Hoist the Blue Flag: 15/3
"10 mars eller 14 mars?" - Postat av Oscar Karlström.
Förra året funderade jag i denna artikel kring vilket datum Chelsea bildades. Var det den 14 mars, som jag alltid hade trott eller den 10 mars, som det helt plötsligt påstods från flera håll?
I år uppstod återigen denna förrvirring kring Chelseas födelsedag och den här gången valde jag att verkligen gå till botten med det hela genom att maila Chelseas officiella statistiker Rick Glanvill för att få ett svar.
Rick svarade mig att den 14 mars under många år var allmänt accepterat som datumet för bildandet av Chelsea, men att det under senare år har hittats tidningsartiklar som tyder på att klubben snarare bildades den 10 mars.
Gåtan får nu ses som löst och jag kan erkänna mig vara besegrad. Ricks svar finns i sin helhet nedan.
Hello Oscar, the foundation date of 14th was accepted for many years and appears in various books about Chelsea.
I believe this date was chosen because it appeared in a letter from the late 1930s written by one of Chelsea's founding directors, Frederick Parker, which was also reproduced in the CFC programme in 1985.
Parker was discussing the early years but only several decades later and consulted an old diary to arrive at the date. There was no other evidence to support his suggestion that I could find.
Over the years I have examined the validity of the 14th and arrived at a different conclusion. According to newspaper reports meeting of the club board did take place on or around the 14th March 1905.
However, when I was appointed official historian a few years ago I discovered in national archives that several newspapers - including The Times and Daily Mirror - made the same announcement on 11 March 1905 that a new club had been formed *the evening before* and that it was decided it would be called Chelsea FC.
The fact that the wording is virtually the same in each instance suggests that a press release was distributed by the Press Association wire service.
This is the first mention of the name Chelsea FC and places it at 10 March 1905.
Hope that clears things up.
