page_title: Civil Service F.C.
section_title: Association Football
hierarchical_section_title: Civil Service F.C. / History / Association Football
caption_attribution_description: English: English Civil Service F.C.'s association football squad of 1893.
context_page_description: Civil Service Football Club is an English football club based in the city of London. The club originally played both association football and rugby football and the Civil Service, along with Blackheath F.C., is one of the two clubs that can claim to be a founder member of both The Football Association and the Rugby Football Union. However, the rugby club is now a distinct entity and appears to have been so since the late nineteenth century. They are currently members of the Southern Amateur League Senior Division 2.
context_section_description: The club was one of the dozen founding sides of the Football Association on 26 October 1863, and lays claim to an earlier, but uncertain, date of origin. It was represented at the founder's meeting by Mr. Warne of the War Office, leading to the side often being identified as the War Office Club in historical accounts of the founding of the FA. Civil Service was also one of the fifteen entrants to the first ever FA Cup competition in 1871–72.
  Several members of the Civil Service took a prominent role in organising the first representative matches between sides representing England and Scotland in 1870. The captain of the first Scottish XI was James Kirkpatrick (later Sir James Kirkpatrick, 8th Baronet) who included fellow civil servants Charles and William Baillie-Hamilton and William Lindsay in the team, while the England XI included William C. Butler and Evelyn Freeth.
  Civil Service played a significant role in the introduction and popularization of the game of football in Europe early in the 1900s through touring, undertaking their first continental tour in 1901. In recognition of their contributions the club is an honorary life member of Real Madrid and Slavia Prague.
  Early in the club's history the decision was taken to remain an amateur side in the face of the emergence of the professional game. Civil Service was subsequently active in the formation of several amateur leagues including the Amateur Football Alliance, the Isthmian League (1906), and the Southern Amateur Football League (1907).
  CSFC enjoyed its greatest success in the years leading up to World War I with several wins in other cup competitions to its credit including the London Senior Cup (1901), the Middlesex Senior Cup (1908 and 1913), and the Amateur Football Association Cup (1910, and again later in 1920 and 1930). They also captured the Southern Amateur League title in 1913 and 1914. In later years club's accumulation of honours was modest with a SAL title in 1939 and two more league triumphs in 1969 and 1971. They captured the AFA Senior Cup in 1997 with a 4–3 win over Lensbury, securing the trophy for the first time in 67 years.
  The club has eight sides competing in the Southern Amateur League and a Vets side playing in the West London Veterans League. It has also established a Women's section with a view to them entering a league in 2019/20.
  The club played in the first ever official football match at Buckingham Palace in October 2013 to mark the Football Association's 150th anniversary.
caption: The Civil Service team of 1893.
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