Crystal Palace F.C. was an amateur football club formed in 1861 who contributed a major role in the development of association football during its formative years. They went on to become founder members of the Football Association in 1863, and competed in the first ever FA Cup competition in 1871–72. It is thought the amateur club disbanded around 1876, however the current professional Crystal Palace F.C. claim to be a continuation of the original club, after historians discovered a lineage, although disputed, through the Crystal Palace Company ownership. This has led to claims that Crystal Palace should be recognised as the oldest professional football club in the world in existence today. History Formation In 1854, the Crystal Palace Exhibition building was relocated from Hyde Park, London and rebuilt in South London near to Sydenham Hill. This area was renamed Crystal Palace and included the Crystal Palace Park that surrounded the site where various sports facilities were built. The amateur Crystal Palace football club was formed here in 1861. It is claimed the football team was established from the Crystal Palace Cricket Club founded in 1857, and that most of its original players were previously members of the cricket club. Crystal Palace Park The cricket and football clubs both paid rent to the Crystal Palace Company who owned the exhibition building to use the pitch inside Crystal Palace Park which they shared. Membership of the football club was by subscription only, at a price of one guinea per season, and spectators who wished to watch the games had to pay the one-shilling entrance fee into Crystal Palace Park. Players membership The football club’s players were not company employees; typical membership was formed from wealthy upper-middle-class businessmen who could afford the subscription and had the leisure time to participate in sport. Walter Cutbill (1844-1915) and A. Cutbill were prominent members and both former pupils at Forest School, which was a leading school in the early development of the game. Committee member and goalkeeper, Croydon-born wine merchant James Turner (1839-1922) became the first proper treasurer of the Football Association after its formation, and numerous Palace players were influential committee-members of the F.A. during its formative decade. When international football commenced in 1870 and 1872, players from Crystal Palace featured in both the official and the ‘unofficial’ versions of the first-ever international games. Four players from the club appeared for the England national team: