As well as being one of the fifteen teams that played in the inaugural FA Cup in 1871, they also represented Great Britain at the first ever Olympic football tournament in 1900, which they won.

Founded in 1866, the club were one of the 15 teams to play in the very first edition of the FA Cup in 1871–72;[1] they never won the competition but did reach the quarter-finals on four occasions.

Though resolutely an amateur club, they inadvertently sparked the legalisation of professionalism in the game after complaining about Preston North End's payments to players after the two met in the FA Cup in 1884; Preston were disqualified, but the incident made the FA confront the issue and, under threat of a breakaway, they allowed payments to players the following year.

[4] The Amateur Status Committee of the Football Association offered the club the opportunity to play in Paris at the inaugural Olympic Games.

[11] In 2016, coinciding with West Ham United's move to the London Stadium, Upton Park were 'reformed' as an amateur club and staged the final game at the Boleyn Ground, against Royal Engineers.