While Blackburn Rovers have been national champions on three occasions, there was once a time when they were not even the greatest club in Blackburn. While Blackburn Olympic may have only existed for little more than a single decade, in that short time they revolutionised football. Their legacy was to influence the sport long after their own demise.

Olympic was formed in August 1877 when two small Blackburn clubs (James Street and Black Star) merged. The name Blackburn Olympic was thought up by James Edmondson, the first treasurer of the newly formed club. Unlike their educated middle class rivals at Rovers, Olympic were to be a team comprised of youngsters and factory workers. At the time the strongest Lancashire teams other than Rovers were Church, Darwen and Turton. Other Blackburn teams of the time included Blackburn Park Road, Rising Sun, Cob Wall, Blackburn Association and Witton, although Rovers would always be the team with the greatest backing, mainly due to their being the team of the educated class of the town. Despite the team originating from near the bottom of Shear Brow, the home ground they chose was behind the Hole i’th Wall pub at the top of the hill, meaning a walk up the steep hill to each game. The pub was used as the changing area for the team before and after games as well as most likely as a convenient location for a post-match pint or ten. Their shirts were to be of a pale, sky blue colour.

Just as Rovers at that time had men willing to back them with money so fortuitously one came along for Olympic side in the form of Sid Yates, who owned and ran the local Yates’ iron foundry. Yates’ was the company created and built up by his father William and later changed its name to the Canal Engineering Works. Yates helped to narrow the financial gap between Olympic and that of Rovers, who were at the time supported by wealthy local industrialists such as Hornby and Lewis. If his health had not declined after the 1883 FA Cup success and had Olympic not then had to rely solely on their own revenue the sporting scene in Blackburn may well have been different.

When Olympic first clashed with the Rovers on February 15th 1879 at Alexandra Meadows (modern day home of the East Lancs.Cricket Club) which was then also home to Rovers between 1877 and 1879) the upstarts caused an upset with a 3-1 victory over their more established rivals. Although Rovers were slightly under-strength the result was still a shock, with local press praising the Olympic side for their “cohesion” and declared them “one of the best, if not the best, club in town.” After battling away with Darwen, Rovers were suddenly faced with serious competition on their very doorstep. To prove this was no fluke, Olympic held Rovers to a 0-0 draw in the return fixture at Hole I’th Wall that March. In fact Rovers didn’t win until the third meeting between the teams, which was a 4-1 thrashing. If Olympic thought it couldn’t get any worse that that, they were wrong. The next game saw Rovers win 8-2. From then on Rovers were to win the majority of the games between the sides. Yet…when it came to the greatest prize of all, the FA Cup, Olympic were to get there first.

The first attempt on the FA Cup by Blackburn Olympic in 1880/1881 was over almost as soon it began following a 5-4 loss to Sheffield in the first round. However better times were to come, not only for Olympic but for northern football and the working class teams in general. Darwen reached the semi-finals and were the first non-southern or ex-public schoolboy side to challenge the elite of the game. The next season Olympic faced this highflying Darwen side in the first round of the FA cup. It wasn’t to be a giant killing; Darwen won 3-1. Rovers reached the final but lost to the Old Etonians. Blackburn would have to wait until next year for a winning team. The surprise was that it wasn’t the most famous and popular team of the town that would win it but little, unthought-of working-class Olympic, a team that hadn’t even yet won a single game in the competition.

In winning the cup in the 1882/83 season, Olympic didn’t just upset the status quo; they also invented a new part of football- training. Olympic were the first team to specifically train for their cup ties. They also went away to the first known football training camp, to the beach at Blackpool in preparation for the final. During the five day-long special training schedule which was organised as the result of a collection in Blackburn mills and workshops, the players went to Blackpool where they trained on the sands. Olympic also introduced a tactical formation to the game. They played in a 2-3-5 system and if they were not the first to do so then they were certainly first to do it so successfully. Before that the very, very attack-minded 2-2-6 had been used. They were also the first finalists to have a manager and coach in W Bramham and even checked into a hotel in Richmond in Surrey two days before the final to avoid the long rail journey on the day and while there they made use of the hotel grounds to maintain a strict training schedule. They to all intents and purposes had created the modern approach to football- in 1883!

To reach the final Olympic had easily dispatched of Darwen Ramblers (8-0), Church (2-0), Druids (4-1) and, in the semi final at Whalley Range in Manchester, Old Carthusians were defeated to take Olympic to the final (4-0). Rovers had already been knocked out by the more famous Darwen side.

For the second year, a travelling mass of Blackburnians journeyed to the Kennington Oval in London praying for a landmark cup win. The Kennington Oval would also host the next three FA Cup finals, all starring Rovers. Harry Kay, the sports editor of the Northern Daily Telegraph told how the Olympic fans caused a stir in the capital. “When Blackburn Olympic supporters invaded London for the Cup final they caused a sensation. Many were wearing their Sunday clogs with brass rivets, and scarves and neckties in the club colours." 1883 was to be perhaps the greatest turning point in the history of association football in England. Olympic- and Blackburn- would win.

The Olympic team was T HACKING, J WARD, S.A. WARBURTON (C), T GIBSON, W ASTLEY, J HUNTER, T DEWHURST, A MATTHEWS, G WILSON J COSTLEY, J YATES. Their opponents were the conquerors of Rovers in the final the previous year; the Old Etonians. In a physical game the Etonians (and favourites) lead 1-0 at half time. After what is probably the first known incident of a cup final ‘half time rollicking’ the Olympic team came out and equalised through Matthews. The tie ended 1-1. The Old Etonians were shattered but were honour-bound to agree to extra time after Olympic asked for the further half hour, even though they were down to ten men for injury and wished for a replay. Sure enough in extra time Dewhurst's long pass gave Jimmy Costley a clear sight of goal which he utilised to place a sipping shot just under the bar. The ground erupted as fans ran onto the pitch. Indeed it took all the capability of the police on duty to hold back the crowd until the final whistle. 2-1 it ended as the ‘Artisans’ triumphed over the ‘Aristocrats’. Never again would the ‘toffs’ triumph in what would be the game of the working-class male. Apparently an Olympic fan was not so impressed with the trophy itself though; inquiring if it was actually a cup at all as to him it looked more like a tea kettle. This perfectly demonstrated the time-honoured infallible capacity of a Blackburnian to be able to have a good moan, whatever the occasion or event may be. Olympic captain Squire Albert Warburton replied prophetically that “Aye it might do, but it's very welcome in Lancashire and it won't be returning to London”. The man spoke the truth. A London side never did bring back that particular cup back to the capital as it was stolen from a shop window in Birmingham in 1895. The cup had not travelled further south than Birmingham in all that time since.

That the cup victory had become national news was confirmed as the Olympic team made their way home by train. A crowd gathered to applaud the team at every station it stopped at. The tradition of a procession around the town by a cup winning side was begun by Blackburn Olympic and has been continued by the winning team ever since. There was even a poem published by local bard William Billington and published in the Blackburn Times. Blackburn was to win the cup for the next three years but it was not to be won again by Olympic. Rovers were to become the truly dominant force of the town, an insurmountable position which was confirmed when they were invited to join the newly emerging Football League. Blackburn Olympic were on their last legs and didn’t last long after the new national league began.

Before then there were some final hurrahs. They played the Scottish Cup winners Dumbarton to decide who the champions of Great Britain were. They lost 6-1. So it wasn’t them then….. They also played Scottish teams such as Partick Thistle and Queens Park. With their benefactor Sid Yates in a state of declining health brought on by serious illness and Rovers across town being so dominant, their end was inevitable if there was to be only one main team in Blackburn. Rovers would always be that main team. However they certainly put up a spirited defence of their cup, beating Old Wykehamists (6-0) and Northwich Victoria (9-1) on the way to the semi-final, where Queens Park stopped them dead in their tracks by beating them 4-1 at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, which was (and remains) the current cricket ground where both Forest and County played at one time. 1883/84 was to be the only time that Blackburn (or any town ever for that matter) had two teams in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. It may have been a long time ago but it was still one amazing achievement. The next year the two sides met in the second round but the Rovers win (3-2) was a precursory notice that from now on Olympic were to be second best in their own town. At best! The next two years saw them lose at home in the first round to first Church and then Partick Thistle. They reached the second round the year after (1887/88) although that was due to them getting a bye. They faced their old nemesis…Rovers from across the town. Rovers won 5-1 and the end was in sight for Olympic as Rovers were about to join the football league as the representative for the town of Blackburn. They wouldn’t even need to play many friendlies against local sides anymore. Especially not against sides as lacking in quality as Olympic now were.

The best Olympic players had decamped to Rovers way before then, such as Billy Townley and Jack Southworth. Olympic simply could not compete. They may have revolutionised the world game of football but they just happened to be from the same location as the first dominant side of professional football. The thrashing by Rovers was to be their last FA Cup game. In August 1889, when they had fallen behind not only Rovers but even other local sides such as Witton and Blackburn Park Road, a notice appeared in the Blackburn Times. “This once famous club, it is to be feared, is gone beyond all recovery. There is no attempt to resuscitate it. The ground is now in the hands of the Blackburn Railway Clerks Club.” Despite one last attempt to resurrect the club, Blackburn Olympic were no more. From nothing to national champions then back again to nothing again in just twelve years. The Hall I’th Wall is still there serving pints with various Olympic memorabilia on the walls and what was the ground is now covered mainly by St Mary’s sixth form college.

Just a small town team, not even the biggest club in Blackburn, changed football forever. From them came new tactics, training methods, managers, trophy parades and the first true triumph of the working-class in a game codified by gentlemen. They may now only be a footnote in history but a glorious footnote they will always remain.

Blackburn Olympic results against Blackburn Rovers in major competitions. 1884/85 – FA CUP R2 – Blackburn Rovers 3 Blackburn Olympic 2 1887/88 – FA CUP R2 – Blackburn Rovers 5 Blackburn Olympic 1