1861 Worksop Town, founded in 1861, has won numerous cups in its lengthy history, including the Sheffield and Hallamshire Senior Cup (twelve times), but they've also finished runners-up twenty-one times. Worksop has also won a number of cup events in Sheffield and the Midlands. The club currently plays in the Northern Premier League Division One South.
Worksop played their first match on 9 August 1861 against Offal Grange Rovers, then known as the Midland Counties Football Association team, with whom they share a mutual rivalry to this day. They won that game 2-1 at Athletic Ground in Derby.
After two more matches without a loss, the club's first championship season was 1871-72 when they were undefeated in their opening eight games before losing to Ecclesfield United 1-0 in the ninth. They went on to win the league by three points from Stocksbridge Worksopians with Worksop winning all their games away from home. This remains the only time Worksop have won the league title.
In 1874-75, Worksop lost just one game all season and therefore became champions for a second time. They retained the title the following year when they defeated Walsall Wood 5-4 on aggregate in the final.
Dorchester Town was founded in 1880 and was a Dorset Senior Cup finalist in 1888 and 1890 before entering the Dorset League in 1896. Despite being one of the league's founding members, the club had limited success before winning the title in 1937/38 with a 2-0 win against Sherborne on April 25, 1938. They retained their title the following season after again defeating Sherborne 3-0 at Home Park.
Town finished as runners-up in 1938/39 and 1939/40 before finally lifting the trophy outright in 1940/41 when they defeated Christchurch 1-0 at home. Their stay in the top flight lasted only one season before they were relegated back to the Second Division due to ground grading concerns. The club never returned to the first division and folded two years later.
Currently, there are more than 70 teams competing in five divisions (Senior A, B, C, Reserve Premier and Reserve Division One). The average attendance for a league match is around 100 people. There are several clubs who play in the South West Peninsula League or the Wessex League.
Dorchester is a town of approximately 21,000 people located in South West England about 20 miles from Weymouth and Portland's main port. The town has a long history as a fishing village but also attracts tourists to its antique shops and Victorian architecture. It has been called "England's smallest capital city" because of its exclusive shopping area called City Road.
Melbourne and Geelong football clubs were founded in 1858 and 1859, respectively, and are two of the world's oldest football clubs. The other Australian club, Adelaide United FC, was founded in 1877.
All four clubs are members of the Football Federation Australia (FFA), which controls professional soccer in Australia. Melbourne City AFC is the most successful club in Australia with 13 A-League championships ahead of Brisbane Roar FC's five titles. City also has three FA Cup victories to its name while Brisbane Roar have never won a major title.
Geelong played its first match on 15 August 1859 against Melbourne University, who they defeated 5 goals to 3. This game was held at East Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of about 100 people. The opponents again met on 1 October 1860 at the same ground but this time it was for the Victorian Football Association (VFA) premiership. The VFA was formed by former students and staff members of Melbourne University who wanted to play cricket instead of running away from a fight so they formed a team called the Musketeers. Today, these are the two oldest clubs in Victoria that still play senior grade football.
Adelaide United was established in 1977 as South Australian National Soccer League (SANSL) club Adelaide Oakleigh Pines.
Founded in 1864, 14 years before Manchester United and 37 years before the New York Yankees, the Carlton Football Club is one of the world's oldest and greatest athletic organizations, and the competition's most successful, having won 16 Grand Finals. The club has also won six Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees and five Brownlow Medals, which is the highest number of any team.
Carlton Football Club was founded by Victorian sportsmen who were members of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) crowd that followed their favorite sport - association football - during the early days of its development in Australia. The original members included Charles Carlton, who had been a foundation player for the MCG cricket team; John Nicholls; William Henry Green; James Black; and Edward Thornbury. They wanted to have a team of their own so they could play at tournaments held on MCG land without paying rent. The men drafted a manifesto setting out their aims for the new club and invited other members to join them. By January 1864, when the first match was played, there had been sign-ups from enough people to form a team. It is not known how many games this early version of the club played before it disbanded, but it is believed it was only responsible for organizing one more tournament before it finally folded in April 1864.
BFC Germania 1888, founded on April 15, 1888, is the oldest functioning association football club. As of the 2020/21 season, they are in the tenth tier and have never won a national championship. Their home ground is the Stadion an der Löwengrube.
The club was originally called VfL Germania Hamburg and they were one of the first clubs to be accepted into the Hanoverian Football Association. In 1901, they renamed themselves BFC Germania after German international Karl Behre who died in 1900. They have been playing in the city's Lüneburg district since 1909, when they moved from their original location in Neuenmarkt.
Currently, the club is led by Bernd Hüttler as chairman and Franz Pfeiffer as manager. BFC Germania has 1,000 members and its home games are usually played on Sunday evenings. The club's best result so far has been fourth place in the North Sea Cup (the highest regional league).
There are several other clubs that could claim to be the oldest, including Royal Albert Edward Club, which was founded in 1877. However, none of them are active today. BFC Germania is the only club from Germany that can call itself world-class because it has had some success in international competitions.
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