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Minmi Rangers Football Club, Minmi, Newcastle, Northern NSW
Minmi Rangers was one of first football clubs formed in Australia and the second in Northern NSW
Minmi Rangers was one of the foundation members of the Northern British Football Association. It was the most successful club in NSW from the 1880s through to the 1890s. They were Northern NSW champions from 1886 to 1892. The highlight was the club's 3-0 win in The Gardiner Cup in 1892 against Sydney team, Pyrmont Rangers. A downturn in the local coal industry in Minmi resulted in many miners moving out of the town seeking work. Minmi lost its senior competition status by 1911.
Formation - Account no. 1 - No publication date. Interestingly Jack Pollard's Soccer Records (1974) compiled by Sid Grant has Minmi being founded in 1883)
The History of Soccer in NSW (History of New South Wales Soccer by Sid Grant and Harry Hetherington) claims Minmi Rangers was formed at the coal mining town of Minmi, near Newcastle on 9th September 1884. The club was formed after a number of Minmi miners read of the Scottish F A Cup final which was won by Queen's Park because their opponent for the match, the Vale of Leven, had not turned up for the game. The Minmi miners believed that a Minmi team would have played the game. They set to work to form a club. According to this account, the club's first committee was:
President - Mr. Gardiner
Secretary - Bill Ritchie
Treasurer - Mr. Stevenson
Ball Stewards - Winning and Frame
Umpire - Mr. Steveson
The club's colours were all white.
A report at the time said: “Soon volunteers assembled to remove two big gum trees, clear scrub and move hundreds of barrow-loads of soil to spots of the ground that needed levelling. As soon as the goalposts were erected, the paddock looked like a football field and it soon became one. 'A notice was posted around Minmi, particularly in the hotels – of which there were many. It announced: Football practice in Kelly's Paddock next Monday. All invited. Young and old flocked to the ground, some experienced and willing to play, others keen just to kick the ball around.'
One player, Lambton’s Peter Reid, rode a horse to work from Minmi each day. He told the Rangers secretary that there were players in the Hamilton area looking for a game. A match was arranged. It became the first official soccer game in the Newcastle area. A field was marked out on what is now Lambton Park. The match, which ended in a 2-2 draw, attracted about 600 spectators.
Formation - Account no. 2 - 1940
An article in the Newcastle Sun from 1940 told a different story. Five Scotsmen sent 2s 6d to Sydney for a soccer ball and three days later 20 players were practicing in Brown's Paddock, not Kelly's Paddock. (Newcastle Sun, 1 October 1940, page 8)
Formation - Account no. 3 - 1947
Another Newcastle Sun article from 1947 also tells the story of the five Scotsmen, who formed the club in the autumn of 1884. A chance meeting on the top of School Hill by Charlie Fitzpatrick, Jack Winning, Bill McCroary, Jack McCroary and Bob Frame decided that some form of recreation was needed. They decided to start a football club and called it Rangers after Charlie Fitzpatrick's old country club. All five donated sixpence and Bob Frame sent to Sydney for a ball which cost 2s and 6d. The next day Bob Frame sent away for six panel balls from Glasgow and a notice was nailed to the entrance of the tunnel at the Minmi Colliery which advised 'football practice tomorrow afternoon 4:15 at Kelly's Paddock. (Newcastle Sun, 8 September, 1947, page 18)
Formation - Account no. 4 - 1947
The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) tells a similar story, but the meeting set-up Lambton Thistle. Four Scotsmen, named Jack Winning, Bill McCrorie, John McCrorie, and Bob Frame, received a newspaper from home. They read about the growth of Soccer in Scotland, and decided they should have Soccer in Newcastle, too. They sent home for a book of rules and a ball. The book of rules and a five-panel ball arrived 12 months later.
The four Scotsmen posted a notice on the pit top at Lambton, inviting anyone interested in the "new game of football" to attend practice in a nearby paddock. They got a good roll-up, and after a few weeks' practice, the players had learned enough to arrange a match against a Sydney team called the Caledonians. The match was played at Lambton on August 17, 1885. The New castle team won 3-2. (Daily Telegraph (Sydney) 1 September, 1947)
The validity of accounts written so many years from the event has to be read critically. The date of the game played at Lambton is wrong. It is unsourced and confuses the formation of Minmi with Lambton even though there is a link between the two clubs.
A plaque at Lambton Park commemorates a game regarded as the first organised game of football in Northern NSW. The game was between South Lambton (Hamilton and other areas) and North Lambton (Minmi Area) in 1885. According to The History of Soccer in New South Wales the Minmi line-up was:
J. Winning, W. McCroarie, C. Kilpatrick, J. Wilson, W. McIlroy, J. McCroarie, J. Reid, R. Frame, A. Bryden, S. Mitchell, J. Laverty
What evidence do we have that this game took place? There are no newspaper reports of this match at Lambton ever taking place. The description of the game matched a game played in 1886 between Minmi and Hamilton played at Hamilton.
Minmi Rangers do not enter the historical record until 1886.
Firstly, The Daily Telegraph(Sydney) reported on 9 March 1886 that a 'football club under the British Association rules has been formed at Minmi, known as the Minmi Rangers.' The club secretary was M. McIlrory not Bill Ritchie. (The Daily Telegraph, 9 Mar 1886, page 7)
Minmi played Hamilton Athletic on Saturday 8 May, 1886 at Turnbull's Paddock Hamilton. (Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate 8 May 1886, Page 8, FOOTBALL)
Then, The Globe reported on 19 April, 1886, that Minmi Rangers would play Caledonians at Moore Park on Monday 24 May in a friendly game. (Globe, Sydney, NSW : 1885 - 1886 19 Apr 1886, Page 5) The game was played at Moore Park, Sydney in front of 2,000 spectators. The game resulted in a two-all draw. (Globe (Sydney, NSW : 1885 - 1886) Tuesday 25 May 1886, Page 5, SPORTING TOPICS.)
On Saturday 24 April Minmi played Granville at Minmi. Minmi won the game 3-2 before a large number of spectators. (Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate, Mon 26 Apr 1886, Page 8). The Minmi Rangers team was: G. Winnering, J. Wilson, A. Bryden, J. McCrorie, J. R. Kirkwood, M. McCrorie, McIlroy, J. Laverty, J. Spiers, R. Conley, C. Kirkpatrick. (The Cumberland Mercury, Parramatta, NSW : 1875 - 1895, 1 May 1886, Page 3)
Then there is the issue of Hamilton Athletic. The History of Soccer in NSW, Vol 1 has Hamilton Athletic formed in 1884. Yet, the club was formed in March 1886 not 1884 by Jocky Stevenson, Bill Currie and Jack Dixon. (The Newcastle Sun, 8 Sep 1947, Page 18, Football Giants Of The Past) Hamilton Athletic played Minmi Rangers on Saturday, 8 May 1886 on Mr. Turnbull's Paddock, Hamilton. (Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate, Sat May1886, Page 8) The result was a 2-2 draw. Why the error? The answer is that the clubs were formed the same year but it was in 1886 not 1884.
However, we do have evidence of Lambton Thistles in 1885. The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser reported on Saturday, 13 June, 1885 that a club under British Association rules had started at Lambton. Lambton Thistles folded at the end of 1885. The club actually played its first game on that Saturday against Caledonians from Sydney on Lambton Reserve. An announcement in the Newcastle Morning Herald by secretary H. Houston advised that the game would commence at 3.00 pm on the recreational reserve at Lambton. The game was announced in the Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate as the 'Introduction of the British Association Rules'. (Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate, 17 Jun 1885, page 4) The game was won 3 - 1 by Lambton though other reports indicate a 3-2 or a 3-0 win to Lambton. Was this the game which is commemorated on the plague at Lambton Park? The Lambton team according the the Newcastle Morning Herald report on 17 June, 1885, was:
D. Reed, J. Wilson, A. Bryden, W. McIlroy, P. Reed, M. Scobie, R. Osborne, D. Currie, W. McCrorrie, J. Conley, B. Doyle.
A letter to the editor in the Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate, in 1893, by W. McIlroy claimed that Lambton Thistle was the first club formed to play 'British rules' and this was followed by Minmi Rangers and then Hamilton Athletic. This is particularly interesting because W. McIlroy was named in the Minmi Rangers team in 1886. (Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate,1 September 1893, page 3) He is also listed as a member of the Lambton Thistles team which played Caledonians at Lambton on 17 June, 1885. Furthermore, McIlroy was the first president of the Northern British Football Association when it formed in1887. He was also president in 1888.
McIlroy was one of a number of players to play for Lambton Thistles and Minmi Rangers. J. Wilson, A. Bryden and McCrorie played for Lambton in 1885 and for Minmi in 1886.
Mr. John Stevenson, who played for Hamilton Athletic in 1886 recalled that Hamilton's first match against Minmi in 1886 was only the second match played in the district. The first was in 1885, at Lambton Park. ( The Newcastle Sun, 14 Dec 1921, page 8, EARLY FOOTBALL)
In an article in the Newcastle Sun in 1922 titled EARLY SOCCER First Northern Club OLD-TIMER'S MEMORY (Newcastle Sun, 3 August, 1922, page 2) Mr. A. Gray, of West Wallsend gave details of early Soccer in the district. The game was first started, he said "in 1844 or 1845 by a number of Scotchmen from, Lanemark Club, in Ayrshire. They held a meeting, over which Mr. Gray presided, in John Brown's house at Lambton. There were present John Brown, 'Soldier' David Curry, William McCoughey, Dick Osborne, Dan Thomas and Peter Reed." The club joined the Sydney association to play in a cup competition.
The report of the 1886 Annual General meeting of the British Association in the Globe(Sydney) gives further evidence on the date of the formation of clubs. The order of the formation of clubs is the same as reported by W. McIlroy in his letter to the editor. The first clubs in NSW in 1885 were, in order of formation, Caledonians, Canterbury, Friendly Society (Parramatta), Granville, Thistle (Lambton), Pyrmont Rangers, Katoomba College, Wanderers and Arcadians. The secretary advised the meeting that he had received correspondence from Hamilton Rangers and Minmi Rangers to join the association. (The Globe(Sydney) 16 April,1886, page 8.)
Conclusion
There are 4 different accounts of the formation of Minmi Rangers. All are unsourced and written 50 to 60 years after the event. The account in the History of Soccer in NSW is completely different to the other three.
Evidence close to the formation of Lambton and Minmi is:
13 June, 1885 - club formed at Lambton
13 June Lambton v Caledonians from Sydney- first game of football in the area
9 March 1886 that a 'football club under the British Association rules has been formed at Minmi
16 April 1886 1886 Annual General meeting of the British Association - order of clubs - Lambton in 1885 and Minmi and Hamilton in 1886
1 September 1893 - W. McIlroy - Lambton was the first club then Minmi and Hamilton
3 August 1922 - First game - Lambton in 1884 or 1885
Minmi Rangers could have formed in late 1885 but the evidence is was it was formed about March 1886 and played Hamilton on 8 May then Caledonians in Sydney on 24 May 1886. This was probably because some miners from Lambton moved to Minmi looking for work due to the ongoing dispute at Lambton Colliery. (Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate, 21 Nov 1885, page 4,THE LAMBTON COLLIERY DISPUTE & Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate, 28 Nov 1885, page 7, CORRESPONDENCE) Four of these miners played for Lambton Thistle in 1885.
Also see
https://www.lambtonthistlefc.com/home
Dr Jeff Green
jg30713@gmail.com
Minmi Rangers 1886 - Ellis Cup Winners or Gardinder cup winners 1892?
According to an article in the Newcastle Herald, this is Minmi Rangers in 1886.
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate, 20 September, 1934, page 5.
Standing: W. McIlroy, J. Kirkwood, J. Wilson, Arch Gardiner, W. Stevenson, J. Winning, J. Gilchrist, J. McCrorie,
Sitting: J. Curran, W. McCrorie, C. Kilpatrick, J. Mitchell, J. Laverty.
In 1934 Mr. W. J. Ritchie was living in William Street, Jesmond. W. McIlroy was at Waratah. J. Curran and J. Laverty were living in West Wallsend. J. Kirkwood was killed in a mining accident in South Africa. J. Wilson died at Broadmeadow. McCrorie brothers, Charles Kilpatrick and W. Stevenson returned to Scotland in 1888. J. Winning, regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of the time, died at Kurri Kurri. Archibald Gardiner, President of the club, was the manager of Minmi Colliery.
The plaque at Lambton Park rotunda.
Minmi about 1900 looking east.
Living Histories @ uon
Newcastle Herald, 1 September 1893. Lambton older than Minmi.
Minmi about 1960. This view looking towards Hexham along the railway line shows Brown's Model Farm in the distance on the right. This is the area referred to as Brown's Paddock.
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