🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dingley Dell FC (England)

Dingley Dell FC (England)

Founded in 1858, by members of the Dingley Dell cricket club, Dingley Dell FC was born. Named after a fictious Charles Dickens town, the football club was one of England’s, if not the worlds first football clubs. They were around before the Football Association was founded and therefore played under a different set of rules, known as the Dingley Dell rules.

The club was known as The Deller’s or The Templars and never had a home ground. They were captained by George Turner Sills who was a lawyer by profession. He set up the team, which consisted of students who attended the University of Cambridge.

While much is debated about which clubs played the first game of football Dingley Dell FC are in the mix, as they are recorded as having played their first match on the 24^th November, 1858 against Westminster School. It is said to be one of the earliest football matches to have been played in the London area. What made Dingley Dell FC different to other football clubs n the London area was the fact they were not affiliated to a school or a factory.

As such, they are attributed to have played the first game of football which included two non-school or work-based teams, when on the 15^th of February 1862 they played Surbiton FC. The game was played before Association Football rules were around, so Dingley Dell rules were used for the match. These rules banned the carrying of the ball and had goals scored by kicking the ball under a tape.

More games followed, under Dingley Dells rules of course, when they played the War office, or what would be soon known as Civil Service FC. They beat them 1-0 on the 18^th of February, 1862. A few days later they played Harrow school, playing under Harrow school rules this time, losing the game to two bases to nil.

While the club was very muh active in the next few years, they were not represented at the first meeting of the Football Association on the 26^th October, 1863. It was strange omission, however, it is said that the presence of Surbiton FC member, Theodore Bell, was there to represent both clubs. However, the club was not one of the founding members of the Football Association, and in the coming years struggled to adapt to the new rues, despite them being similar to their own set of rules. More clubs also started to be formed in the London area due to the popularity and the new structure of football, which made attracting players and keeping the club active a major challenge.

The club only played three matches after the Association rules were applied, with the last reported game taking place against Westminster Schools on February 11^th, 1864. Whilst there was no reported match after that, another indication that club ceased was the fact that various key players of Dingley Dell FC were now playing for Crusaders FC that season.

Here is a letter from a Magazine published in December 1861, of the Dingley Dell Rules;

First, then, football is essentially a game for the feet, hands, therefore ought to be used no more than is strictly necessary.

2. The game is of itself dangerous enough, and all such practices as tripping up, pushing with the hands, ”hacking”, and wild and indiscriminate kicking, ought to be carefully avoided.

3. When a ball is kicked out of bounds it ought to be returned, so as to alter the state of the game as little as possible. It ought, therefore, to be kicked back from the point at which it left the ground, and in a direction perpendicular to that side of the ground.

4. All sneaking and standing off one’s side ought to be strictly prohibited.

I think, sir, that the above fundamental principles are quite sufficient to base a proper set of rules upon, for it follows from No 1 that the ball must never be stopped by the hand when it can be stopped in any other way; that the ball must never be picked up, carried, or guided by the hand; and that when the ball is so high that it cannot be stopped in any other way, it may be stopped by one hand or two, but ought to be dropped at once on the ground.

Moreover, the goal must be kicked under, and not over, the string, as there would be otherwise no chance of kicking a goal at all.

Nos 2 and 3 speak for themselves.

No 4 may be enforced by requiring a certain number of players of the opposite side to be between a kicker and the goal which he is endeavouring to reach, or by not allowing a man to kick a ball which has last been kicked by one of his own side, unless either he was standing behind the kicker at the time the kick was made, or some one of the opposite side first touches the ball.

Football is becoming so popular in England, and is so thoroughly manly, and, therefore, English, that every facility, and every encouragement ought to be given to the practice of the game; and I think that the movement ought to be taken up by the public schools, for they are the nurseries of the game, and in fact, the only places, excepting the Universities where the game is regularly and systematically played. I have no doubt that any set of rules agreed upon by the public schools would be at once adopted by all clubs, and it would be easy for the captains of the elevens to communicate with each other and make the necessary arrangements."

Dingley Dell FC could very well be one of the first Forgotten Football Clubs to be recorded, and it is a fact that they have been gone so long that many will have probably forgotten the,, however, they have definitely played a part in footballing history, even if they did play by different rules. I wonder what the game would like today if the Dingley Dell rules had had been preferred? We can only imagine.