NEW ASSOCIATION CLUB FOR LONDON.
The development of Association football in London is remarkable. No popular sport has made such progress during the last decade, and it is not to be wondered that land speculators are becoming alive to the big opening which exists for up-to-date and fully equipped grounds.
The Football Association prohibits the running of proprietarv teams, but all difficulties in that direction can be overcome by the formation of a company and the registration of a team. I hear (writes our London correspondent) that shares will be offered to the public in connection with a company which is be formed for acquirement of the Stamford Bridge ground - the old home of the London Athletic Club as a football and sports enclosure. A first class team is being raised under the name of the Kensington Football Club, and, encouraged by the success of Woolwich Arsenal, admission to the league (Second Division) is to be sought.
Promotion is by merit, of course, and there no royal road to success in football, otherwise a good round sum would be put down by the promoters of the company named for admission into the First Division the League. The Fulham people are not pleased to know that such serious opposition is threatened, for up to now they have had enormous attendances at their matches. A genuine London First Division team would, however, be a wonderful draw from the beginning.
Scottish Referee - Friday 30 December 1904
It appears that Fulham are to have opposition in the district. The Kensington F.C., with headquarters at Stamford Bridge, is soon to be an existent fact. Instead of the interference with the prosperity of the existing club, which some fear, there is a strong likelihood that if the fresh team be a good one greater interest will be aroused in the district, and gates will go up instead of down.
Fulham Chronicle - Friday 17 March 1905
So Mr. H. A Mears football club is not to associate itself with the self-styled Royal Borough Kensington, after all. It is to be called the Chelsea F.C., although it will be no more connected with the adjoining borough than with Timbuctoo. As in the case of the Fulham Club, a limited liability company is being formed. The capital is to be in 5,000 in 1 shares, and some idea of the interest displayed may be gathered from the fact that one-half of the capital was subscribed at the first meeting. Another gathering took place on Tuesday evening at the Rising Sun Tavern, Fulham Road, when, it is understood, applications from football managers were again considered. Stamford Bridge is, of course, associated with many athletic triumphs in London, but it has never yet been exploited for serious football under Association rules. During the last two months the famous enclosure has undergone many alterations and improvements. Eventually Mr. Mears will make a pretty penny out of Stamford Bridge. We are assured that the sand carted from the place has produced quite a small fortune already.
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