Happy birthday Manchester City!

[gary james]

On this day in 1894 MCFC legally became a registered company. Ardwick AFC, the club's predecessor, was still officially in existence at this point and even played a game 2 weeks after the new Blues became established (see "Manchester The City Years" for report and for the story of the re-birth of the Blues), but 16th April is the date when the new club became properly registered.

Happy birthday!

[Chinners]

Happy Birfday MCFC!

[gary james]

The original aims of the club weren't just football - they were "football, cricket, lacrosse, lawn tennis, hockey, bowls, bicycyle & tricycle riding, running, jumping, the physical training and development of the human frame, and other athletic sports, games, and exercises of every description, and any other games, pastimes, sports, recreation, amusements or entertainments..." and it goes on.

[Chinners]

The original aims of the club weren't just football - they were "football, cricket, lacrosse, lawn tennis, hockey, bowls, bicycyle & tricycle riding, running, jumping, the physical training and development of the human frame, and other athletic sports, games, and exercises of every description, and any other games, pastimes, sports, recreation, amusements or entertainments..." and it goes on.

I can see the Etihad campus returning to those values in our owners quest for world domination ;)

[Nigels Tackle]

what does mcfchistory have to say about this?

[Slim]

what does mcfchistory have to say about this?

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!

[Mikhail Chigorin]

what does mcfchistory have to say about this?

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!

Millwall and Newcastle fans seem to have been following this suggestion, this week-end.

[gillie]

We will have to ask John68 how the launch party went.

[Slim]

what does mcfchistory have to say about this?

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!

Millwall and Newcastle fans seem to have been following this suggestion, this week-end.

Wait wait wait, are you saying the Geordies were fighting? You'd have to be a horse to go up against them.

[Blue Since 76]

We will have to ask John68 how the launch party went.

He didn't go - said something about being too old for parties.

[Swales4ever]

Ruining Football over two centuries.... what was that about no History?

Happy Birthday... on very very Happy Days.

[craigmcfc]

Yay! Oh wait, wrong forum wrong poster. Damn it.

[bobby brows]

Love the sly book plug Gary. I will admit I have your first City book, Manchester: The City years and your book about Maine Road , and I've had them years but I'm only just sitting down to read them.

Did the club mark the occasion with anything? Hopefully they'll mention it tonight in the programme instead of 6 pages on some 80s band that has nothing to do with City. I like to think the club are a lot better with occasions like this now.

[Florida Blue]

The original aims of the club weren't just football - they were "football, cricket, lacrosse, lawn tennis, [highlight]hockey[/highlight], bowls, bicycyle & tricycle riding, running, jumping, the physical training and development of the human frame, and other athletic sports, games, and exercises of every description, and any other games, pastimes, sports, recreation, amusements or entertainments..." and it goes on.

Gary was that ice or field hockey? Organized ice hockey in North America was in its infancy then, and the National Hockey League wasn't founded until 1917, and the National Hockey Association from which it arose was founded in 1909.

[gary james]

Florida Blue - it just says Hockey I'm afraid, so the assumption would have to be regular hockey though I've not discovered evidence yet of the club encouraging any form of the game (though that doesn't mean it's not out there of course).

Most of those sports would have been City covering all bases rather than a determined effort to actually do them, but Pedestrianism & other forms of athleticism were encouraged.

[dazby]

With that in mind Gary, which sports were played by Manchester City apart from football?

[gary james]

With that in mind Gary, which sports were played by Manchester City apart from football?

Still researching that, but there is nothing significant identified so far other than the promotion of athletics events. The Hyde Road ground is occasionally referred to as an athletics venue (not to be confused with the Belle Vue Athletics stadium on Hyde Rd that became the 'old' speedway stadium and home to Manchester Central FC.). Sadly, research has yet to find an MCFC supported competitive team in other sports from that period. I live in hope that evidence will be uncovered though!

[Bleed_Blue]

Great News :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbes%27_ ... ball_clubs

City is 9 on the Forbes' list of the most valuable football clubs, jumped 4 steps from the 13 ranking in 2012

Hopefully inside 6 next year :)

[MCFChistory]

what does mcfchistory have to say about this?

It's worth noting that one of the first things the new Manchester City FC did is remove the running track around the Hyde Road pitch in order to build new terracing, which meant the annual Ardwick Athletics Festival could no longer be held there. I can't find any record of the athletics festival being held in Ardwick after 1893, so rather than promoting sports such as running and cycling in the area we actually hindered their development.

The list of sports in City's 1894 Memorandum of Association appears to be a generic one common to sports clubs that floated as public limited companies. For instance, Birmingham City's Memorandum of Association contained the exact same list word-for-word (link below).

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:2prVi-6r5eQJ:bcfc.aimcompliance.com/resources/12660/documents/24996/articles_of_association.pdf+&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESg6fAe2ZXm6D_YwAVP-c0BD6EzspWFOfZR2dw1_FZ8U7wnrRs7BnGqZd-iKxvxoAmSxElVzVhTR0fx_D4Q-Za7icKvtrnCbOyrrBI-7hDfHdKg9V7ff0srg9V3P5QpIHud2Rkjo&sig=AHIEtbT90gA8FWOHXvFtJZie8OcQvZhFNA

Our Memorandum of Association can be found on this page:
http://www.mcfc-history.com/p/documents.html

On a related note, the people who complained about the City of Manchester Stadium being converted into a football stadium in 2002-03 should at least appreciate that ripping up running tracks is a long-held tradition of ours, which should be respected.