New Crusaders F.C.
New Crusaders F.C. was an English association football club from Sidcup, Kent which folded in 1915.
History
The club was founded by six Farnfield brothers, who had all earned Cambridge blues in football from 1897 to 1903. The club's name came from the brothers' father being a supporter of the former Crusaders club, but a junior side already having registered the Crusaders name with the Football Association.The club was instantly a power in the amateur game, one of its earliest competitive matches being a 16–0 win over Woking in the 1905–06 FA Cup qualifying rounds. Woking only started with 9 men, and, although a tenth soon joined, for the second half the club secretary had to take the field and played in goal. The Farnfields shared out the 16 goals between them - H.V. and B.S. scoring five each.
The club was a founder member of the Southern Amateur Football League for the 1907–08 season and were Champions in the 5 of the 6 seasons they competed in it up to them joining the Isthmian League for the 1913–14 season. In the 1905–06 and 1906–07 seasons New Crusaders competed in the FA Cup and the FA Amateur Cup, and in the latter season won the Middlesex Senior Cup - for which the club was newly eligible as its secretary's address was within the Middlesex county - with a 3–0 win over West Hampstead in the final at Ealing, thanks to goals from two Farnfields and Yates.
The club ceased operations in 1915, with many players having joined to fight in the First World War, but the club never re-emerged; despite expectations that the club would re-start before the 1919–20 season, its final action was its resignation from the Isthmian League before the season started.