Garrick F.C. Explained

Clubname:Garrick
Fullname:Garrick Football Club
Founded:1866
Dissolved:1878?
Ground:East Bank
Mgrtitle:Secretary
Manager:William Riley, Jr
Pattern La1:_redwhitehoops
Pattern B1:_redwhitehoops
Pattern Ra1:_redwhitehoops
Pattern So1:_hoops_red_white
Leftarm1:1F75FE
Body1:1F75FE
Rightarm1:1F75FE
Socks1:1F75FE

Garrick Football Club was an English association football club based in Sheffield, Yorkshire.

History

Garrick was formed in October 1866, holding its first practice match at East Bank on the 27th.[1] The club took its name from the Garrick Hotel where the club held its meetings.[2] The earliest recorded game for the club was a 1 rouge to 0 win over Wellington club the next month, in a 12-a-side match at East Bank.[3]

Along with Wellington, it was the first to participate in the first two open footballing competitions. In the first, the Youdan Cup of 1867,[4] Garrick lost by one goal and one rouge to nothing against the Mackenzie club at the Orphanage ground on London Road.[5]

The following year it entered the Cromwell Cup[6] and after beating Wellington (apparently borrowing seven players from Heeley to ensure victory), it met the newly formed Wednesday in the final at Bramall Lane. In front of around 500 spectators the two clubs fought out a goalless draw. It was agreed to play extra time with the first team to score being the victor (thus becoming the first use of the Golden Goal), but Garrick lost when Wednesday scored a goal after 10 minutes.[7]

Garrick then withdrew from playing the more popular local teams, instead taking on the minor teams and playing the occasional out-of-town match (including one of Sheffield's first rugby matches against Manchester Free Wanderers).

The club was reasonably active until 1877 but the last record of activity in the regular game is a failure to turn up to a friendly with Staveley F.C. in December that year;[8] a one-off match in 1886 against the local pantomime actors seems to have been a scratch team using the name as a pun, as the contemporary Garrick Cricket Club was also made up of actors.

Colours

The club's colours were red, white, and blue;[9] the style of multicoloured jerseys at the time was to arrange colours in hoops.

Ground

The club originally played home matches at East Bank, in the south-east of Sheffield, 2 miles from Sheffield Victoria railway station.[10] By 1871 it had moved to Shallow Vale at Endcliffe, one mile from the station.[11]

Notes and References

  1. Garrick Football Club . Sheffield Daily Telegraph . 27 October 1866 . 1.
  2. Garrick Football Club . Sheffield Independent . 12 January 1867 . 5.
  3. Football - Garrick v Wellington . Sheffield Daily Telegraph . 20 November 1866 . 5.
  4. Web site: The Youdan Cup – The World's First Football Trophy – Footysphere. footysphere.com. 2014-08-29.
  5. The Youdan Football Cup . Sheffield Daily Telegraph . 23 February 1867 . 10.
  6. Web site: Football's theatrical beginnings | The Football Pink. footballpink.net. 2014-08-29.
  7. Football - Deciding Match for the Cromwell Cup Cup . Sheffield Daily Telegraph . 17 February 1868 . 10.
  8. The Garrick Club v Staveley . Sheffield Independent . 27 December 1877 . 7.
  9. Book: Lillywhite . John . Football Annual . 1868 . 84.
  10. Book: Alcock . Charles . Football Annual . 1870 . Sportsman . London . 58.
  11. Book: Alcock . Charles . Football Annual . 1871 . Virtue . London . 68.