ The club was inconsistent as to whether it was an F.C. or an A.F.C.
  4. ^ "Royal Rovers A.F.C.". Sunderland Echo: 3. 3 September 1904.
  5. ^ "Durham Football Association". Northern Echo: 4. 7 January 1896.
  6. ^ "The History of the Wearside League". Wearside League. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  7. ^ "Royal Rovers A.F.C.". Sunderland Echo: 3. 3 September 1904.
  8. ^ "The English Cup - Final Qualifying Round". Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette: 5. 1 December 1902.
  9. ^ "Proposed Northern Counties League". Leeds Mercury: 7. 7 May 1906.
  10. ^ "Formation of new professional league". Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail: 3. 14 May 1906.
  11. ^ "The North-eastern League". Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail: 3. 24 July 1906.
  12. ^ "County business". Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette: 4. 19 August 1905.
  13. ^ Ross, Kevin. "Sunderland AFC humbled by local minnows in first Wear derby". A Love Supreme. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  14. ^ "Record defeat to Rovers". Illustrated Police News: 10. 10 September 1910.
  15. ^ "Sunderland Rovers Football Club". Newcastle Journal: 3. 21 February 1918.
  16. ^ "Competition enlarged for next season". Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette: 5. 12 April 1919.
  17. ^ "Shipowners' Cup". Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette: 4. 9 February 1918.
  18. ^ "North Shields Athletic at Blyth". Football Gazette (South Shields): 4. 6 February 1909.
  19. ^ "Tomorrow's practices". Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette: 4. 22 August 1913.
  20. ^ "Football gossip". Jarrow Guardian and Tyneside Reporter: 8. 28 October 1910.
  21. ^ "Sunderland & District Wednesday League". Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette: 4. 20 September 1898.
  22. ^ "Monkwearmouth Charity Cup - Final Tie". Newcastle Journal: 7. 27 January 1902.
  23. ^ Joyce, Michael (16 October 2012). Football League Players' Records 1888–1939 (3rd Revised ed.). Tony Brown. p. 9. ISBN 9781905891610.
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