Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Harrow Chequers F.C.

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was redirect to History of the FA Cup. This is not an easy close. It appears to be a notable topic, but the discussion has brought forth that the article fails WP:V and a solution has not been found to rectify this. The redirect route seems to best match overall consensus, and I am not deleting the content from history, as it might prove useful should proper sourcing be found. 78.26 _{(spin me / revolutions)} 21:33, 22 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Harrow Chequers F.C.[edit]

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Football club that was active in the very early years of the sport (1860s/70s) but about whom almost nothing is recorded. They entered the FA Cup three times but in each case withdrew before their first match so never actually played a game in the competition. The article claims that the club "played an important part in English football in the 19th century" but this is unsourced and there is no evidence that the club had any particularly significant role in the early years of the sport. -- ChrisTheDude (talk) 16:08, 14 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in WikiProject Football's list of association football-related deletions. ChrisTheDude (talk) 16:09, 14 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Comments Hard one to work out, fchd.info has three recorded FA Cup fixtures, and the guardian mentions them being scratched? Not much else on the internet, unless someone has an old book! Govvy (talk) 16:17, 14 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Sports-related deletion discussions. CAPTAIN RAJU^(T) 16:24, 14 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of England-related deletion discussions. CAPTAIN RAJU^(T) 16:24, 14 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Football-related deletion discussions. CAPTAIN RAJU^(T) 16:25, 14 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Organizations-related deletion discussions. Tyw7 (🗣️ Talk) — If (reply) then (ping me) 00:59, 15 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of United Kingdom-related deletion discussions. Tyw7 (🗣️ Talk) — If (reply) then (ping me) 00:59, 15 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Comment it's unsourced and fluffy so I'm currently a delete without prejudice of recreation. That being said, I did find a source from [1]: 'Harrow Chequers Crystal Palace 15-a-side match', Bell's Life, 30 Dec. 1865, p. 6. The very first FA Cup Final goalscorer was pseudonymed AH Chequer after the club [2], and produced an early international [3]. May be in Victorian historical football books. Not convinced, but it's not an impossible battle. SportingFlyer talk 01:10, 15 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Comment I will note that this one is somewhat difficult, as they appear to have been more of a successful team 100 years ago than more recently (sources from a time when they were notable, if they were ever notable, are going to be hard to find). [[4]] seems to indicate that they never fielded a team in the FA cup, which is contrary to the rather promotional claims made in the article. — Insertcleverphrasehere ^{(or here)} 02:21, 15 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Comment - all of the above comments match my findings which were that the club definitely existed, played some matches, and some of their players can be identified and had other achievements not necessarily related to this club. I don't think any of that satisfies notability requirements....... -- ChrisTheDude (talk) 08:56, 15 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Comment I think it could satisfy notability requirements, but it would require historical research - certainly, the article as it stands (completely unsourced) should be deleted. I can't even WP:V the home ground. If you look here the club proposed a number of amendments to the rules [5] with a news article here: [6]. That's pretty clearly trivial coverage, but it gives hope there's coverage in very old newspapers. SportingFlyer talk 22:28, 15 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Comment Also possible they've been discussed in a football reference book such as one of these: [7]

Delete due to active lack of participation in the FA Cup. Number 5 7 13:25, 15 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Delete or redirect to History of the FA Cup. Giant Snowman 15:25, 15 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I endorse the redirect above as it's a valid search term, and possibly notable if historical sources are found. SportingFlyer talk 06:11, 17 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Comment The article needs sources, and it's difficult finding good significant coverage of the team, but they were clearly notable (if not by our standards) for influencing some of the rules of the game, and there's enough there to write a synthesis article of them - the question in my mind, are there sources from the 1860s and 1870s which would have significant coverage of this team? What are the odds of them existing? SportingFlyer talk 01:21, 18 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Keep: Unquestionably an "old giant" such as the Harrow Chequers, as Fores's Sporting Notes called the team in 1892[8], is notable. This could take some work, but let's give it a go!--Milowent • ^hasspoken 21:30, 17 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.