Staveley F.C.

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Not to be confused with Staveley Miners Welfare F.C., Staveley Welfare F.C., or Staveley Works F.C..

Staveley F.C.
Full nameStaveley Football Club
Nickname(s)Old Foot & Mouth, the Staveleyites
Founded1875
Dissolved1892
GroundRecreation Ground

Staveley F.C. was a football club in Staveley, a village in Derbyshire, England.

History

The club was founded in 1875 and originally played under the

Sheffield rules.[1] The first known matches for the club were in 1876.[2] Key players for the club from its earliest days were the Hay brothers; George as goalkeeper, William as back-up goalkeeper, Sammy as half-back, and Jack as forward,[3] plus later Tom Hay
.

Staveley was nicknamed 'Old Foot and Mouth' by opponents due to the highly competitive and hard tackling nature of their players (who would "get a foot in") and the vociferously partisan nature of their supporters.[4]

The club's first success was in the Sheffield Senior Cup in 1879-80, beating Heeley F.C. in the final 3-1; the result was considered a shock, with Heeley being 1/4 favourites.[5]

FA Cup surprises

The club first entered the

Sheffield Wednesday club to two replays in the third round, losing at the Lockwood Brothers F.C. ground at the third time of asking.[7]

Staveley's two best runs in the Cup were both ended by the professionals of

Blackburn Rovers. In 1883–84, the club beat Middlesbrough and gained revenge on Wednesday, helped by Wednesday's Mosforth injuring himself on the railway line before the match,[8] and then beating Lockwood Brothers in the third round before a 2,000 crowd said to be the biggest ever at the Recreation Ground.[9] In the fourth round at Cup holders Blackburn, Staveley took the lead, before Rovers turned the game around.[10]

In

Football Association dismissed the protest.[13] The tactic was so notorious that supporters in the region would shout "Play up, Staveley!" whenever another team adopted the same stratagem.[14]

Staveley had gone over 30 matches in the season without defeat[15] before meeting Blackburn Rovers again in the fifth round, but the repeat holders proved too strong for the club.

Local success and tragedy

The club was the most successful in Derbyshire in the 1880s, reaching five consecutive Derbyshire Cup finals, albeit helped by

Football League
membership, given the small size of the village and the low crowds that were likely.

While playing for Staveley, on 12 January 1889 against

rightback, after fifteen minutes. He was badly injured by Doyle's knee in his abdomen and left the field in obvious distress. The collision resulted in a ruptured bowel and he died in the dressing room at Grimsby in the arms of his Staveley and Derbyshire County Cricket Club teammate George Hay.[16]

Midland League

The club was a founder member of the Midland Counties League, but the club did not survive three seasons, given the difficulties of a village side in the professional era. Staveley finished mid-table in 1889–90, but was bottom in 1890–91, in part because of the resignation of Warwick County F.C. and Kidderminster F.C., who would both have finished below the club.[17]

Despite the balance sheet at the end of the 1890–91 season being in a "satisfactory condition",

Burton Wanderers on 5 December.[21]

The club intended to complete its Cup fixtures,

Derby County reserves on 2 January 1892, but lost 10–0, with many of its regular players declining to play,[23] and George Hay watching from the pavilion.[24] The club's debts of over £30 were cleared by a benefit match played at Bramall Lane,[25] but the club remained in abeyance for the rest of the season, the club secretary Captain Turner attending the Derbyshire FA end of season meeting to bemoan the rise of professionalism that had been "the ruin of the Staveley club".[26] The club did not renew its membership of the Derbyshire FA for the 1892–93 season and was therefore defunct.[27]

A club of the same name briefly re-emerged later in the decade, playing junior football only, but again involving the Hay family.[28]

Colours

The club originally played in amber with a black hoop, switching to navy in 1881. At some point before 1885 they had changed to red and black quarters (the contemporary term for halves).[29]

Grounds

The club's first ground was the Recreation Ground, near the Crown Inn.[30][31] The ground was described as "rather peculiar in shape and size", giving Staveley a considerable home advantage.[32]

The club's final match at the Recreation was a 2–1 defeat to

Gainsborough Trinity on 19 April 1890, in front of 1,000 spectators,[33] as the MS&L railway from Beighton to Chesterfield was due to run through part of the ground.[34] The club planned to move to a new ground for the 1890–91 season after the sale of part of the Recreation, but as it was not ready, the club played at the Staveley Works Cricket Ground.[35]
The new ground was meant to be ready for the ill-fated 1891–92 season but it never seems to have been completed.

Honours

Records

  • Record victory: 19–0 v Sheffield Walkley, FA Cup first qualifying round, 1889–90[37]

Notable players

References

  1. ^ Alcock, Charles (1879). Football Annual. p. 101.
  2. ^ Curry, Graham. The Making of Association Football: Two Decades Which Created the Modern Game. Cambridge Scholars. p. 176.
  3. ^ "Sports notes". Long Eaton Advertiser: 3. 14 February 1908.
  4. ISBN 1-874718-65-2
    .
  5. ^ "Sheffield Football Association". Sheffield Independent: 3. 22 March 1880.
  6. ^ "report". Nottingham Evening Post: 4. 31 October 1881.
  7. ^ "report". Sheffield Daily Telegraph: 7. 10 January 1882.
  8. ^ "report". The Field: 795. 8 December 1883.
  9. ^ "report". Sheffield Daily Telegraph: 4. 31 December 1883.
  10. ^ "report". Blackburn Standard: 3. 26 January 1884.
  11. ^ "report". Derbyshire Times: 6. 14 November 1885.
  12. ^ "report". Nottingham Evening Post: 3. 12 December 1885.
  13. ^ "report". The Field: 21. 2 January 1886.
  14. ^ "Play Up, Staveley!". Derby Evening Post: 4. 9 March 1936.
  15. ^ "report". Athletic News: 2. 26 January 1886.
  16. ^ "Cropper, William – R.I.P. in Brimington". Archived from the original on 27 June 2009. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
  17. ^ Abbink, Dinant. "England – Midland League". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  18. ^ "Staveley Football Club". Sheffield Independent: 8. 31 July 1891.
  19. ^ "Football Notes". Leicester Daily Mercury: 3. 14 December 1891.
  20. ^ "Midland League". Long Eaton Advertiser: 8. 12 December 1891.
  21. ^ "Midland League". Nottingham Evening Post: 8. 5 December 1891.
  22. ^ "Midland League". Nottingham Evening Post: 3. 8 December 1891.
  23. ^ "Derbyshire Challenge Cup". Derby Telegraph: 3. 4 January 1892.
  24. ^ "Notes on out-door sports". Derby Telegraph: 4. 6 January 1892.
  25. ^ "Notes on out-door sports". Derby Telegraph: 4. 17 February 1892.
  26. ^ "Derbyshire Football Association". Derby Mercury: 7. 11 May 1892.
  27. ^ "Derbyshire Football Association". Long Eaton Advertiser: 2. 3 September 1892.
  28. ^ "Staveley Football Club". Sheffield Independent: 8. 26 July 1899.
  29. ^ Charles Alcock Football Yearbooks 1879–89
  30. ^ Alcock, Charles (1879). Football Annual. p. 101.
  31. ^ "Football". Sheffield Independent: 7. 18 September 1879.
  32. ^ "Staveley v Lockwood Brothers". Field: 22. 5 January 1884.
  33. ^ "Staveley v Gainsborough Trinity". Derby Telegraph: 3. 21 April 1890.
  34. ^ "Midland Counties League". Sheffield Independent: 7. 21 April 1890.
  35. ^ "Staveley Football Club". Derby Mercury: 2. 3 September 1890.
  36. ^ "To Correspondents". Derby Telegraph: 3. 29 March 1892.
  37. ^ Plus four goals disallowed: Cheltenham Chronicle, 11 October 1890, p. 10
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