Blackburn Rovers FC

Full Name: Blackburn Rovers Football Club
Town: Blackburn
Founded: 1875
Stadium: Ewood Park (31,154)
Colors: Blue, White
Nickname: Rovers
Rivals: Burnley
Official Website: rovers.co.uk

Description:

Blackburn Rovers were founded on November 5th, 1875. The club did not have a ground of its own in its first couple of years and played at a number of different locations resulting in the Rovers name. The club were founder members of the Football League, launched in 1888. Blackburn Rovers are still the only club to have won the FA Cup three consecutive times and, as a result, are allowed to display the FA Cup emblem on their corner flags during matches.

Rovers' emblem includes the Lancashire rose (Blackburn is a city in Lancashire county), the year of the club's foundation and the club motto - Arte et Labore (Through Skill and Hard Work). The club's original jerseys were green and white quarters, modeled after that of Malvern College, which several founders attended. Several years later the leadership of the club passed to some former Cambridge University students, who changed the colors to the blue and white of that school. Ewood Park is named for the Ewood area of Blackburn. Previous stadiums - Oozehead (1876-77), Pleasington Cricket Ground (1877-78), Alexandra Meadows (1878-81), Learnington Street (1881-90).

Blackburn Rovers FC History

Blackburn Rovers is an English Premier League football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire.

Blackburn Rovers was established in 1875, and in 1888 became a founder member of the English Football League. In 1890 Rovers moved to its permanent home at Ewood Park.

Until the formation of the Premier League in 1992, the majority of Blackburn Rovers' success was pre-1930 when they won the league and F.A. Cup on several occasions.

In the early 1990s Jack Walker, a local boy and life-long supporter who made millions in the steel industry, invested heavily in the club. He lured former Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish as manager and a number of shrewd player purchases followed, most notably Alan Shearer. This lifted the club back into the Premier League and after finishing runners-up to Manchester United in 1993/1994, Rovers won the championship the following year. A slump followed in the late 1990s, with relegation to League Division One. The team returned to form in 2000 and secured promotion back into the Premier League and in 2002 won the League Cup, beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Blackburn Rovers is still the only team to win the F.A. Cup three years in succession, for which they were awarded a special trophy in 1886, and is one of only a handful of clubs to be a founder member of both the Football League and the Premier League.

Early history

The club Blackburn Rovers was the idea of John Lewis and Arthur Constantine during a seventeen-man meeting at the Leger Hotel, Blackburn in November 1875. The make up of its inital members was predominately wealthy well-connected individuals -- a fact that would help it survive and rise beyond the large number of other local teams around at the time.

The first match played by Blackburn Rovers took place in Church, Lancashire on 18 December 1875 -- and was a 1-1 draw. Although the make-up of the team was not recorded it is generally thought to be: Thomas Greenwood (goal), Jack Baldwin, Fred Birtwhistle, (full-backs), Arthur Thomas, J. T. Sycelmore (half-backs), Walter Duckworth, John Lewis, Thomas Dean, Arthur Constantine, Hary Greenwood, Richard Birtwhistle (forwards), in a 2-2-6 formation.

At this time, the club had no ground of its own, and no gate receipts. Its only income was from members' subscriptions -- £2 8s 0d during the first season.

During the 1876-1877 season, Rovers finally gained a ground of its own -- a piece of farmland at Oozehead. Although in reality it was little more than a meadow with a pool in the middle that had to be covered with planks and turf when playing. It did, however, allow the club to begin to collect gate receipts: 6s 6d during that season. Occasional games were also played at Pleasington cricket ground.

Subsequently Blackburn Rovers rented the home of the East Lancashire Cricket Club for their matches: Alexandra Meadows. The inaugural game was played against Partick Thistle, the most prestigious club Rovers had played until then. The result was a 2-1 win for Blackburn.

HONORS

League Titles:

* English Premier League (1995)
* Football League First Division (1912, 14)
* Football League Second Division (1939)
* Football League Third Division (1975)

Cup Titles:

* Charity Shield (1912)
* FA Cup (1884, 85, 86, 90, 91, 1928)
* Football League Cup (2002)