This was an amateur football club that operated in the Upton Park area of London. On their books were several notable players of the time, such as future FA president Charles Alcock and England international Segar Bastard (yes, that was his name).  Despite the clubs name, they had nothing at all to do with Upton Park Stadium and never played there, but they did have some links to West Ham United who at the time played as Thames Ironworks FC, in that some of their players played for both clubs, such as Charlie Dove, one of the leading players of the day.

 

Upton Park FC were one of the pioneers of the game in the London region, and they were hugely popular, attracting large crowds to West Ham Park where they played. It’s this factor that convinced Thames Ironworks to move to this area from Canning Town where football was not as popular. Park were founded way back in 1866, the same year as Dial Square FC who would one day become Arsenal FC. Upton Park were one of the 15 teams who entered the very first FA Cup, although they didn’t get far, eliminated by Clapham Rovers in the first round. It was in this match that the first ever FA Cup goal was scored. In 1883 however, they became the inaugural winners of the London Senior Cup.

 

Upton Park were a resoloutely amateur team who perhaps inadvertently had a hand in the development and legalisation of professionalism in football. In the fourth round of the 1884 FA Cup, Upton Park met Preston North End who were at the height of their powers. Park discovered that their opponents planned to field a side packed with Scottish players who were, God forbid, paid to play football. The practice was not uncommon for Lancashire clubs, but Upton Park were appalled and made an official complaint to the FA. Preston North End, as a result were disqualified from the competition. This led to 36 northern football clubs to threaten to leave the FA and form their own association, which in turn forced the FA to legalise professionalism, which subsequently led to players being paid more in one week than most people see in their entire lifetimes today.

 

Upton Park FC were wound up in 1887, but records indicate that they were resurrected four years later as founding members of a short-lived league called the Southern Alliance, in which they finished dead bottom. Upton Park FC were one of the first clubs to go on tours, and in 1886 they made the first of many yearly visits to the Channel Islands of Guersey and Jersey. On their 10th visit, they instituted a cup competition between island clubs called the Upton Park Trophy which is still played today. To this day, “Upton” is a term used on the islands to describe competitions between clubs of the two islands in any sport, and to have played in an “Upton” is seen as a badge of honor.

 

What makes this team one of the most significant of the era, however, is the fact they are Olympic Games gold medalists. Yes, you read that right. Just prior to the second modern Olympic Games in Paris, Upton Park FC were asked to represent Great Britain in the Olympic football tournament. At the time, Park were not members of any league and only existed playing in cups and friendlies. Also, they had never made it past the quarter finals of the FA Amateur Cup, so quite why they were invited to participate in the Olympics is anyone’s guess. But they did, and moreover, they won the gold medal as well. A couple of guest players selected by Upton Park’s secretary (who was also their goalkeeper) joined the team in Paris: Richard Turner from the fascinatingly named Crouch End Vampires, William Gosling, a solider who was on leave and Alfred Chalk from Ilford FC.

 

Upton Park were guaranteed either a gold, silver or bronze medal since there were only three teams in the competition: Great Britain (Upton Park FC), France (a USFSA select XI) and Belgium (the team of the University of Brussels). Decades before the World Cup was even thought of, the 1900 Olympic Games football tournament was the first ever international football competition. It was haphazard in its execution. The tournament was expected to be a 5 way contest right up until the day of the first match, but Switzerland and Germany didn’t bother sending teams for some reason, so it became a 3 way contest instead.

 

These Olympic Games took on a much different appearance to more contemporary games – for starters, there was no opening or closing ceremony and the sports included such events as tug-of-war, automobile racing, shooting (in which live animals, pigeons, were used as the targets) ballooning, fire fighting, life saving, cricket, croquet, pelota (whatever that is) and a 200 metre swimming obstacle race, which would have been interesting. Winners were usually awarded trophies or cups rather than medals and moreover, the games went from May to October! Upton Park, as Great Britain, belted France 4-0 in front of a crowd of 500 locals. They had to wait for the result of the France – Belgium game to find out if they had won the tournament, and a France victory meant that Great Britiain, actually Upton Park FC, went home with the gold. Actually. they weren’t given a gold medal at the time, however the International Olympic Committee credited Great Britain with the gold medal in later years.

 

The death knell finally sounded for Upton Park in 1911, when they ceased to exist. In 2016, they were reformed as an amateur club and played the very last game at Upton Park aka The Boleyn Ground against Royal Engineers. 

Achievements: 
Olympic Games – Gold medal x1
London Senior Cup – Winners x1

Star player: Segar Bastard, dob 25 Janurary 1854, pob Chigwell, England, nickname: Knight of the Whistle

​

Growing up in Bow, London, Bastard played for Upton Park between 1873 and 1887. Born into a working class family, his dad was a hop trader by occupation. His family also ran a shop and drapers. He also played on the odd occasion as a guest player for Corinthians FC. Like many players of the time, Bastard was also a referee. These days, this would be like an Arsenal or West Ham player being a referee at the same time. A strange thought today, but back then this was common practice. In fact, bastard refereed the famous FA Cup final between the Wanderers and the Royal Engineers at The Oval in 1878, and the match between England and Wales at the same venue the following year. As a ref, he was very well respected by fans, players and fellow referees. He only played one match for England, in 1880 against Scotland, which England lost 5-4. Between 1877 and 1883, Bastard served on the FA committee. He was also an accomplished cricketer, like several of his comtemporaries. He played for Essex County Cricket Club. After sports, Bastard became a solicitor and started up a law firm called Segar Bastard and Company in which one of his clients included the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation. He was on the board of various mining companies and was director of Escurial Copper Mines and Tarkwa Main Reef Limited and chairman of Black Eagle Gold Mining and Wassan Extended Gold Mines. Bastard was well known for gambling and he loved horse racing. He was one of the first footballers to own a racehorse. It’s thought that Bastard may be the inspiration behind the chant “Who’s the bastard in the black?”, directed at football referees, but this is unlikely. He died from a heart attack in 1921.