Fulham FC 1907 - Rise To The Football League

Fulham FC – Early Years and the Road to the Football League (1879–1907)

This print celebrates Fulham’s rise from a modest West London church side into a fully established Football League club in 1907 — a remarkable journey that mirrored the rapid growth of association football in the capital during the late Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Fulham Football Club was founded in 1879 as Fulham St Andrew’s Church Sunday School F.C., formed by members of St Andrew’s Church in West Kensington. In its earliest days, the club was little more than a local amateur side made up largely of enthusiastic young sportsmen, many of whom were already keen cricketers. Yet from these humble beginnings, Fulham steadily evolved into one of the strongest clubs in southern England.

The club’s formative years were spent playing local amateur football across West London, where they quickly gained a reputation for organisation and competitiveness. Success arrived in 1887 with victory in the West London Amateur Cup, an important achievement for the growing club. Around this period, Fulham experimented with a number of early football colours, including distinctive half-red and half-white shirts worn during the 1886–87 season.

In December 1888, the club simplified its name to Fulham FC, reflecting both growing ambition and a broader identity beyond its church roots. The progress continued rapidly. Fulham won the West London League in 1893 at the first attempt and soon emerged as one of the leading clubs in the area.

A major turning point came in 1896 when the club moved to Craven Cottage on the banks of the Thames. The ground, which had once been a woodland retreat, would become one of the most recognisable and enduring homes in English football. Their first match there was against local rivals Minerva, beginning a long association between Fulham and the famous riverside venue.

Professionalism arrived on 12 December 1898 when Fulham officially turned professional and entered the Southern League Second Division. At the time, the Southern League was one of the strongest competitions outside the Football League and included many ambitious clubs from London and the south of England. Fulham’s progress through the division was swift, and by 1902–03 they had secured promotion to the Southern League First Division.

It was during this era that Fulham adopted the colours that would define the club forever. By 1903, the side had begun wearing the now iconic combination of white shirts and black shorts — a look that became synonymous with Fulham Football Club. The black-and-white kit depicted in this print reflects those early Edwardian years when the club was establishing its modern identity.

Fulham’s rise culminated in back-to-back Southern League championships in 1905–06 and 1906–07. These triumphs confirmed them as one of the strongest clubs outside the Football League and made their election into the national competition inevitable. In 1907, Fulham finally joined the Football League, completing a remarkable transformation from church team to major professional club in less than three decades.

By the dawn of the Edwardian age, Fulham had firmly established themselves as one of London’s leading football institutions, with Craven Cottage, their famous black-and-white colours, and their place within the Football League all secured.

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