That the cup victory had become national news was confirmed as the Olympic team made their way home by train. A crowd gathered to applaud the team at every station it stopped at. The tradition of a procession around the town by a cup winning side was begun by Blackburn Olympic and has been continued by the winning team ever since. There was even a poem published by local bard William Billington and published in the Blackburn Times. Blackburn was to win the cup for the next three years but it was not to be won again by Olympic. Rovers were to become the truly dominant force of the town, an insurmountable position which was confirmed when they were invited to join the newly emerging Football League. Blackburn Olympic were on their last legs and didn’t last long after the new national league began.

Before then there were some final hurrahs. They played the Scottish Cup winners Dumbarton to decide who the champions of Great Britain were. They lost 6-1. So it wasn’t them then….. They also played Scottish teams such as Partick Thistle and Queens Park. With their benefactor Sid Yates in a state of declining health brought on by serious illness and Rovers across town being so dominant, their end was inevitable if there was to be only one main team in Blackburn. Rovers would always be that main team. However they certainly put up a spirited defence of their cup, beating Old Wykehamists (6-0) and Northwich Victoria (9-1) on the way to the semi-final, where Queens Park stopped them dead in their tracks by beating them 4-1 at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, which was (and remains) the current cricket ground where both Forest and County played at one time. 1883/84 was to be the only time that Blackburn (or any town ever for that matter) had two teams in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. It may have been a long time ago but it was still one amazing achievement. The next year the two sides met in the second round but the Rovers win (3-2) was a precursory notice that from now on Olympic were to be second best in their own town. At best! The next two years saw them lose at home in the first round to first Church and then Partick Thistle. They reached the second round the year after (1887/88) although that was due to them getting a bye. They faced their old nemesis…Rovers from across the town. Rovers won 5-1 and the end was in sight for Olympic as Rovers were about to join the football league as the representative for the town of Blackburn. They wouldn’t even need to play many friendlies against local sides anymore. Especially not against sides as lacking in quality as Olympic now were.