Great Lever F.C.

Great Lever Football Club were an English football club founded in 1877, from Great Lever (/ˈleɪvə(r)/, LAY-ver), near Farnworth in Lancashire, within the town of Bolton, England. The club was briefly one of the best sides in England.

The club was formed by parishioners in St Bartholomew's Church, Great Lever. It was a founder member of the Lancashire Football Association in 1878. The club entered the first-ever Lancashire Senior Cup in the 1879–80 season. In the first round, the club beat Clough Fold 5–4 at home, but lost to Turton F.C. 3–0 in the second.

In 1880–81, the club beat Everton in the first round of the same competition; Everton protested because the referee was not a neutral, and the Lancashire FA ordered a replay, which the Leverites won 7–1, with two disallowed goals.

In the second round, the Leverites eliminated Bolton Olympic after three ties; the first a draw, the second an Olympian win, but voided because the goalkeeper had not been a club member for the month required by the regulations, and the third a win for Great Lever. The Olympians protested that one of the goals was too narrow, but the discrepancy was under one-eighth of an inch. The run ended in the third round to Bolton Wanderers, just before the Trotters started paying players in breach of regulations.

The club reached one stage further in 1881–82, losing in the quarter-finals to a Blackburn Olympic side which dangerously under-estimated the growing strength of the Leverites, and came to the tie with some key players missing. The referee, Mr Duxbury of Darwen, was suspected by many of the home fans in the 1,000 crowd of favouritism and the spectators "acted in a most unbecoming manner" to him.

In 1882–83, the club lost in the third round of the Lancashire Cup to Eagley, in a replay, amid controversy; the Leverites claimed the tie as Eagley refused to play extra-time in the original match. One problem the club had was that it had recently brought in players who were ineligible for the tournament as they had not lived in the area long enough, requiring the Leverites to play a reserve side in the competition.

One of those recent signings was Alf Jones, from Walsall Swifts, who, at the end of the season, played for England against Scotland in the annual international match; the only player from the north to be capped for England that season and the only time a Great Lever player was capped.

The improvements in the first team were shown by Great Lever beating Accrington 4–1, a 13-man Bolton Association 11–0, and the Birmingham side Excelsior 9–0, although the club went down to Walsall Town in another friendly before a crowd of 1,500.