Cardiff City Football Club is a professional association football team based in Cardiff, Wales. The history of Cardiff City F.C. from 1899 to 1962 covers the club's founding, its move into the Southern Football League and its election to the Football League to the end of the 1961–62 season.
Founded in 1899 as Riverside A.F.C., the club was renamed Cardiff City in 1908 and joined the Southern Football League two years later. The side was elected into the Second Division of the Football League in 1920, winning promotion to the First Division in its first season. The team finished as runners-up in the 1923–24 season, missing out on the title by the closest margin in First Division history. They reached their first FA Cup final the following year before becoming the only non-English team to win the trophy in the 1927 final when they defeated Arsenal 1–0 after a goal from Hughie Ferguson.
Soon after its cup triumph, the club entered a decline that saw the side relegated to the Third Division South by 1932. Financial problems coincided with their descent and the team finished bottom of the Football League at the end of the 1933–34 season and were forced to apply for re-election. After the Second World War, the club enjoyed a resurgence and won the Third Division South title in the first season after the conflict. The team returned to the First Division soon after and spent most of the 1950s in the top tier of English football.
Early years (1899–1910) In 1899, Bristol-born lithographic artist Bartley Wilson began searching for a way of keeping players from the Riverside Cricket Club, where he was a member, together and in shape during the winter months when the cricket season had ended. Wilson, who had moved to Cardiff in 1895 to work for the Imperial Printing Company, organised a meeting at his home near Cardiff Castle in the autumn of 1899. The first meeting was met with a lukewarm reception but Wilson was undeterred and a second, more widely attended meeting, resulted in the founding of Riverside A.F.C. Wilson was appointed secretary of the new club.
The newly formed club committee levied an annual membership fee of a half crown and adopted a kit consisting of chocolate and amber quarters, an unusual combination at the time, with black shorts and socks. The club had missed the deadline to join the Cardiff & District League in its first season and instead played friendlies against local sides at its Sophia Gardens ground. The team played their first fixture against Barry West End on 7 October 1899, suffering a 9–1 defeat. Undeterred, they played several other friendlies before joining the Cardiff & District League for their first competitive season in 1900. Improvements made to Sophia Gardens, including the installation of gas and water resulted in increased memberships and the club merged with nearby Riverside Albion in 1902. It took a further three years until the club won its first trophy, the Bevan Shield, a local competition organised by the South Wales and Monmouthshire Football Association (SWMFA). Cardiff was granted city status by King Edward VII in 1905 and as a result the club put in a request to change its name to Cardiff City. The request was turned down as they were deemed to be not playing at a high enough level. To combat this, they arranged to join the South Wales Amateur League in 1907 and the following year they were granted permission to change the name of the club to Cardiff City. The club received permission from the SWMFA on the stipulation that should a professional team be founded in the city, they would relinquish the name.
Interest in the game in South Wales began to rise during this time and officials from the Southern Football League, who were looking to expand and start a Second Division, toured the area looking for potential entrants. Ton Pentre, Merthyr Town and Aberdare were all accepted into the new division but Cardiff were denied the opportunity due to the poor standard of facilities at their Sophia Gardens ground, including the lack of turnstiles and inadequate conditions for spectators. In the hope of raising funds and gauging public support, the club's committee were able to arrange a friendly match against Southern League First Division side Crystal Palace in October 1909, held at the nearby Cardiff Arms Park home of local rugby team Cardiff RFC. The match ended in a 3–3 draw and yielded gate receipts of £33 for the club. A second friendly was hastily arranged for the following month, with Football League First Division side Bristol City the opponents. However, despite increased takings of £50, Bristol's appearance fee severely depleted profits and the match ended in a disheartening 7–1 defeat. The committee pushed forward with a third friendly with Middlesbrough, also of the Football League First Division, chosen as opponents. The match was held at Harlequins Ground, part of Cardiff High School, with Cardiff defeating a Middlesbrough side that featured several England international players 2–1 and netted the club a £39 profit.
Encouraged by the response generated by the fixtures, Wilson and the club's committee opened talks with the Bute Estate, one of the major landowners in the city, in the hope of finding a suitable site for the construction of a new ground. They were offered a former rubbish tip, located between a railway station and Sloper Road on an initial seven-year lease for an annual rent of £90. With the assistance of local volunteers and workers of the Cardiff Corporation, the site was cleared and levelled and a single wooden stand was erected. When one of the club's guarantors pulled out of the deal Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart, son of John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, stepped in to cover the shortfall. In appreciation, the new ground was named Ninian Park. The other four guarantors for the site were David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda, J. Bell Harrison and local councillors Charles Wall and H.C. Vivian. A further 24 people offered to become sureties if their contribution would be limited to £5. On 21 April 1910, the club officially became a listed company with the registration of Cardiff City Association Football Club Limited, listing £3,000 in capital.
Southern Football League (1910–20) With the new ground in place, Cardiff were granted admission into the Southern Football League Second Division for the 1910–11 season. A board of directors was also elected to professionalise the club, with Sydney Nicholls named as the organisation's first chairman and Wilson continuing in his role as club secretary. The club also made its first professional signing the following year with the acquisition of outside-forward Jack Evans from fellow Welsh side Cwmparc, with Evans receiving a signing on fee of six shillings to cover his travel expenses.
The club soon decided on the need to appoint a manager and Wilson was quick to hire the first in the club's history in Davy McDougall, who became player-manager and captain. Ninian Park was officially opened on 1 September 1910 with a 2–1 friendly defeat to reigning Football League First Division champions Aston Villa with Cardiff having adopted their now traditional blue shirts, white shorts and blue socks. A ceremonial kick-off was performed by Crichton-Stuart and the newly signed Evans scored the only Cardiff goal. Three weeks later, on 24 September, Cardiff played its first competitive match at Ninian Park and the first match of the new professional era as the side recorded a 4–1 victory over Ton Pentre in the opening match of the 1910–11 season which attracted a crowd of around 8000.
The side finished a creditable fourth in their first season but the club's committee believed a more experienced manager was required and decided to replace McDougall. The club placed an advert in the Athletic News and eventually appointed Fred Stewart, who had experience of managing in the Football League with Stockport County. Stewart was appointed on a three-year contract earning £4 a week, the maximum wage a player could earn at the time. He began a complete overhaul of the playing squad, retaining only four of the players he inherited from McDougall (Evans, Bob Lawrie, Ted Husbands and Tom Abley), and began recruiting mainly from Scotland and the North-west of England. His first signing at the club was Billy Hardy, with Stewart paying the £25 transfer fee himself. Hardy and fellow new arrivals Patrick Cassidy and Kidder Harvey formed a defensive partnership that led to the trio being dubbed the "holy three" by fans. After leading the team to victory in the Welsh Cup in his first season, becoming the first team from the South of Wales to win the trophy, he guided the team to promotion after winning the Southern Football League Second Division in the 1912–13 season, losing only one match during the campaign. Cardiff remained in the First Division for two further seasons, finishing third during the 1914–15 season, before competitive football was suspended following the outbreak of World War I. At the start of the conflict, the club's entire playing squad volunteered for home defence duty and Ninian Park was used for drilling practice. Nine players on the club's books eventually enlisted in the forces, the most notable being Fred Keenor and backup goalkeeper John Stephenson. Reserve player Tom Witts was the only contracted Cardiff player killed during the conflict. On the cessation of hostilities, Cardiff spent one final season in the Southern League, finishing fourth in the First Division, and won the Welsh Cup for the second time.
Entry into The Football League (1920–25)
With the Football League expanding to three divisions and incorporating many of the Southern Football League teams, Cardiff submitted an application to join the organisation. On 31 May 1920, the club was accepted into the Football League Second Division, along with Leeds United, after receiving 25 votes. The outcome of the ballot saw them placed in a higher division than the three teams, Portsmouth, Watford and Crystal Palace, that had finished above them the previous season.
Stewart looked to strengthen the squad by signing thirteen new players, most of whom had previous Football League experience, including paying £750 for The Wednesday forward Jimmy Gill. In the team's first match in the Football League, they defeated Stewart's former employers Stockport County 5–2. On 30 August 1920, Cardiff played their first Football League match at Ninian Park, where 25,000 supporters watched a scoreless draw with Clapton Orient. The first ever Football League victory for Cardiff at their home ground occurred five days later, when Stockport County were beaten 3–0. In November 1920, Stewart broke the club's transfer record to sign another Wednesday player, Jimmy Blair arriving for £3,500. In their first season, the side issued a strong showing, winning promotion to the Football League First Division after finishing as runners-up to Birmingham on goal average. The side also reached the semi-final of the FA Cup, where they were defeated by Wolverhampton Wanderers after a replay.
Cardiff now found itself in the top tier of the Football League after a single season. In their first match of the 1921–22 season, over 50,000 spectators arrived to witness a fixture against Tottenham Hotspur. When club officials attempted to close turnstiles with the ground at full capacity, spectators who were still queuing proceeded to break through the barriers with club estimates believing between 6–10,000 extra fans forced their way into the ground. Cardiff suffered a difficult start to the campaign, losing its first six matches. Despite this slow start, the side improved and finished the campaign in fourth place. During the course of the season, Len Davies also scored the club's first hat-trick in the Football League during a 6–3 win over Bradford City.