Farningham F.C.

Farningham F.C. was a Kent-based club that lasted only a short time. In its debut season of 1872–73, it played just two matches. The first was against Harrow Chequers, which Farningham won, but only because the Chequers fielded only four of their own players and used three substitutes against Farningham’s ten. For the club’s first game outside Kent, against the Philistines of Leytonstone, they brought in F. B. Maddison, who scored a last-minute equalizer.

The club entered the FA Cup twice. In 1873–74, they were drawn at home to the Trojans but scratched. The following year, they were drawn against the Wanderers at the Kennington Oval and chose to play instead of scratching. The result was a 16–0 defeat for Farningham, then a record score. Newspapers praised goalkeeper W.D.O. Greig for his “very brilliant” and “excellent goalkeeping.” The club was hampered by having only four of its regular players available for the match; the others were captain and secretary Reverend George Rashleigh, and backs Burnside and English.

Greig’s reward was selection for the London representative side against the Sheffield Football Association, though not as a goalkeeper. No further fixtures for Farningham are recorded. The club had struggled to field a full side in earlier matches: once they used a spectator to make up a ten-man team, and two weeks before the Wanderers game they turned up with only eight players for a match against South Norwood. The following season, Greig joined the Wanderers and played in goal in their FA Cup Final victory.

The club’s colours were dark blue and white, likely in hoops. Notable players included Reverend George Rashleigh, vicar of Horton Kirby and secretary to two Masters of the Rolls, and Frederick Maddison, an England international and FA Cup winner with Oxford University F.C.