Barnes Football Club

Barnes Football Club, founded in 1862, is the sixth oldest football club in England and one of the founding members of the Football Association. Its captain, Ebenezer Cobb Morley, drafted the original Laws of the Game in his house on The Terrace, and the club played the first match under those rules on 19 December 1863.

Foundation

Morley founded the club in 1862 at Barnes Green. The first recorded rules specified that the “place for play” should be Barnes Green and that “balls and other property of the club” were to be kept at the White Hart pub on the riverfront. On 29 November 1862, Barnes defeated Richmond 2–0 at Barn Elms Park in the earliest documented result.

The Football Association

On 26 October 1863, Morley convened a meeting of eleven clubs at the Freemasons’ Tavern in Great Queen Street, London. After five further meetings, the Football Association adopted thirteen Laws of the Game on 8 December 1863. Remarkably, the first three secretaries of the FA – Morley, Robert Watson Willis and Robert George Graham – were all Barnes FC members.

The FA Cup

Barnes entered fourteen of the first fifteen FA Cup competitions. On 11 November 1871, Barnes beat Civil Service 2–0 in the opening round of the inaugural tournament – the first victory in FA Cup history. The club’s best run came in 1878–79, when they reached the third round before losing 1–2 to Oxford University. After the 1885–86 season, Barnes did not enter the competition again.

Decline

The legalisation of professionalism in 1885 and the formation of the Football League in 1888 drew talent away from amateur clubs in the south. Barnes, unable to compete, gradually faded from organised football by the end of the century.

Barnes Albion

In 1926, Leslie Kilsby and Robert Sears revived the club under the name Barnes Albion. Kilsby served as chairman for forty-one years. The club won three consecutive Barnes and District League titles between 1929 and 1931 and played on Barnes Common through the 1950s and 1960s. By the late 1980s, however, financial difficulties ended its activities.

Revival

In June 2021, Kilsby’s grandchildren Janice Kilsby and Julie Burgess, together with local enthusiasts, re-established Barnes Football Club. A Crowdfunder campaign raised nearly five thousand pounds, with support from Sport England. The club entered the Surrey South East Combination League for the 2022–23 season and by 2024–25 had reached the Premier Division of the Kingston and District League. Training takes place at Barn Elms Sports Centre, completing a circle back to the fields where Morley’s players first kicked a ball in 1862.

Sources

1. Barnes Football Club – Wikipedia
2. Club History – Barnes Football Club (official)
3. Ebenezer Cobb Morley – Wikipedia
4. 1871–72 FA Cup – Wikipedia
5. Barnes FC revival – London Football Scene