Wolverhampton Druids F.C.

Wolverhampton Druids
Full nameWolverhampton Druids Football Club
Nicknamethe Druids
Founded1887
Dissolved1890
GroundCulwell Street
SecretaryW. A. Knight

Wolverhampton Druids F.C. was an association football club from Wolverhampton, then in Staffordshire, which briefly was one of the leading non-league clubs in England.

History

Although there was a Wolverhampton Druids club active in the 1880–81 season,[1] the instant club was founded in 1887. It saw a rapid improvement in form; after losing to New Meeting of Kidderminster by the only goal in one of its first matches,[2] it won the return fixture by 14 goals to 1 in March 1888.[3]

It first played competitive football in the 1888–89 season, joining the Birmingham Football Association and the Walsall Football Association.[4]

The 1888–89 season proved to be the club's only full season, and it reached the final of the Birmingham Junior Cup, meeting the holder Aston Victoria. The match was only settled in a second replay, after a pair of 2–2 draws, the first at Aston Villa's Wellington Road in Perry Barr[5] and the second at Wolverhampton Wanderers' Molineux.[6] Back at Perry Barr, the Vics beat the Druids 2–0,[7] a crowd of 2,000 enjoying hot weather more than the players "who looked parboiled before they had been at it many minutes".[8]

Its success meant that it was one of the clubs invited to join the new Birmingham and District League, to start in the 1889–90 season,[9] and the club was considered much stronger than before, having taken over a number of other sides.[10] However, the club declined to participate in the League, and collapsed quickly; in January 1890 was described as "gone to smash".[11] This was at least in part to players leaving the area, A. H. Knight moved to London[12] and full-back Frederick Collins to Kent.[13] The last appearance of the club was in the Walsall Junior Cup in December 1889, beating Tipton Lancers, but the Cup committee ordering a replay as the game finished in darkness;[14] the replay never seems to have been played.

Colours

The club described its colours as "black, white, and blue", which in the context probably refers to black and white stripes with serge knickers.[15]

Ground

The club's ground was on Culwell Street[16] in Springfields, 200 yards from Wolverhampton railway station.[17]

References

  1. ↑ "Cannock v Wolverhampton Druids (2nd teams)". Midland Athlete: 29. 12 January 1881.
  2. ↑ "Wolverhampton Druids v New Meeting". Kidderminster Shuttle: 6. 21 January 1888.
  3. ↑ "Football". Kidderminster Shuttle: 8. 17 March 1888.
  4. ↑ "Walsall Football Association". Birmingham Daily Post: 4. 5 September 1888.
  5. ↑ "Birmingham Junior Cup - Final". Sports and Play: 9. 2 April 1889.
  6. ↑ "Birmingham and District Junior Challenge Cup final". Sporting Life: 3. 17 April 1889.
  7. ↑ "Saturday's football". Aston Times: 5. 4 May 1889.
  8. ↑ "The Junior Cup final". Athletic News: 2. 29 April 1889.
  9. ↑ "Ajax" (21 May 1889). "Passing events". Sports and Play: 11.
  10. ↑ "Association football". Coventry Reporter: 4. 14 September 1889.
  11. ↑ "Shots for goal". Coventry Reporter: 3. 18 January 1890.
  12. ↑ "Athletic notes". Walsall Observer: 3. 6 January 1894.
  13. ↑ "View of the men engaged for the 1891–92 season". Kentish Mercury: 2. 4 September 1891.
  14. ↑ "Walsall Association". Cannock Advertiser: 3. 14 December 1889.
  15. ↑ List of clubs in the Birmingham Football Association 1888–89, sourced from Steve Carr
  16. ↑ "Rudge (Coventry) v Wolverhampton Druids". Wolverhampton Express and Star -: 3. 16 September 1889.
  17. ↑ List of clubs in the Birmingham Football Association 1888–89, sourced from Steve Carr
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