They were elected to the Football League not having played any senior games, making their debut the first senior match in the Football League on September 2nd 1905 losing at Stockport County 0-1. In the return on December 30th they won 4-2. The two have met 12 times overall between 1905 and 1926, all games played in Division Two.
Stamford Bridge 1905.Two days later they took on Liverpool in a friendly at Stamford Bridge and won 4-0. The Chelsea stadium was originally constructed in 1877 and dedicated to athletics. By 1904, the Scot, Gus Mears invested money with the architect Archibald Leitch, who converted the stadium to one hosting football with Chelsea taking over as the home team.
By October 12th 1935, the ground held nearly 83,000 in the crowd when Arsenal visited.
Leitch was responsible for a number of football stadia (around 40 including a few rugby stadia too) including lesser mortals such as Somerset Park (Ayr Utd), Stark's Park (Raith Rovers) but also Windsor Park, Goodison, Villa, Hampden, Fratton, and Anfield and White Hart Lane.
On the same day in 1976 at Craven Cottage (another Leitch stadium), Fulham played Bristol Rovers in a Second Division league match and drew a crowd of 21,127. George Best scored after 71 seconds and Bobby Moore and Rodney Marsh entertained the crowd. I saw these three play for Fulham later in the season in Division Two, along with 55,000 others at Stamford Bridge on December 27th 1976; a win for Chelsea 2-0.
Below are some minutes of the threesome at Fulham v Hereford Utd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0KLrwmUDg0
It wasn't all roses for Best and Co at Fulham however, he only played 47 games and Marsh 16. It was fun while it lasted. Moore, slightly more reliable, topped 120 games for the Cottagers.
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