Introduction:
Key Events:
June 6: Thistle Football Club forms in Brisbane. The club decides to write to James Glasgow to see if Bundanba Rovers were playing this year, and if so,to arrange a game.
Known Date Unknowns:
A group of young boys met at Beavis's bakery to form a soccer team.
George Duck, later captain of the original Bush Rats, arrives in Ipswich with the majority of his family, reuniting with his older brother and fellow future Bush Rat, William.
Frederick William Wort, the drill sergeant who formed Blackstone Rovers, arrives in Ipswich from the Isle of Wight via Toowoomba.
Uncertain Unknowns:
Decades later William Lindsay says he played for Bundanba Rangers in 1887. He did play for Bundanba Rovers in 1886, and Rangers did not exist until the early 1890s. But it could mean there was a Bundanba team active but unreported this year.
Key Clubs:
David Waugh, Andy and Bob Rae; 'Sandy' Muir, Harry Besgrove, Arch, Jim, 'Sandy' and Bob Dobbie; Dave Gledson, Barrower, Jim Biggam (maybe)
Historical Notes:
The state of Bundanba Rovers was uncertain in the first half of 1887. The association thought there was a possibility the club would affiliate, while Thistles investigated whether a game could be played.
Glasgow is last heard of in February, playing in an an inter-district draughts contest, hosted by whichever one (or the other) W. Hastie. Rover's William Lindsay also plays as Bundanba beat Ipswich 19 to 8.
Lindsay would soon reappear in Ipswich football, but Hastie is not heard from in relation to football after this point, while Glasgow completely disappears.
As does, it seems, Bundanba Rovers.
However soccer was played in Ipswich in 1887.
According to David Waugh six decades later, 1887 was the year a number of children banded together to form a soccer team called Little Rangers, named after the successful club in their native Scotland.
There is a question mark over the dating here.
Waugh states Little Rangers was formed in the same year as Bundanba Rovers was playing in Ipswich. We know Rovers played in 1886, and an argument can be made for 1888, which we will cover in that year's post. But it is also possible Rovers did play in unreported games in 1887, maybe against local players in scratch matches.
Waugh also states there was a senior team in Blackstone in 1887, but this would have been be a year before the formation of Blackstone Rovers. Either Blackstone flirted with soccer a year earlier than is known, or Waugh's memories are slightly out.
In 1946 William Lindsay stated he played for Bundanba Rangers in 1887. He was probably referring to Bundanba Rovers or the Bundanba Unions team of 1888. There are several other testimonies of players decades after the earliest years of Ipswich soccer with similarly sketchy dating.
The revelation of Little Rangers is exciting, because it hints at children's soccer which was largely unreported until the advent of inter-schools competitions.
Little Rangers also gives tantalising hints at the later formation of Bundanba Rangers.
Waugh and Jim Dobbie would later play for Bundanba Rangers. Waugh would have been 10 or 11 in 1887, but was playing for Whitwood as a 14 year old in 1892 before joining Rangers.
Bundanba Rangers are first reported in 1894 - in fact James Dobbie for played for Rangers in their first known game against Waugh's Whitwood.
This opens up a big question - were Bundanba Rangers members of Little Rangers all grown up?
Were the roots of the famous Rangers laid in 1887 (give or take) by a bunch of kids, who named their senior club after their childhood one?
Glasgow is last heard of in February, playing in an an inter-district draughts contest, hosted by whichever one (or the other) W. Hastie. Rover's William Lindsay also plays as Bundanba beat Ipswich 19 to 8.
Lindsay would soon reappear in Ipswich football, but Hastie is not heard from in relation to football after this point, while Glasgow completely disappears.
As does, it seems, Bundanba Rovers.
However soccer was played in Ipswich in 1887.
According to David Waugh six decades later, 1887 was the year a number of children banded together to form a soccer team called Little Rangers, named after the successful club in their native Scotland.
There is a question mark over the dating here.
Waugh states Little Rangers was formed in the same year as Bundanba Rovers was playing in Ipswich. We know Rovers played in 1886, and an argument can be made for 1888, which we will cover in that year's post. But it is also possible Rovers did play in unreported games in 1887, maybe against local players in scratch matches.
Waugh also states there was a senior team in Blackstone in 1887, but this would have been be a year before the formation of Blackstone Rovers. Either Blackstone flirted with soccer a year earlier than is known, or Waugh's memories are slightly out.
In 1946 William Lindsay stated he played for Bundanba Rangers in 1887. He was probably referring to Bundanba Rovers or the Bundanba Unions team of 1888. There are several other testimonies of players decades after the earliest years of Ipswich soccer with similarly sketchy dating.
The revelation of Little Rangers is exciting, because it hints at children's soccer which was largely unreported until the advent of inter-schools competitions.
Little Rangers also gives tantalising hints at the later formation of Bundanba Rangers.
Waugh and Jim Dobbie would later play for Bundanba Rangers. Waugh would have been 10 or 11 in 1887, but was playing for Whitwood as a 14 year old in 1892 before joining Rangers.
Bundanba Rangers are first reported in 1894 - in fact James Dobbie for played for Rangers in their first known game against Waugh's Whitwood.
This opens up a big question - were Bundanba Rangers members of Little Rangers all grown up?
Were the roots of the famous Rangers laid in 1887 (give or take) by a bunch of kids, who named their senior club after their childhood one?
Perhaps the most important events in Ipswich soccer came in the arrival of two pioneers.
Frederick Wort has already been mentioned in this blog, being the man who started Blackstone Rovers.
George Duck also arrived, joining his brother William. The brothers are considered two of the original New Chum Bush Rats.
So soccer may have been quiet in Ipswich in 1887, but the seeds of its future success were starting to be sown.
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