{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{for|the Scottish team which won the Junior Cup in 1895|Minerva F.C. (Scotland)}} {{Infobox football club | | clubname=Minerva | image= | fullname= Fulham Football Club of all Men | nickname= The White Men | founded=1876 | dissolved=1910? | ground=Ladywell Inn | capacity= 175 | chairman= George Oak | mgrtitle= | manager= Unknown | league= | season= | position= | website = |pattern_la1=_white_hoop|pattern_b1=_|pattern_ra1=_white_hoop|leftarm1=000066|body1=000066|rightarm1=000066|shorts1=|socks1=000066 |}} '''Minerva F.C.''' was an English association football club, originally playing out of Loughborough Junction in Lambeth, London. thumb|Minerva F.C., Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 10 October 1891.
==History== The club was founded in 1876, including two players from Saxons and played its first game that October.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Minerva 1 (disputed) - 0 St Martin's |journal=Sportsman |date=19 October 1876 |page=3}}</ref> The club was, in essence, the works side of the firm of Copestake Hughes Crampton & Co, a warehousing and mail order company, with the club's correspondence address given as the firm's offices at 5 Bow Church Yard.<ref>Charles Alcock yearbooks 1877-79, 1892</ref> The club took its name from the company's logo, namely the head of the goddess Minerva.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Meinke |first1=Terry |title=Copestake, Moore, Crampton & Co |url=http://www.coulthart.com/avery/company-pages/copestake-history.html |website=Avery Needle Case Resource Centre |access-date=25 September 2022}}</ref> In its first season, the club was unbeaten, winning 11 out of 15 matches and only conceding one goal.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alcock |first1=Charles |title=Football Annual |date=1877 |page=142}}</ref> The club decided to take on sterner opposition in 1877–78 and entered the FA Cup. In the first round, Minerva lost 5–2 at the Hawks club at Anerley.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Hawks 5-2 Minerva |journal=Norwood News |date=10 November 1877 |page=3}}</ref> Over the season, the club won 12 and lost 7 matches, with 2 drawn. <ref>{{cite book |last1=Alcock |first1=Charles |title=Football Annual |date=1878 |page=146}}</ref>
The club's only FA Cup run was in 1878–79, benefitting from a withdrawal in the first round, and beating Grey Friars in the second, in front of 300 spectators, in what was considered an upset.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Grey Friars 0-3 Minerva |journal=Sportsman |date=9 December 1878 |page=4}}</ref> In the third round, Minerva played the Old Etonians at the Kennington Oval, and was 2–0 up at half-time "amidst most enthusiastic cheers" before succumbing 5–2.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Old Etonians 5-2 Minerva |journal=Bell's Life |date=18 January 1879 |page=10}}</ref>
The club's last FA Cup entry was in 1879–80, Herts Rangers beating the club in the first round. The club entered the first London Senior Cup in 1882–83, but lost 18–1, the biggest defeat in the competition's history, to Upton Park in the first round.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cavallini |first1=Rob |title=A Complete Record of the London FA Cups |date=2022 |publisher=Dog & Duck}}</ref>
The club continued on an amateur level until at least 1908, with significant success in the City of London Challenge Shield, a competition which reserved for clubs whose members worked in the City of London, winning the competition from 1892 to 1897, and again in 1905–06 and 1906–07.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Football |journal=Isle of Wight Observer |date=14 May 1898 |page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Holland |first1=E. L. |title=Amateur Football Association Annual |date=1907 |publisher=Marshalsea Press |location=Borough, London |page=104}}</ref> The club beat Gresham 4–0 in the final at the Crystal Palace ground in 1896,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Football |journal=Lloyd's Weekly |date=29 March 1896 |page=20}}</ref> beat Olympic to win the title in 1897,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Association Football |journal=Weekly Dispatch |date=21 March 1897 |page=20}}</ref> and lost to the latter club in the final in 1898.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Football |journal=Isle of Wight Observer |date=14 May 1898 |page=4}}</ref> The club also won the London Junior Cup in 1890. thumb|Line-ups for the 1896 City of London Challenge Shield final
The club's major claim to fame is being the first opponents of Fulham at Craven Cottage in the Middlesex Senior Cup, in 1896.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pruce |first1=Geoff |title=125 Years at Craven Cottage |url=https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2021/october/11/125-years-at-craven-cottage-/ |website=Fulham FC |access-date=25 September 2022}}</ref>
The last recorded match for the club above works league level is a 13–1 defeat at Chesham Generals in February 1901.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Chesham Generals |journal=Chesham Examiner |date=15 February 1901 |page=8}}</ref> The club continued as a member of the City of London Athletic Association until at least 1908.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Holland |first1=E. L. |title=Amateur Football Association Annual |date=1907 |publisher=Marshalsea Press |location=Borough, London |page=103}}</ref>
==Colours==
The club colours were originally navy blue shirts with white trim, originally a white band around each arm.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alcock |first1=Charles |title=Football Annual |date=1876 |publisher=Cricket Press |location=London |page=142}}</ref> By 1908 they were dark and light blue.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Holland |first1=E. L. |title=Amateur Football Association Annual |date=1907 |publisher=Marshalsea Press |location=Borough, London |page=103}}</ref>
==Grounds==
The club played its first season at Loughborough Junction.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alcock |first1=Charles |title=Football Annual |date=1876 |publisher=Cricket Press |location=London |page=142}}</ref> In 1877–78 the club moved to a ground one minute's walk from Ladywell Station and used the Ladywell Inn for its facilities.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alcock |first1=Charles |title=Football Annual |date=1878 |publisher=Cricket Press |location=London |page=142}}</ref> Its last known ground was at Eltham Road in Lee, south-east London.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Holland |first1=E. L. |title=Amateur Football Association Annual |date=1907 |publisher=Marshalsea Press |location=Borough, London |page=103}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Defunct football clubs in England Category:Defunct football clubs in London Category:Association football clubs established in 1876 Category:Works football clubs in England