Lambton Thistle Football Club

Lambton Thistle Football Club was the first football club in Northern New South Wales. It was formed in 1885 and played in a cup competition against Sydney clubs. The club only played one season perhaps because half of its players moved to Minmi to work. These players played for Minmi Rangers in 1886.

Lambton Thistle was formed at Lambton, a suburb of Newcastle, NSW.

Lambton Thistle played its first game against Caledonians from Sydney on Saturday 13 June 1885, at Lambton Park. This was the first organised game of football in the region. The Lambton team, according to the Newcastle Morning Herald report on 17 June 1885, was: D Reed, J. Willson, A. Bryden, W. McIllroy, P. Reed, M. Scobie, R. Osborne, D. Currie, W. McCrorrie, J. Conley, B. Doyle.

Lambton won the game 3 - 1, though other newspaper reports have the score as a 3 - 2 win and even a 3 - 0 win.

The Minmi Rangers were formed either late 1885 or early 1886. The demise of Lambton was the catalyst for the formation of Minmi Rangers.