Aston Unity F.C.
Full name | Aston Unity Football Club | |
---|---|---|
Nickname(s) | Unity, the Unitarians[1] | |
Founded | 1874 | |
Dissolved | 1908 | |
Ground | Trinity Road | |
|
Aston Unity Football Club was an association football club from Aston, now in Birmingham. The club was one of the first clubs in Birmingham and entered the FA Cup a number of times in the 1880s.
History
The club was founded by members of the Aston Unity cricket club, as a winter activity to keep them fit. The cricket club was founded in 1868,[2] and the cricketers started to play football matches in the winter of 1874–75, at the instance of Sam Durban, the cricket captain and motive force for cricket - and later football - in Birmingham.[3] In its first season, the club played home matches at Aston Park, had 39 members, and won 4 and drew 1 of the five matches in its first season.[4] At the time the club was called Aston Park Unity. For 1875–76 the club had a second team.[5] Before the 1876–77 season the club left Aston Park and changed its name to Aston Unity.[6]
The club was a founder member of the
Unity's best run in the Senior Cup, at the time the second-most prestigious tournament for football clubs in the Midlands, came in 1879–80, the club beating
In the
However, as the season progressed, the now-professional Aston Villa had built up a squad made of the strongest players in the district, while Unity stayed within the FA rules on amateurism. Villa outpaced Unity by such a degree that, six weeks after the close FA Cup tie, Villa beat Unity by 16 goals to 0. Ten of the goals were scored by Arthur Brown, who had left Unity for Villa the week before, and had persuaded a number of team-mates to join him.[10]
The club entered the FA Cup in the next four years, but suffered heavy defeats in the first round on each occasion. Its financial situation was such that it sold home advantage to
The club continued playing football at a junior level until 1908, when the Trinity Road ground was closed, and continues as a cricket club to the present day.[14]
Grounds
The club originally played at Aston Park, and in 1876–77 moved to Aston Lane, using the Witton Arms for its facilities; the ground was used for the first representative match between the
In 1884 both football and cricket clubs moved to a new enclosed ground at Trinity Road in Aston.[16] The Staffordshire County Cricket Club occasionally used it for matches as it was just on the Staffordshire side of the border with Warwickshire.[17]
Colours
The club's colours were described as "blue stripes" or royal blue and white, with brown stockings, until 1886, when they were described as red and black.[18]
The cricket club's colours are claret and blue, and the club claims that Aston Villa derived inspiration from those colours.
Honours and records
FA Cup
- Best performance: 3rd round, 1882–83
Birmingham Senior Cup
- Best performance: last 6, 1879–80
Wednesbury Charity Cup:
- Runners-up 1882–83
Biggest win:
- 14–0 v Kidderminster Harriers, Birmingham Senior Cup, 1st round, 1 October 1887[19]
Biggest defeat:
- 0–16 v Aston Villa, Birmingham Senior Cup, 3rd round, 10 February 1883
Notable players
Arthur Brown, later Aston Villa's first international player
Jack Devey, Frankie Dawson, John Burton, Charlie Athersmith: all FA Cup winners with Aston Villa
References
- ^ "report". Nottingham Journal: 6. 1 November 1886.
- ^ "Local Clubs - Aston Unity". Sports Argus: 4. 28 May 1904.
- ^ "The Editor's Handbook". Sports Argus: 1. 20 April 1901.
- ^ page 145
- ^ Alcock, Charles (1876). Football Yearbook. p. 142.
- ^ Alcock, Charles (1877). Football Yearbook. p. 148.
- ^ "Wednesbury". Lichfield Mercury: 8. 2 June 1882.
- ^ "Football". Birmingham Mail: 3. 16 May 1882.
- ^ "Aston Villa 3–1 Aston Unity". Athletic News: 3. 10 January 1883.
- ^ Bradbury, Mike (2013). Lost Teams of the Midlands.
- ^ "report". Nottingham Journal: 6. 1 November 1886.
- ^ "report". Birmingham Post: 7. 17 October 1887.
- ^ "Table talk". Birmingham Mail: 2. 25 August 1888.
- ^ "History". Aston Unity Cricket Club. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
- ^ "The Editor's Handbook". Sports Argus: 1. 20 April 1901.
- ^ "The Editor's Handbook". Sports Argus: 1. 20 April 1901.
- ^ "Local Clubs - Aston Unity". Sports Argus: 4. 28 May 1904.
- ^ Alcock, Charles (1887). Football Yearbook. p. 183.
- ^ 12 of the goals coming in the second half; Birmingham Post, 3 October 1887, p. 7