Newcastle Football History - Rangers, KB, Rosebud, Breakers, United, Jets etc.

[Ian Syson]

http://neososmos.blogspot.com.au/

Ian syson is a football history guru.
Based in Victoria, but a great football historian.

Too kind Gary. Thanks though.

The go-to document for getting a handle on the deep history of the game in Newcastle is Phil Mosely's thesis, A SOCIAL HISTORY OF SOCCER IN NEW SOUTH WALES 1880–1957

This is the first para in the 2nd chapter on the Newcastle district.

Soccer in the Newcastle District had been organised by the Northern British FA since 1887. By 1900 there were fifteen teams playing in official competitions and by 1909 twenty-eight teams. In 1910 the Wallsend and District British FA was formed and took over from the Northern British FA. In its first year the new body raised the District’s number of soccer teams to fifty-two. Four years later, the Wallsend and District British FA was itself superseded by the Northern District British FA. This change achieved some positive and immediate results but, due to World War I, it was not till after 1918 that soccer’s popularity in the Newcastle District climbed rapidly. By 1922 official competitions were catering for sixty-three teams, ranging from adults to under sixteens. School teams numbering forty-four were registered in under fifteen, fourteen and twelve age groups.

Here's a couple of very early references to football in Newastle from the digital newspaper archive in Trove in the National Library

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/108007687

This is from all places the Melbourne Argus in 1887:

The final match of the season under the British Association rules was won on Saturday by the Hamilton Athletics (Newcastle), who defeated Granville, the former champions, by 4 goals to 1.

This is from 1888 when Victoria defeated the combined Northern district "3 points to 1"!

This is from 1888

A new club has been formed at Burwood, near Newcastle, to be called the Burwood Swifts. Tbe style of game to be played will be the British Association. This game seems to be gaining in popularity. I believe we now have five Northern teams formed, viz., Hamilton, Minmi, Burwood, Wallsend, and Greta, with every prospect of others joining. The number of players required to .compose a team-viz., 11- causes less difficulty in organisation than in the Rugby or Australian game.

Trove is a marvellous resource for anyone wanting to research the game's history. If you are interested get in and have a look around. But be careful as it's addictive!

If anyone wants more suggestions just ask.

Cheers