Fergie Suter, first ever transfer swoop (even if no fee was involved) and possibly the first great Rovers player. © Cottontown

The next season was to be a sensation, mainly for off the field activities rather than for footballing reasons however! Darwen had managed to recruit an impressive Scot, Fergie Suter, who had first played against Rovers while representing Partick Thistle and who also played for Glasgow Rangers. After playing for Turton as a ‘guest’, Suter moved to Darwen and began playing for them as a normal, local, amateur player. Although for a working man, Fergie was notoriously difficult to find doing the work itself! To all intents and purposes Suter was the first professional footballer, or at least the first we can say with some certainty definitely was being paid to play. The real brouhaha began not at Darwen but at Blackburn- when Suter moved to join the Rovers! Although he declared it was for ‘personal reasons’, we can safely assume this to mean more money and as such Fergie Suter moving to Rovers was the first shock transfer in the history of the game. Darwen called meetings, remonstrated and declared the move unethical but it happened all the same.

In a friendly between the sides at Alexandra Meadows (more fully covered in the article on Darwen) all eyes were on Suter, the fans expected something to happen. The Scot didn’t disappoint. In the second half his on-pitch punch up with Marshal of Darwen resulted in a crowd invasion, opposing fans fighting and acts of vandalism. The game was abandoned. Later in the season the two teams met in the fourth round of the Lancashire Cup, Rovers having reached there by thrashing Bradhsaw (6-0), Clitheroe St Mary’s (3-0) and Turton (6-0) along the way. Or, rather, they didn’t meet. The two clubs continued to argue, bicker and procrastinate about the date for so long that they were both thrown out of the cup. Darwen refused to enter the competition next season as a protest at the unfairness at their expulsion. Little good it did them. It may have only been 1881 but already it didn’t pay to fight the authorities too much. The FA Cup competition did not end in glory either, after beating Sheffield Providence 6-2 in the first round (inspired by a Jimmy Brown hat trick) they fared less well against another Steel City side, The Wednesday and were knocked out 4-0 in the second round. More irritatingly, Darwen beat Briggs, Sheffield FC, The Wednesday (Rovers’ conquerors) and Romford in the quarter finals to set up a semi final meeting with Old Carthusians at Kennington Oval. Although they lost that match 4-1, a further dent had been placed in the armour of the supremacy of the southern teams. For further details see the article on Darwen in the ‘local rivals’ section.

Rovers decided that their ambitions were being stifled by their Alexandra Meadows ground. Firstly, it wasn’t actually their own ground as they shared with East Lancs Cricket Club and secondly they had to put up with a number of freeloaders who are able to watch their proceedings from nearby hillsides. They moved nearby to a ground on Leamington Street which was much more impressive as a football ground and was also able to accommodate more spectators. Rovers spent money improving the ground and this was to be their home for nine years, being the home base for their first great FA Cup runs and also their first two Football League campaigns. Leamington Street is now a much shorter thoroughfare and is known as Leamington Road. Most of where the ground was has since been converted to housing. A much different function than when it played host to England internationals.