Fulham Betting

As the oldest professional football team in London, Fulham Football Club has often carried the hopes of the city on its shoulders. It all started with a group of St. Andrew’s Church Sunday School boys knocking a ball around a pitch on Star Road. By 1887, they had won the West London Amateur Cup. The following year, they adopted Fulham C.C. as their official name.

One of the defining moments of those early years was a title win in the West London League at the first attempt in 1893. Three years later, the Club moved to their current location, Craven Cottage, after a nomadic existence involving as many as ten home grounds. The players have been known as “The Cottagers” ever since.

In 1898, Fulham were admitted into the Southern League’s Second Division, where they battled until gaining promotion to the First Division after the 1902-03 season. They immediately switched colours from red-and-white to an all-white kit, and their trademark was soon established as all-white shirts and black shorts. With two Southern League championships, in 1905-06 and 1906-07, the “Whites” cemented their reputation as a force with which to be reckoned.

Entry to the Football League was the next step, and Fulham joined Division Two in 1907-08. Winning the London Challenge Cup in the 1909-10 season marked another peak performance for the Club, but they were destined to rise no higher. Unable to gain promotion to the top tier, they gradually slid downwards till relegation to the Third Division (South) came in 1928.

It took a few seasons for the Cottagers to sort themselves out. Finally, they won the Division in 1931-32, earning a return to the second level. They would need to wait until after World War II, however, to make the great leap to the top ranks. That happened when they captured the 1948-49 Division Two title.

The next two decades saw the Cottagers bounce on the promotion/relegation trampoline: 1949–52 up in Division One, 1952–59 down to Division Two, 1959–68 up and 1968–69 down. Among the most notable players of that period was Johnny Haynes, who spent his entire first class career at Fulham between 1952 and 1970. Dubbed “The Maestro,” Haynes gained 52 caps for England—22 of them as Captain.

The team’s rise-and-fall pattern continued over the next decade and a half, but this time at a level one flight lower: 1969–71 down to Division Three, 1971–80 up to Division Two, 1980–82 down, 1982–86 up and 1986-92 down. When the Premiership was formed in 1992, Fulham had to settle for a spot in the new Second Division (old Division Three).

By 1997, Fulham were on the brink of obscurity, saddled with heavy debts and languishing at the bottom of British football in the Third Division (old Division Four). They badly needed a White Knight, and he arrived in the form of Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al Fayed. The billionaire brought more than money to the failing Club; he promised the fans a return to the top-flight of English football within five years—and he delivered.

The Cottagers were promoted following a runners-up Third Division finish in 1996-97. They rose from the to the Second Division to the Champions League by way of a championship in 1998-99. Then the promise was kept in the 2000-01 season, as Fulham took the Champions League title and reached the Premiership for the first time.

Once gained, the Whites were not about to relinquish the high point they had attained. For the past decade, they have proven themselves worthy of the top tier, avoiding relegation and consistently ranking between 13th and 7th on the table. Bookmakers now refer to the Club as “established” within the Premier League.

What’s more, Fulham have shown brightly on the world stage since the turn of the new millennium, winning the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2002 and finishing first in the UEFA Fair Play League in 2011. They were also runners-up in the UEFA Europe League in 2010. As long as Al Fayed remains the Whites’ Chairman, it’s a good bet that Fulham’s fortunes will continue to rise.

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