Hinckley United Football Club
Members of the Southern League (Midland Division)
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MAIN NEWS RESULTS FIXTURES PLAYERS HISTORY HEROES FANTALK |
THE FORMATIVE YEARSThe season 1997-8 was the first for Hinckley United as a merged club, but forerunner Hinckley Athletic has a long history stretching back well into the last century. When the Church Institute - then with one of the best local football sides - threw out several of its members for skipping Bible class, the expelled players set up their own club. Since then many have blamed Athletic's frequent championship near misses on a "Holy Well curse" - divine retribution for the original players tardy attention to their religious duties!Hinckley Association Football Club were formed at a meeting in the Holy Well Inn on Wednesday 21 August 1889. Charles Garrett was named as the first captain, with Frank Collyer as deputy. The new club soon established itself as a major force in county football. In one of its first games the Association Reserve side defeated the full Church Institute team 2-0, clearly demonstrating the superiority of the new club. The full side first showed its strength against local village teams, beating Croft Rising Star 6-0 away, Earl Shilton 4-1 at home and Coalville 3-1 at home. Against larger local clubs, the new team also performed creditably, with a narrow 1-0 away win to Loughborough Alliance, and an equally narrow 2-1 defeat against Leicester Wanderers. Other matches, however, ended more controvertially. Away to Coventry Rudge in mid-November, Hinckley turned up to the Coventry Cricket Ground so late that full time could not be played and the game finished in near darkness at 1-1. A visit to Leicester Fosse in February ended even more unfortunately. Hinckley having cancelled a fixture against Coalville to play what they thought would be the Fosse first team were disappointed to see that Leicester had been forced through injury to field a number of reserves. The Hinckley side acquitted themselves well, holding their hosts 1-1, until Leicester "scored" a goal which the Hinckley players had called offside. Amid protests and much confusion, part of the Hinckley team left the field in disgust and Fosse claimed the game 2-1. The remaining Hinckley players retired amid hoots of "Go Home Tin Hats" and "Pump Borough" from the home supporters. The incident did not apparently sour relations between the clubs too much - Fosse sent a team to the Holy Well in November of the same year and enjoyed a 3-1 success. Despite these reverses, Hinckley had established themselves as a major force in county football - perhaps second only to Leicester and Loughborough. From 1890 they became known as Hinckley Town, and finally entered League football in 1894, contesting the new Leicestershire and Northamptonshire League. When the Leicestershire Senior League began in 1896-7, they finished third, only losing the championship after having points deducted for fielding an ineligible player. The 1896-7 season also marked the beginning of the "Holy Well curse" - with Town also losing out on the County Senior Cup with an agonising 1-0 defeat against Coalville Albion. The following season Hinckley gained compensation, taking the Senior League for the first time by just two points from Coalville Albion. Two years later they completed a county"triple crown" winning the Senior League, Senior Cup and the Hinckley Cup all in one season. Main / News / Results / Fixtures / Players / History / Heroes / Fantalk |
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