Full Name: Bolton Wanderers Football Club City: Bolton Country: England League: English Premier League Founded: 1874 Stadium: Reebok Stadium (28,101) Colors: Blue, White Previous Name: Christ Church (1874-77) Nicknames: The Trotters Rivals: Blackburn Rovers, Bury, Manchester United
The original Christ Church football club was founded by the vicar of Christ Church Sunday School in Bolton. After several years the club members could no longer meet at the school and had to 'wander' to a nearby tavern for meetings. The club's name was changed in 1877 to formally adopt this new nickname. Bolton Wanderers were founder members of the Football League in 1888. The Trotters won the first FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium, the famous 1923 'White Horse Final'. The match received this nickname because it took a police officer atop a white horse to clear an overflow crowd from the field. They were also involved in one of the other great FA Cup finals, the 1953 Matthews Final when Sir Stanley Matthews famously led Blackpool to a late victory over Bolton. The Trotters nickname is simply a variation on Wanderers.
Reebok Stadium:
The Reebok Stadium is named for the club's sponsor, athletic footwear maker Reebok, which was founded in Bolton.
Previous stadiums: Smithfield, Recreation Ground, Pikes Lane (1881-95), Burnden Park (1895-1997).
Sports map specialist Bill Turianski contributes an article to Albion Road roughly once a month, bringing us something from his collection of sports maps.
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