While Blackburn Rovers have been national champions on three occasions, there was once a time when they were not even the greatest club in Blackburn. While Blackburn Olympic may have only existed for little more than a single decade, in that short time they revolutionised football. Their legacy was to influence the sport long after their own demise.

Olympic was formed in August 1877 when two small Blackburn clubs (James Street and Black Star) merged. The name Blackburn Olympic was thought up by James Edmondson, the first treasurer of the newly formed club. Unlike their educated middle class rivals at Rovers, Olympic were to be a team comprised of youngsters and factory workers. At the time the strongest Lancashire teams other than Rovers were Church, Darwen and Turton. Other Blackburn teams of the time included Blackburn Park Road, Rising Sun, Cob Wall, Blackburn Association and Witton, although Rovers would always be the team with the greatest backing, mainly due to their being the team of the educated class of the town. Despite the team originating from near the bottom of Shear Brow, the home ground they chose was behind the Hole i’th Wall pub at the top of the hill, meaning a walk up the steep hill to each game. The pub was used as the changing area for the team before and after games as well as most likely as a convenient location for a post-match pint or ten. Their shirts were to be of a pale, sky blue colour.

Just as Rovers at that time had men willing to back them with money so fortuitously one came along for Olympic side in the form of Sid Yates, who owned and ran the local Yates’ iron foundry. Yates’ was the company created and built up by his father William and later changed its name to the Canal Engineering Works. Yates helped to narrow the financial gap between Olympic and that of Rovers, who were at the time supported by wealthy local industrialists such as Hornby and Lewis. If his health had not declined after the 1883 FA Cup success and had Olympic not then had to rely solely on their own revenue the sporting scene in Blackburn may well have been different.