{"id":2869,"date":"2021-06-23T12:23:12","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T12:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/recordsandarchives.westminster.ac.uk\/?page_id=2869"},"modified":"2023-08-30T10:35:34","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T10:35:34","slug":"polytechnic-football-club","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/archive-blog\/polytechnic-football-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Polytechnic Football Club"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Polytechnic Football Club, c.1935 (RSP\/7\/c\/173)<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Polytechnic Football Club was founded by Quintin Hogg in 1875 under the name Hanover United Athletic Club.\u202f Named after Hanover Street where Hogg’s Youth’s Christian Institute<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>was located at the time,\u00a0<\/span>Hanover United<\/span>\u00a0encompassed four sport<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0clubs – rowing, swimming, cricket and football.\u202f Hogg received help in establishing a football club from some of his fellow<\/span>\u00a0Old Etonians, including the Hon<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0Arthur Kinnaird.\u00a0 As keen footballers themselves, they played matches for their newly formed club.\u00a0 Hogg also played internationally for Scotland.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Arthur Kinnaird became the President of the Football Association from 1890-1923 and his record of competing in nine FA Cup finals stands unbeaten to this day.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Members of the Football Club,1882 with Quintin Hogg in the centre (YCI\/7\/2)<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Hanover United\u00a0initially met at Primrose Hill but in 1878 Quintin Hogg paid for their own facilities at The Limes in Barnes.\u00a0 After a brief period at Merton Hall in Wimbledon and Pad<\/span>dington Recreation Ground, i<\/span>n 1906 the Club moved to the newly opened Quintin Hogg Memorial Sports Ground in Chiswick where it remained.<\/p>

When Quintin Hogg\u2019s Institute moved into its Regent Street premises in 1882 and became known as the Regent Street Polytechnic, the football club was renamed the Polytechnic Football Club.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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In\u00a0its\u00a0first\u00a0seasons,\u00a0three sides were fielded.\u00a0 A club history<\/a><\/span> written in 1952 claims that in 1881\/82 the\u00a0Club played six more matches than any other side in the country, making a total of 50 matches of which they won 28, lost 12 and drew 10<\/span>.\u00a0 By the 1887\/8 season, the number of teams had increased to six and by the 1930s ten sides were fielded every Saturday playing between 20-30 matches each during the season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The Club and its 1<\/span><\/span>st<\/span><\/span>\u00a0XI saw mixed success over the years. In 1883, it reached the third rounds of the English and London Senior Cups.\u00a0 In 1884, the 1st XI reached the semi-final of the London Senior Cup.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0T<\/span><\/span>hey played at Kennington Oval\u00a0<\/span>in front of a 1,000 strong crowd\u00a0<\/span>but were beaten by Old Foresters 6-0.\u00a0 They were regularly p<\/span>laying matches against a wide variety of\u00a0<\/span>teams<\/span>.\u00a0 These included church teams, university and polytechnic teams, local teams\u00a0<\/span>as well as<\/span>\u00a0workplace teams such as the Metropolitan Police and the Civil Service.\u00a0 In the 1890\/91 season Tottenham Hotspur, Queen\u2019s Park Rangers and Royal Arsenal (now Arsenal) were among the 1<\/span><\/span>st<\/span><\/span>\u00a0XI\u2019s fixtures<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0In 1951, the 1st XI saw an exceptional season in which they lost only one match, scoring 95 goals in 30 matches.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Polytechnic Magazine, 26 Feb 1896<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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‘In 1891, so great had become the influence of the national game, that changes became necessary in legislation.\u00a0 A meeting of clubs was held in London to form a league or alliance to arrange fixtures.’ <\/span><\/span><\/em>(Fifty Years of Amateur Soccer…\u00a0PFC\/2\/1<\/a><\/span>)<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>

Thus, in 1892\/93 Polytechnic FC became a founder member of the Southern Football Alliance.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 In the early 20<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span>\u00a0century, this Alliance split into various other local leagues.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>In\u00a0<\/span>1902 the Club entered the Southern Suburban League, in 1908 the Olympian League, and in 1911 it became a member of the Spartan League.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Football match, date unknown (PFC\/3\/4)<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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As a member of the Spartan League, Polytechnic FC were playing fixtures across the South.\u00a0 In addition to league matches, during the 1893\/94 season a tour of Belgium was arranged.\u00a0 Brussels were beaten 2-0 and Liege 5-0<\/span>.\u00a0 The Club toured Belgium again in 1894\/95 and 1895\/96.\u00a0\u00a0At Easter\u00a01913,\u00a0a tour of France was also arranged with matches in Rouen and Le Havre.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>By the 1950s, members decided that the travelling involved in being in\u00a0<\/span>the Spartan League was too\u202f<\/span>expensive,<\/span>\u202fso they opted to join the Southern Amateur League with other London-based clubs.<\/span>\u202f<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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War of course had an impact on the Club.\u00a0 In 1914, football was the largest of the Poly\u2019s sports clubs and saw\u00a0the majority of\u00a0its members enlist.\u00a0 However, it was reformed in 1919 and by the end of this first post-war season, its membership was at 116.\u00a0 During WW2 the Club continued to play friendly fixtures.\u00a0 For example, in 1943\/44 the 1st XI played 38 matches.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

1925\/26 marked the Club\u2019s Golden Jubilee and a celebration dinner was held in London.\u00a0 Members of Club attended along with officials from professional clubs including Chelsea, Fulham, West Ham, Tottenham and Arsenal.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
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Football in action at the Chiswick sports ground c.1906-1930 (RSP\/7\/c\/142)<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Club\u2019s colours started as light blue and white.\u00a0 In 1929 they changed to red with green hoops and in 1948 they changed to red and green halves.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
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Although no longer affiliated to the University, the Club is still in existence today and continues to use the Quintin Hogg Memorial Sports\u00a0Ground at Chiswick as its home.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a02013 saw Polytechnic FC play on the lawn of Buckingham Palace at a special match arranged to mark the 150th anniversaries of the Civil Service FC and the Football Association.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Further Reading:<\/strong><\/p>

For more\u00a0information about the Polytechnic Football Club and its history visit\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/polytechnicfc.co.uk\/<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>

You can learn more about the history of sport at the\u00a0University\u00a0in Mark\u00a0Clapson\u2019s\u00a0book\u00a0<\/span>An Education in Sport<\/span><\/i>\u00a0available digitally for free via the\u00a0<\/span>University of Westminster Press<\/a><\/span>\u00a0or for purchase via\u00a0our\u00a0<\/span>online store.<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>

To see what Polytechnic Football Club records we hold visit our catalogue<\/a><\/span>\u00a0or read monthly club reports\u00a0 in the Polytechnic Magazine.<\/a><\/span><\/p>

The Westminster Menswear Archive holds various official football shirts and football inspired garments.\u00a0 Find out more on our catalogue.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0<\/p>

Claire Brunnen, June 2021<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBack to the Blog<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Polytechnic Football Club, c.1935 (RSP\/7\/c\/173) The Polytechnic Football Club was founded by Quintin Hogg in 1875 under the name Hanover United Athletic Club.\u202f Named after Hanover Street where Hogg’s Youth’s Christian Institute\u00a0was located at the time,\u00a0Hanover United\u00a0encompassed four sports\u00a0clubs…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"parent":3461,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2869","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2869"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5626,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2869\/revisions\/5626"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/recordsandarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}