| Full name | Old Foresters Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1876 | |
| Ground | see below | |
| League | Arthurian League | |
|
| ||
The Old Foresters Football Club is an association football club made up exclusively of former pupils of Forest School, located in Epping Forest, Walthamstow, London, England.
The Old Foresters Football Club is probably one of the half dozen or so oldest football clubs in the world. It has a continuous and proud history going back before its own formal constitution in 1876 and the founding of The Football Association in 1863. Forest played a considerable part in the development of association football and Rugby Football, and "The Common" in front of the school may well be regarded as a cradle of the game.[1]
Forest School F.C. is the second oldest continuous member of the F.A. (since December 1863), behind only the Civil Service, and it is the only school to have played in the FA Cup (Donington School entered the first F.A. Cup but never actually played a game).[1] The Old Foresters Football Club's main on-field achievements are reaching the quarter-final of the F.A. Cup in 1882, and the last sixteen a further three times. The Old Foresters have won the prestigious "old boys cup", The Arthur Dunn Cup three times, the Essex Cup three times and the London Senior Cup twice. Two Old Foresters F.C. players have played for England while at the club: Percy Fairclough and Fred Pelly.[1] Old Forester Robin Trimby played for England Amateur Team in the late 1950s and co-wrote several books on football skills including one co-written with Jimmy Hill. Old Forester Quinton Fortune appeared in the first Boodle & Dunthorne ISFA Cup Final in 1993, whilst a schoolboy player with Tottenham. Quinton later went on to play for Real Mallorca, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United and Bolton Wanderers, as well as for South Africa, for whom he appeared in both the 1998 and 2002 World Cup Finals.
The club has played in the Arthurian League since its foundation in 1961. Home matches are played at Oakfield Playing Fields, Fairlop.