History of Fulham F.C.
The history of Fulham Football Club, an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London, dates back to the club's formation in 1879. 1879–1898: Amateur days Fulham started its existence in 1879 as St Andrew's Cricket & Football Club, founded by worshippers at St. Andrew's Church, Fulham on Star Road, West Kensington, which still stands today with a plaque commemorating the team's foundation. They won the West London Cup in 1887 and, having shortened the name to its present form in 1888, they then won the West London League in 1893 at the first attempt. The club's first ever kit was dark and light blue halved shirts with white shorts. Fulham started playing at their current ground Craven Cottage in 1896, their first game against now defunct rivals Minerva F.C. 1898–1907: Southern League The club gained professional status on 12 December 1898, in the same year that they were admitted into the Southern League's 2nd division. By this time, they wore a kit very similar to modern Arsenal colours in this period, which was worn during the 1896–97 season. In 1902–03, they won promotion from this division, entering the Southern League 1st Division. The club's first white club kit came in 1903, and ever since then the club has been playing in white shirts and black shorts, with socks going through various evolutions of black and/or white, but are now normally white-only. The club won the Southern League twice, in 1905–06 and 1906–07. (Link) 1907–1949: Into the Football League Fulham gained admission to the national Football League after the second of their Southern League triumphs. The club's first ever league game, playing in the 2nd Division's 1907-8 season, saw them losing 1–0 at home to Hull City on 3 September 1907. The first win came a few days later on 7 September 1907 at Derby County's Baseball Ground, by a score of 1–0. When they eventually found their feet in the division they impressed, ending up only three points short of promotion in fourth place. However, this was the best season they had in their 21-year stay in that division, and after only winning 13 out of 42 games in the 1927–28 season Fulham were relegated to the 3rd Division South, which was created in 1920. A highlight of that first season was an 8–3 away win at Luton Town in an FA Cup game. The club actually managed to reach the semi-finals of that tournament, where they were humbled 6–0 by Newcastle United. This is still a record loss for an FA Cup semi-final game. A couple of years later, the club won the London Challenge Cup in the 1909–10 season. During this period, businessman and politician Henry Norris was the club chairman and curiously he had an indirect role in the foundation of Fulham's local rivals Chelsea. When he rejected an offer from businessman Gus Mears to move Fulham to land where the present-day Chelsea stadium Stamford Bridge is situated, Mears decided to create his own team