We are all aware by now that Middlesbrough FC was founded by some members of the local Cricket Club wishing for some way of occupying the winter months to keep fit; indeed Middlesbrough Cricket Club was founded in 1855 some 21 years before Middlesbrough FC. It is worth recording here that some form of organised village cricket had been played in Kent since 1611. The first cricket internationals, as opposed to Test Matches, had been established since 1844 and the first official County Championship was in 1873. In fact Cricket was England’s national sport for many years.
Now for a brief history of football. The oldest football club still in existence is Sheffield FC founded in 1857 well before the two present league clubs United and Wednesday. The FA Challenge Cup was introduced in 1872 and 15 clubs entered including Queens Park of Glasgow. The Wanderers beat Royal Engineers 1-0 after the Scottish club withdrew being unable to afford the expense of sending a team to London for a replay. Thus The Wanderers actually only won one match before reaching the Final. The following year they retained the Cup after only one match as the other clubs staged the usual knockout system won by Oxford University who then ‘challenged’ the holders at Kennington Oval. The word ‘challenge’ was therefore important, so perhaps the concept was that the winners would always be ensured a place in the following years Final. In fact in my youth The FA Challenge Cup was the terminology still used, although of course not strictly correct.
The big problem for Football, as opposed to Cricket, was that there was no system of league matches, only friendly matches until the English Football League Championship was formed in 1888 with 12 clubs from Lancashire and the Midlands. The following year the Northern League was founded and Middlesbrough FC were one of 10 clubs to enter. Darlington St Augustine’s became Champions on goal average over Newcastle West End, Stockton finished third by goal average over Newcastle East End, and Middlesbrough FC finished sixth. It should be noted that Stockton completed the double over Middlesbrough FC with two 4-0 wins, although Middlesbrough FC did defeat Stockton before an estimated crowd of 9,000 in the Final of the Cleveland Senior Cup which was quite a prestigious competition at the time. However Middlesbrough FC lost 3-4 to South Bank in a qualifying round of the FA Cup.
The following season saw a reduction in the Northern League to a mere 8 clubs, 4 withdrawals but the advent of not only Sunderland Albion, but also Ironopolis. The new team of Ironopolis won the league, a point ahead of Middlesbrough FC and the two teams met for the first time in competition on 1st November 1890 where an estimated crowd of 12,000 witnessed a 2-2 draw. However in the following March Ironopolis won 1-0 which proved to be the title decider. This time though the meetings with Stockton had reverse outcomes with Middlesbrough FC winning 5-2 away and 3-1 at home, but losing to them 1-2 in the first round of the Cleveland Senior Cup.
1891/92 saw the League extended to 9 clubs with the inclusion of Sheffield United, although confusion is aroused as to whether it was made up of their first eleven. However again Middlesbrough FC finished second to Ironopolis who won both derby matches and also the Cleveland Senior Cup Final 4-0 between the two clubs.
1892/93 saw the two Newcastle clubs merge to form the current club of Newcastle United, but by now the number of clubs in the Northern League had been reduced to only 6. Again Ironopolis were Champions with the newly formed Newcastle United second, Sheffield United third, and Middlesbrough FC, a poor fourth ahead of Stockton and Darlington. Again Ironopolis completed the double over Middlesbrough FC, but at least Middlesbrough FC beat the Magpies at home 4-0, and despite losing 1-3 on Tyneside in the League, alsoo beat Newcastle 3-2 away in the first round of the FA Cup before losing at Wolves in the next round. However Ironopolis reached the Quarterfinals of the FA Cup that year having beaten Marlow away 3-1 and Notts County at home 3-2 before losing 0-7 at home to Preston North End in a replay following a 2-2 away draw.
Middlesbrough FC had never beaten Ironopolis; indeed in seven League and Cup meetings Ironopolis had become their bogey team with six wins and a draw with a goals record of 13-2. Meanwhile a Second Division of the Football League had been established with 12 clubs participating in the inaugural season of 1892/93, and as the Football League wished to extend the Second Division to 16 clubs it was envisaged that if the two Middlesbrough clubs would merge, an application would be accepted to join the League. Up to that time all the clubs competing in the two divisions of the Football League were all located in the Midlands and the North of England. However Woolwich Arsenal were the first London club, and in fact the only southern club to join the league. The other three teams to be elected were Newcastle United, Rotherham United and Middlesbrough and Ironopolis United although founder members Accrington withdrew leaving an odd number of 15 clubs. However Middlesbrough FC reneged on the merger (thus becoming known as the Scabs) and Ironopolis (know as the Nops or the Washers) were left to struggle alone without the word ‘and’ in their title as simply Middlesbrough Ironopolis.
On the field Middlesbrough Ironopolis didn’t do too badly, winning 8 and drawing 4 of their 28 matches, thus finishing 11th out of 15 teams. They lost their first match 0-2 at home to eventual Champions Liverpool, but after conceding 12 goals in their first three matches, they recorded their first win 2-0 at home to Ardwick who the following season were renamed Manchester City. They also beat runners-up Small Heath (renamed Birmingham City) 3-0. In the FA Cup they beat Luton Town 2-1 in the First Round, but lost 0-2 away to Nottingham Forest in the Second Round. However off the field the financial burden proved too onerous and they resigned at the end of the season.
Meanwhile having returned to amateur status out of sheer necessity, Middlesbrough FC at last won the 8 club Northern League Championship two points ahead of Stockton. After four rounds of qualifying matches they reached the First Round of the FA Cup but lost 0-4 at Newton Heath (now Manchester United) and won the Cleveland Senior Cup by beating Darlington 2-0. However the next season of 1894/95 became the most successful at that time for the club. They won the Northern League for the second time with only one defeat 1-2 away to Stockton, and after five wins in qualifying rounds, they beat Chesterfield 4-0 in the First Round of the FA Cup before losing 1-6 to Sheffield Wednesday.
However a new knockout competition for the country’s amateur clubs had been established the year before and was known as the FA Amateur Cup and Boro had only lost after extra time against the Old Etonians, a two time winner of the more prestigious FA Cup. So when in the following year of 1895 Boro won the FA Amateur Cup in its second season by beating Old Carthusians 2-1 at Headingley, it was heralded quite rightly as a great achievement. A large crowd greeted the team’s arrival at the railway station but without the cup. Apparently Old Carthusians had arrogantly assumed the final to be a formality and hadn’t bothered to bring the cup with them to Headingley.
In the following year Boro only finished third in the Northern League four points behind Champions Darlington, lost to Newcastle United in the FA Cup, lost in the Second Round of the FA Amateur Cup to the Royal Artillery Portsmouth (who eventually lost to Bishop Auckland in the Final), but did beat Saltburn Swifts 3-0 at Darlington in the final of the Cleveland Senior Cup. The following season they again won the Northern League title and also retained the Cleveland Senior Cup by beating Darlington 2-1 at Stockton.
1897/98 proved another disappointing Northern League campaign with Boro finishing in second place to Stockton, but Boro went on to win their second FA Amateur Cup Final. The achievement of this second win was against all the odds and an even greater achievement than the first one. A smallpox epidemic was sweeping Teesside during the early months of 1898 and it was no surprise when the local population of Darlington protested against the Semifinal against Thornaby being played in the Quaker town. They were obviously concerned that the arrival of hundreds of football supporters would bring the infectious disease to Darlington. The FA held an emergency meeting and sent a telegram to Middlesbrough FC suggesting the club should withdraw from the competition and forfeit the match. Middlesbrough officials were furious at the suggestion and refused to withdraw, and eventually three weeks after the scheduled date for the fixture, Boro were forced to play the match against their will in secret and behind closed doors at Brotton. Boro duly won 2-1 after being a goal behind at halftime and prepared for the Final against Uxbridge at Crystal Palace with friendly matches against southern teams. Of course Boro beat Uxbridge 2-0 rather easier than the score suggests. This time Boro did bring the cup home and a grand celebration at the Masham Hotel followed. The club later received a cheque for £39 being their share of the proceeds from the Final.
There was a downside however to the FA Amateur Cup win as several players attracted attention from professional Football League clubs, so Boro’s last season in the Northern League produced a mere third place finish 7 points behind the Champions Bishop Auckland. What’s more Boro didn’t win a single cup match, beaten 0-1 away to Hebburn Argyle in a qualifying round of the FA Cup, 0-1 away to Thornaby Utopians in the First Round of the FA Amateur Cup, and 0-1 at South Bank in the First Round of the Cleveland Senior Cup.
But Boro had bigger fish to fry – a successful application to join the Second Division of the Football League the following season and promotion to the First Division within three years