Upton Park F.C.

Upton Park Football Club were an amateur football club from Upton Park, London in the late 19th and early 20th century, now defunct. As well as being one of the fifteen teams that played in the inaugural FA Cup, they also represented Great Britain at the 1900 Summer Olympics football tournament, which they won.

History

Founded in 1866, the club were one of the 15 teams to play in the very first edition of the FA Cup in 1871-72; They were also the inaugural winners of the London Senior Cup in 1882-83. Though resolutely an amateur club, they inadvertently sparked the legalisation of professionalism in the game after complaining about Preston North End's payments to players after the two met in the FA Cup in 1884; Preston were disqualified, but the incident made the FA confront the issue and, under threat of a breakaway, they allowed payments to players the following year.

The club were wound up in 1887 but were resurrected four years later in 1891. In 1892 they were founder members of the Southern Alliance, an early league competition amongst teams from southern England, but were bottom of the league with only one win to their name when the competition folded before the 1892-93 season ended.

Upton Park went on to represent Great Britain en masse at the 1900 Summer......
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