History lesson for Blues

Nov 23 2007 by John Buckley, Chester Chronicle

CHESTER City are six years older than they thought they were, according to a Cheshire sports historian.

Paul Lavell says the club’s foundation date is 1879, not 1885.

Chas Sumner suspected as much in his official history of Chester On The Borderline, but the traditional version of events has remained unchanged. Until now.

Northwich-based Lavell, who specialises in sport in the Victorian era, came across evidence to confirm Sumner’s thinking while researching other matters.

He said: “The traditional story is that Chester were formed through a merger of Chester Rovers and Old King’s Scholars.

“Sumner questions this and concludes Chester were just Chester Rovers by another name and the modern club’s foundation date must be at least as early as the foundation date of Rovers, which he puts at 1880.”

Lavell’s research vindicates Sumner’s doubts but suggests he was too conservative.

The Cheshire Observer reported in September 1880 that in time for the new season, Chester St Oswald’s had decided to adopt the name Chester Rovers.

The extract shows St Oswald’s had been founded a year earlier.

Correspondence in the same newspaper in December 1885 confirms Chester Rovers had become Chester that same year.

So... St Oswald’s formed in 1879, became Rovers in 1880 and Rovers became Chester FC in 1885 in a logical progression.

Sumner has been made aware of Lavell’s findings and is currently looking into them.

Chester spent 1899-1901 in limbo, having to suspend operations because they could not find a pitch.

The committee stayed together, however, and it was clearly the same club that resumed playing in 1901, as when clubs went into cold storage during war time, and so their history can be viewed as continuous.