History
The club originally played rugby football as well as cricket. It adopted Association rules in 1875.
On 28 October 1878, at their Barley Bank ground, Darwen played a representative team from Blackburn under floodlights. This is believed to be one of the first football matches to be played under floodlights, following a match played at Bramall Lane, Sheffield on 14 October 1878. The game was a huge success (not only because Darwen won 3–0) but the experiment was not repeated in that era.
Darwen was the first club from the North of England to achieve any success in the F.A. Cup, reaching the quarter finals in 1879. They caused controversy in this competition by signing two professional players, Fergie Suter and James Love, both from Partick Thistle, a Scottish club based in Glasgow. This is believed to be the first involvement of professional players in English football. One London club proposed that "no side which does not consist entirely of amateurs, as defined by the rules to be drawn up by the committee, be entitled to compete in the Challenge Cup competition". The motion was defeated and Darwen travelled down to the Oval to play the great amateur side Old Etonians in the quarter–final. They needed to make the journey three times, drawing 5–5 and 2–2 before losing 6–2 in the second replay.
An FA Cup regulation of that time ruled that the final three rounds of the competition were to be played in London. This was changed following Darwen's experiences in 1879, and entries were subsequently grouped by region.
Two years later, in 1881, Darwen went one better and reached the semi–finals of the FA Cup. They beat Romford 15–0 in the quarter–final.
In 1891 Darwen were elected to the Football League as it was expanded to 14 teams. In March 1892 they lost 12–0 to West Bromwich Albion, and this winning margin has never been surpassed in the League's top division (although it was equalled in 1909 when Nottingham Forest beat Leicester Fosse by the same score).
Darwen finished bottom of the League in their first season, and were relegated to become founder members of the Second Division. Ironically, 14th (out of 14) in 1891–92 remains their highest ever placing in the Football League.
In 1893 they finished in third place and were promoted back to the First Division via the test matches, but they were relegated again in 1894. They remained in the Second Division until 1899, when they did not apply for re–election. They had spent eight seasons in the League, two of them in the top flight.
During their last season as a League club, in 1898–99, Darwen suffered 18 consecutive defeats. This remains a record, although Sunderland narrowly avoided equalling it in 2003, when they lost 17 consecutive League games (15 in the F.A. Premier League and two in the Football League First Division) before beating Preston North End 2–0 at Deepdale.
After leaving the Football League the club joined the Lancashire League. It was also in 1899 that they moved to the Anchor Ground, which has remained their home ever since.
In 1902 they won the Lancashire League title, remaining unbeaten all season. Two years later they joined the Lancashire Combination, and they played in this league for the following 70 years (apart from a break during and immediately after World War I).
Darwen won 5 trophies in the three years from 1930 to 1933, including the Lancashire Combination title (1931 and 1932). In the 1931–32 season FA Cup, they beat Football League side Chester City in front of a 10,000 crowd at the Anchor Ground and were rewarded with an away draw at reigning league champions Arsenal in the 3rd round. Darwen lost by 11 (eleven) goals to 1 but Arsenal were so impressed with Lancashire sportsmanship that they presented their visitors with a set of their own red strip, which Darwen have worn more or less ever since
They were champions of the Combination four times, and following the fourth title in 1976 they joined the more prestigious Cheshire County League. Six years later, in 1982, they became founder members of the North West Counties League. They won the League Cup in its inaugural season. They spent three seasons in the Second Division in the mid–1980s, and were relegated again in 1998 on account of ground regulations. They have remained in the Second Division ever since.
Read more about this topic: A.F.C. Darwen
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