Hornchurch F.C.

Hornchurch Football Club is a football club based in Upminster, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Hornchurch Stadium. History 1881 club The first Hornchurch Football Club was founded in October 1881. Based at Grey Towers, they played a dozen matches in their first season. The club finished the season with a 7 shilling deficit, albeit thanks to a late half-guinea donation from Joseph Fry. The club was a founder member of the Essex Football Association in 1882, and entered the FA Cup in 1882–83. Drawn at home to Great Marlow in the first round, the visitors won 2–0, with their inexperience being shown up by not appealing for offside against the first goal until after kicking off again, preventing the referee from considering it. By the end of the 1882–83 season, the club had 40 members, and enough players for a second team. However, for the club's second FA Cup entry, drawn again at home to Great Marlow in the first round, they only started with 10 players, with some of the better players not turning up. The visitors this time won 9–0, R.A. Lunnon scoring a double hat trick. By the start of the 1885–86 season, the club was bankrupt, with a debt of £22, and had been wound up; a new football club, Hornchurch Wanderers, was formed instead.