Tottenham Hotspur Founded on 5th September,1882 Know Your Tottenham History

This is the date, 5th September, 1882, that is accepted as the date of the formation of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. The club was founded one hundred and thirty years ago when a group of schoolboys from Tottenham Grammar School who played cricket for Hotspur Cricket Club decided to form a football club in order to keep fit through the winter months. It was originally called Hotspur Football Club and as the first subscriptions were due on 5th September, 1882, this is taken as the date for the formation of the club. After two years, due to confusion with another club, London Hotspur, the name Tottenham Hotspur was adopted.

The actual founders of the club are listed as: J. Anderson, T. Anderson, E. Beaven, R. Buckle, H.D. Casey, L.R. Casey, F. Dexter, S. Leaman, J.H. Thompson (jun), P. Thompson and E. Wall.

The money raised from the players’ subscriptions was quickly spent on the purchase of wood for goalposts, flag poles and other essential equipment. The goalposts were made by the father of the two Casey brothers who had been instrumental in setting up the club. The major expenditure of buying a football was made at the end of September on the day they played their first match.

The club played its first games on Tottenham Marshes which was close to Northumberland Park station where a friendly station master allowed them to store the goalposts which had been painted blue and white.

From such humble beginnings has grown the world famous Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

Taken from an article in Spurs News

Bobby Buckle

Bobby Buckle is a name associated with the formation and subsequent development of the club. He was one of the boys who stood under a local gas lamp and decided to form the club. There were many difficulties in those early days – as one historian wrote, “They had enthusiasm but no means, and like the lamp their hopes flickered, spluttered and then went out.”

Yet, Bobby and his fellow founder members overcame all the obstacles and, as that same writer later observed: “Like the little brook that ripples its way among the hills, grows into a sturdy stream, flows on through smiling fields and desert rocks and finally expends into a mighty river, so has the career of the famous Tottenham club.”

Bobby Buckle played in those early games on Tottenham Marshes when funds were so short that the boys had to even make the goalposts and actually construct their own pitch. The goals in those days had no crossbar, a piece of tape serving that purpose but often pulled down by goalkeepers to ensure that shots flew harmlesssly over! Sometimes they had to cope without a match ball or had to stop play when one burst because there was no replacement. Their prized pitch on the Marshes was so coveted by other clubs that there was often a race between the Spurs players and other local clubs to get there first.

#knowyourtottenhamhistory  4th September, 1899