User:Gasheadsteve/Sandbox3

The 1896–97 season was the fourteenth to be played by the team now known as Bristol Rovers, and their thirteenth playing under the name Eastville Rovers. The first team played in division one of the Western League for the fifth consecutive season, while the reserves competed in the second division of the same competition for the fourth time. This was Rovers' final season as an amateur club.

The senior squad ended the season in a mid-table position in the Western League first division, finishing in fifth place out of nine teams, while the reserves ended their campaign one place off the bottom of division two.

Season review

Following a successful 1895–96 season Rovers, along with fellow Western League clubs Warmley and St George, applied to join the Birmingham & District Football League for the 1896–97 campaign, however the Midlands-based league decided that they did not wish to increase the number of teams in the competition, and as a result all three applications were rejected.^[1] In June the Western League confirmed that Eastville Rovers had a place in Division One for the upcoming season, and the Gloucestershire F.A. confirmed the club also had a place in their Senior Challenge Cup.^[2] Rovers also entered the FA Cup for second time, having made their debut in the competition a year earlier.^[3]

League champions Aston Villa helped open Rovers' new home ground at Eastville Stadium

In March Rovers moved to their new, purpose built Eastville Stadium, the ground that would remain their home for the next 99 years until they were forced to leave due to financial problems in the 1980s. The team that were invited to play in a friendly match to mark the opening of the new ground was reigning league champions Aston Villa. The game was played just a week before the 1897 FA Cup Final when Villa became just the second team to win the league and cup double.

Match results

Western League

Division One

19 September 1896 1	Eastville Rovers	0–1	Bedminster	Ridgeway
		Report	Cottle	Attendance: "Very large"

26 September 1896 2	Eastville Rovers	0–2	Bristol South End	Ridgeway
		Report	Porter Unknown scorer	Attendance: 3000 Referee: Mr Farrant

3 October 1896 3	Trowbridge Town	3–0	Eastville Rovers	Trowbridge
	Unknown scorer Billett ~40' George (pen.) Hurn	Report	Nolan ~80'	Stadium: The Old Flower Show Field Attendance: 800 Referee: Mr Smith

24 October 1896 4	Staple Hill	1–4	Eastville Rovers	Staple Hill
15:30 GMT (UTC±00:00)	Humphries	Report	Bracey 45' McEwen Brown	Stadium: Staple Park Attendance: "Numerous" Referee: Mr G Gay

7 November 1896 5	Eastville Rovers	2–0	St Paul's	Ridgeway
	Gallier McBain	Report

21 November 1896 6	Eastville Rovers	0–2	Warmley	Ridgeway
		Report	Unknown scorers 1'	Attendance: 3500 Referee: Mr J H Beanland

5 December 1896 7	Eastville Rovers	2–3	St George	Ridgeway
15:05 GMT (UTC±00:00)	Osborne 15'	Report	Beak Shenton (o.g.) Parsons Unknown scorer

12 December 1896 8	Eastville Rovers	5–1	Staple Hill	Ridgeway
	Unknown scorers Leese Maclean Turner	Report	Smith

2 January 1897 9	Bedminster	1–2	Eastville Rovers	Ashton Gate
	Baugh MacAuliffe	Report	McLean Shenton Leese Stone 45' John	Stadium: Ashton Gate Stadium Referee: A.C. Farrant

9 January 1897 10	Bristol South End	1–3	Eastville Rovers	Bedminster
	A. Fielding	Report	Gallier O'Grady	Stadium: St John's Lane Referee: T. Mathews

16 January 1897 11	Eastville Rovers	0–0	Trowbridge Town	Ridgeway
		Report	Everett	Attendance: "Good" Referee: G. Gay

6 February 1897 12	St Paul's	1–1	Eastville Rovers	Bower Ashton
	Unknown scorer	Report	Osborne	Attendance: "Fairly large" Referee: Dr F.T.B. Logan

20 February 1897 13	Warmley	2–1	Eastville Rovers	Warmley
	Preddy 80' P. Britton (pen.)	Report	Osborne 75'	Attendance: 2000 Referee: Mr V.R. Davies (Swindon)

6 March 1897 14	Clifton	2–3	Eastville Rovers	Kingswood
	Taylor McCarthy 80'	Report	Gallier Horsey Osborne	Stadium: The Chequers Ground Attendance: "A capital attendance" Referee: J. Bloor

13 March 1897 15	St George	2–3	Eastville Rovers	St George
	Callendar	Report	Horsey	Attendance: 1000 Referee: J. Beanland

Division Two

1

Bedminster Reserves

4–0

Eastville Rovers Reserves

3 October 1896 2	Eastville Rovers Reserves	0–2	Fishponds	Ridgeway
		Report

24 October 1896 –	Eastville Rovers Reserves	A–A	Staple Hill Reserves	Ridgeway
	Unknown scorer	Report

21 November 1896 3	Barton Hill	4–0	Eastville Rovers Reserves	Netham
		Report

9 January 1897	Eastville Rovers Reserves	0–2	Barton Hill	Ridgeway
		Report

North Bristol & District League

Division B

For the first time since the 1893–94 season Eastville Rovers operated a third team, who were known as Eastville Rovers Juniors. They entered Division B of the North Bristol & District League (now known as the Bristol & Suburban League). Newspaper reports at the time gave the winning team first when listing match results, the order of the teams does not indicate which was playing at home as is the convention now.

14 November 1896	Avonside	9–0	Eastville Rovers Juniors
		Report

21 November 1896	Fishponds Victoria	7–3	Eastville Rovers Juniors
		Report

5 December 1896	Hebron	6–0	Eastville Rovers Juniors	Clifton
		Report		Stadium: The Downs

19 December 1896	Eastville Rovers Juniors	3–1	St George United
		Report

2 January 1897	Glendale	3–3	Eastville Rovers Juniors
		Report

9 January 1897	Eastville Wanderers Juniors	3–0	Eastville Rovers Juniors
		Report

30 January 1897	Eastville Rovers Juniors	9–1	St Mark's Rovers
		Report

FA Cup

In the qualifying rounds of the FA Cup Rovers were drawn away to Newbury, with the victor being due to face the winner of the match between Weymouth and St George. Rovers were reluctant to travel to Newbury, so offered their opponents £10 plus half the gate receipts to switch the tie to Bristol, but the Berkshire club declined the offer and Rovers had to make the journey east. The first half remained goalless, but Rovers took the lead shortly after the break before Newbury equalised later on. After this the game became more bad-tempered and marred by numerous fouls, including one player being kicked in the forehead and the game being held up for several minutes while another player was treated for an injury. The cup tie finished in a 1–1 draw, but the confrontational nature of the game didn't end there. Newbury were adamant that extra time should be played, while Rovers felt there should be a replay. In the end the referee sided with the Bristol club.^[4]

10 October 1896 Qualifying Round 1	Newbury	1–1	Eastville Rovers	Newbury
	Freebody	Report	Nolan ~50'	Attendance: "A big crowd" Referee: Mr Carr

14 October 1896 Qualifying Round 1 replay	Eastville Rovers	2–1	Newbury	Ridgeway
15:15 GMT (UTC±00:00)^[5]		Report

31 October 1896 Qualifying Round 2	Eastville Rovers	1–0	St George	Ridgeway
	Unknown scorer 46'	Report		Attendance: 3500 Referee: Mr J Beanland (Swindon)

21 November 1896 Qualifying Round 3	Royal Artillery (Portsmouth)	W–O	Eastville Rovers	Portsmouth
				Stadium: United Services Recreation Ground

Gloucestershire Cups

Senior Challenge Cup

30 January 1897 First round	Eastville Rovers	1–0	St Paul's	Ridgeway
	McBain 10'	Report

27 February 1897 Second round	Clifton	1–0	Eastville Rovers	Kingswood
	Bidwell 30'	Report		Stadium: The Chequers Ground Attendance: 300 Referee: Mr Haines (Swindon)

Junior Challenge Cup

First round

Eastville Rovers Reserves

v

St Paul's Reserves

Ridgeway

28 November 1896 Second round

Warmley Reserves

5–2

Eastville Rovers Reserves

Bristol Charity Cup

23 January 1897 First round	Eastville Rovers	2–1	Clifton	Ridgeway
	Bubb Gallier	Report	Graham	Attendance: "Fair" Referee: Mr Howard

Bristol North Challenge Vase

13 March 1897	Eastville Rovers Juniors	4–1	Eastville Glendale
		Report

Friendlies

First team

5 September 1896	Barton Hill	1–8	Eastville Rovers	Netham
	Unknown scorer	Report	Osborne Thompson Harvey Brown

12 September 1896	Eastville Rovers	0–2	St George	Ridgeway
		Report	Parsons Leese	Attendance: "Exceedingly good" Referee: Mr G Gay

17 October 1896	Eastville Rovers	1–0	Hereford Thistle	Ridgeway
15:30 GMT (UTC±00:00)	Hocking	Report

14 November 1896	Staple Hill	1–1	Eastville Rovers	Staple Hill
	Humphries	Report	Unknown scorer	Stadium: Staple Park

19 December 1896	St George	2–1	Eastville Rovers	St George
	Unknown scorers	Report	O'Grady 5'	Stadium: St George Athletic Ground Referee: Fred Gyles

20 March 1897	Eastville Rovers	2–0	Bedminster	Ridgeway
	Lewis Gallier	Report		Attendance: "A good crowd" Referee: J. Bloor

3 April 1897	Eastville Rovers Selected Team	0–5	Aston Villa	Eastville
17:00 GMT (UTC±00:00)	Gallier ~30' Leese 46'	Report	Wheldon 15' Harvey Burton Smith	Stadium: Eastville Stadium Attendance: 4500

Third team

13 February 1897	Eastville Rovers Juniors	5–0	Rudgway Victoria
		Report

20 February 1897	Braunton Villa	3–1	Eastville Rovers Juniors
		Report

27 February 1897	Eastville Rovers Juniors	6–0	Belmont Rovers
		Report

6 March 1897	Eastville Rovers Juniors	1–0	Clifton Juniors
		Report

20 March 1897	Eastville Rovers Juniors	3–0	Belmont
		Report

27 March 1897	Eastville Rovers Juniors	8–0	19th (St Mark's) Boys' Brigade
		Report

References

^ "News". Gloucester Journal. 30 May 1896. Retrieved 22 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "News". Gloucester Journal. 6 June 1896. Retrieved 22 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Football". Sheffield Daily Telegraph. 12 August 1896. Retrieved 22 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "The English Cup–Qualifying Competition". Western Daily Press. 12 October 1896. p. 7. Retrieved 24 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Amusements and Exhibitions". Western Daily Press. 12 October 1896. p. 4. Retrieved 25 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[1] "News". Gloucester Journal. 30 May 1896. Retrieved 22 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[2] "News". Gloucester Journal. 6 June 1896. Retrieved 22 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[3] "Football". Sheffield Daily Telegraph. 12 August 1896. Retrieved 22 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[4] "The English Cup–Qualifying Competition". Western Daily Press. 12 October 1896. p. 7. Retrieved 24 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[5] "Amusements and Exhibitions". Western Daily Press. 12 October 1896. p. 4. Retrieved 25 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.

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