[2] The earliest reference to a match played by the club is in 1876, losing to North Nottingham Youth.

[3] The club was one of the ten founder members of the Nottinghamshire Football Association in 1882.

[6] By 1887, the club was entering the Nottingham Junior Cup, without success; in 1887-88, it lost to Sneinton Rovers in the first round.

The club recruited players from Jardines and Basford Pioneers before the start of the 1888-89 season,[9] but once the season was underway the Swifts lost "no fewer than five of their best men"[10] and an 8-1 lost to Notts Olympic in the first round of the Senior Cup,[11] despite taking the lead, appears to have removed any enthusiasm for the club; the last senior fixture reported for the club is an 8-1 defeat to Boston in 1891,[12] and the club's last reported match was a second-round defeat in the Nottingham Junior Cup, to Keyworth in 1892.

[13] From 1892 a club called Nottingham Forest Swifts appears in the Midland League.