Beginnings and the first major honours (1882–1946)

Beginnings and the first major honours (1882–1946)

^{Members of Burnley Rovers, a rugby team, formed the club on May 18, 1882, after voting to switch to association football because many}

^{other local sports clubs had switched to football as their new code.[3] A few days later, the suffix “Rovers” was removed.[3] In 1883, the}

^{team won its first trophy in the Dr Dean’s Cup, a knockout tournament involving Burnley-area amateur clubs.[4] The team signed numerous}

^{Scottish players and become professional at the conclusion of the year. Due to the Football Association’s (FA) ban on professional players,}

^{Burnley declined to participate in the FA and its FA Cup.[5] In an effort to subvert the dominance of the FA, Burnley spearheaded a group of}

^{35 clubs in 1884 to form the breakaway British Football Association (BFA). Burnley made their FA Cup debut in 1885–1886 when the FA}

^{altered its rules to permit professionals in 1885.[5][6] In October 1886, Prince Albert Victor attended a friendly between Burnley and Bolton}

^{Wanderers, becoming Burnley’s Turf Moor the first professional stadium to host a member of the Royal Family.[4] The team was one of the}

^{six Lancashire-based founding members of the Football League, which was founded by twelve in 1888–1889.[7] In the second game,}

^{Burnley won their first league title thanks to three goals from William Tait, who became the first player in history to achieve a league hat-}

^{trick.[7] They defeated local rivals Blackburn Rovers in the final to win their first Lancashire Cup in 1889–1890.[8]]}

For the first time, Burnley was demoted to the Second Division between 1896 and 1897.[9] Despite a contentious

final match against First Division club Stoke, the team won the division the following season; only two of thirty

games were lost before promotion was earned in a four-team play-off series known as test matches. The match was

dubbed “[t]he match without a shot at goal” as it ended in a 0–0 draw, since both teams simply needed a draw to

qualify for the top division.[10] In 1899–1900, Burnley was demoted once more and became the subject of

controversy when its goalkeeper, Jack Hillman, tried to bribe Nottingham Forest in the season’s final game.[11]It

may be the first instance of football match-fixing ever documented.[12]The team remained in the Second Division

and even placed last in 1902–03, but they were re-elected because of the club’s financial troubles.

The club’s finances improved after Harry Windle was appointed chairman in 1909.[15] In 1910, the board named

John Haworth as the new manager. Haworth and the Burnley committee thought that changing the club’s colours

from green to the claret and blue of Aston Villa, the First Division champions at the time, would bring about a

change in fortune.[16] The team was promoted to the top division in 1912–13; Burnley defeated Liverpool in the 1914

FA Cup final the following season to win their first major award.[9] With the lone goal from Bert Freeman, Burnley

became the first team to upset five elite teams in a single cup season.The first captain to accept the trophy from a

reigning king, King George V, was Tommy Boyle.[17] The team won their first-ever First Division title in 1920–21

after finishing second to West Bromwich Albion in 1919–20 and [18].[9] Despite losing the first three games,

Burnley set an English record by going undefeated in the next 30 league games.[1] The team was demoted to the

Second Division after nine seasons. They were relegated by two points in 1931–32 after struggling in the second

division.[13][19] Mid-table league finishes were a defining feature of the years leading up to the Second World War.