Founding Fathers of Merseyside Football
| Founding Fathers of Merseyside Football | |
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| Artist | Wasan Suttikasem 
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| Medium | oil paint |
| Location | United Kingdom
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The Founding Fathers of Merseyside Football is a series of oil paintings which celebrate the contributions of the men who kick-started and shaped the game in the nineteenth century.
The artwork came about after the discovery of a Sepia tone photograph of Ben Chambers in a long-lost album containing those of the Methodist ministers who had served the St Domingo congregation. On behalf of the Everton Shareholders’ Association, David France commissioned Wasan Suttikasem to produce a formal portrait of Rev Chambers and subsequently added the other individuals who influenced the direction of Merseyside football.
The six pioneers are Rev Ben Chambers, John Houlding, Dr James Baxter, George Mahon, John McKenna and Will Cuff, none of whom ever kicked a competitive football.
The six paintings will be exhibited together and rotated around different venues on Merseyside and beyond to promote stronger links between the two clubs.
Ben Swift Chambers (1845–1901) By 1877, Rev Chambers’ career in the Methodist ministry brought him to the New Connexion Chapel in Liverpool. Once settled at St Domingo’s he became an avid supporter of the Band of Hope movement, a temperance organisation for working-class youngsters, and formed a cricket club to provide local youngsters with healthy exercise as well as the opportunity to develop the qualities of Christian sportsmanship. To that end Chambers persuaded the members of Young Men’s Bible Class to start St Domingo Football Club in 1878.
John Houlding (1833–1902)
The prosperous brewer was active as a Conservative councillor for the Everton & Kirkdale ward and eventually as Lord Mayor of Liverpool. As the first president of Everton Football Club, he ushered the club from Stanley Park to the Anfield ground adjacent to his Sandon Hotel and masterminded the 10-year transformation from amateur enthusiasts into League champions. It was as an Orangeman and Anfield landlord that he gained notoriety. He sought to charge more rent after the club became successful. This brought Houlding into conflict with the Everton committee before he served them with a notice to quit in 1892 and recruited a new squad of players for his new club. Within nine seasons Liverpool Football Club was anointed League champions.
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