1894–95 New Brompton F.C. season

New Brompton
1894–95 season
Chairman	H.G. Croneen
Manager	none
Southern League Division Two	1st
FA Cup	Third Qualifying Round
Top goalscorer	League: Arthur Rule (18); All: Arthur Rule (22)
Highest home attendance	approx 8,000 vs Chatham (3 November 1894)
Lowest home attendance	approx 300 vs Old St Stephen's (1 December 1894)
	Home colours
	Home colours

The 1894–95 season was the first season in which football club New Brompton F.C. (later renamed Gillingham F.C.) competed in a league competition. The club had been formed a year earlier but had played only friendlies and ties in the qualifying rounds of the FA Cup and FA Amateur Cup in the previous season. In May 1894, however, the club was accepted into membership of the newly formed Southern League and played its first league match on 15 September 1894 against Sheppey United. New Brompton dominated Division Two of the new league, winning all bar one of its matches, and win on to clinch promotion to Division One by winning an end-of-season "test match". The club also entered the FA Cup for the second time but could only reach the third qualifying round.

Southern League[]

The New Brompton team pictured before the first match of the season.
Back row, left to right: Ashdown, Carr (referee), Jenner, Pellatt, James, Meager, Auld, Murray (trainer). Front row: Manning, Buckland, Hutcheson, Rule, Dickenson

In May 1894 New Brompton joined the Southern League, a new league formed by the leading clubs in the South of England at a time when the Football League included only teams from the Midlands and North of the country. The club, which switched from amateur to professional status upon being accepted into the league, was placed in Division Two because it was one of the last to be invited to join the league and all the places in Division One had already been allocated. Two other Kent clubs, Bromley and Sheppey United, were also in the division, and New Brompton's first fixture was away to Sheppey on 15 September 1894. In front of a crowd of approximately 3,000 fans New Brompton emerged victorious by a score of 6–0, David Hutcheson scoring a hat-trick.

The team followed the success of their first match with a further seven consecutive victories, in which 32 goals were scored and only five conceded, before the only defeat of the season came on 9 March 1895 with a 3–1 defeat at home to Bromley. Two weeks later New Brompton gained their revenge with a 3–2 win at Bromley's ground, and followed this up with victories on consecutive days over Old St Stephen's and Chesham, in which the team scored a total of 15 goals without reply. This left the team with a final record of eleven wins and one defeat from twelve matches. The top goalscorer for the season was Arthur Rule, who scored nine times in the final three matches of the season to finish with a total of 18 goals in just nine matches. After the 1894–95 season he never played for New Brompton again, and details of his subsequent career are unknown.

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
1894-09-15	Sheppey United	A	6–0	Hutcheson 3, Manning, Rule, opponent own goal	3,000
1894-09-22	Uxbridge	H	4–0	Hutcheson 3, Rule, Manning, Buckland	not recorded
1894-12-01	Old St Stephen's	H	5–2	Manning 2, Rule 2, Jenner	300
1894-12-29	Chesham	A	7–2	Webb 3, Hutcheson, Manning, Dickenson, opponent own goal	300
1895-01-19	Maidenhead	H	6–0	Rule 2, Thomas, Buckland, Hutcheson, Dickenson	2,000
1895-01-26	Sheppey United	H	3–1	Rule 2, Hutcheson	3,000
1895-02-23	Maidenhead	A	5–0	Hutcheson 2, Buckland, Rule, Dickenson	not recorded
1895-03-02	Uxbridge	A	2–0	Jenner 2	400
1895-03-09	Bromley	H	1–3	Hutcheson	not recorded
1895-03-23	Bromley	A	3–2	Buckland 2, Rule	2,000
1895-04-12	Old St Stephen's	A	6–0	Rule 3, Hutcheson 2, Pellatt	2,500
1895-04-13	Chesham	H	9–0	Rule 5, Dickenson 2, Hutcheson, Gladwell	not recorded

Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
12	11	0	1	57	10	22

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; Pts = Points

Test match[]

At this time automatic promotion and relegation was not in place and the club was required to play a "test match" against Swindon Town, who had finished bottom of Division One. The match was played at a neutral venue in Caversham, near Reading, and New Brompton won 5–1 to gain promotion to the higher division.

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
1895-04-27	Swindon Town	@ Caversham	5–1	Rule 4, Buckland	1,000

FA Cup[]

New Brompton entered the FA Cup at the second qualifying round, defeating Chatham of the Southern League Division One before a club record crowd of approximately 8,000 fans. The club was then eliminated by another Division One team, Millwall Athletic, in the third qualifying round.

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
1894-11-03	2nd qualifying	Chatham	H	3–0	Dickenson 3	8,000
1894-11-24	3rd qualifying	Millwall Athletic	H	0–2		4,000

Squad statistics[]

Arthur Rule was the club's top scorer, with 22 goals in total.

The club used 18 players during the course of the season, with only two, H. Buckland and A. Meager, playing in all 15 of the team's competitive matches.

Name	League		FA Cup		Other		Total
Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
A. Ashdown	11	0	2	0	1	0	14	0
H. Auld	10	0	2	0	0	0	12	0
H. Buckland	12	5	2	0	1	1	15	6
J. Dickenson	11	5	2	3	1	0	14	8
A. Gladwell	2	1	0	0	0	0	2	1
D. Hutcheson	11	13	2	0	1	0	14	13
A. James	4	0	2	0	0	0	6	0
A. Jenner	4	3	0	0	0	0	4	3
D. Keefe	2	0	0	0	1	0	3	0
F. Manning	7	5	2	0	0	0	9	5
A. Meager	12	0	2	0	1	0	15	0
D. Pellatt	11	1	2	0	1	0	14	1
R. Read	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
A. Rule	9	18	2	0	1	4	12	22
A. Russell	11	0	2	0	1	0	14	0
W. Thomas	6	1	0	0	1	0	7	1
J. Watson	7	0	0	0	1	0	8	0
A. Webb	1	3	0	0	0	0	1	3

References[]

Brown, Tony (2003). The Definitive Gillingham F.C.: A Complete Record. Soccerdata. ISBN 1-899468-20-X.
Triggs, Roger (1984). Gillingham Football Club: A Chronology 1893–1984. Kent County Libraries.
Bradley, Andy; Roger Triggs (1994). Home of the Shouting Men: Complete History of Gillingham Football Club 1893–1993. Gillingham F.C. ISBN 0-9523361-0-3.