The Gymnastic Society

The Gymnastic Society was an eighteenth-century London sports club for the pursuit of football and wrestling.

The club was established in London by gentlemen from Westmorland and Cumberland in the north of England for the "practice and cultivation of their favourite sports".

The last of the frequent matches took place in the summer of 1789 when "twenty two gentlemen of Westmoreland were backed against twenty two gentlemen of Cumberland for one thousand guineas[1]" These matches have been described in a modern publication as "the most important centre of footballing activity[2]" in the eighteenth century, outside the English public school football games.

The popularity of football is attested to in the 1826 inaugural meeting of a later organisation (entitled "The London Gymnastic Society") its chairman stated that twenty years earlier "the fields to the north, south and west would be crowded every afternoon with cricket and football[4]" It is possible that the rules of the Surrey Football Club (1849) were based upon those of the original Gymnastic Society, as the founder William Denison referred to the Society in his speech and both clubs played with twenty-two players a side.

For example, Manchester Athenaeum's 1849 "Gymnastic Society" played regular Saturday afternoon football matches.