Aston Unity
Excelsior v St George’s…
Wednesbury Charity Cup Final, 1885…coming soon…
There were very many other Football Clubs in & around the Aston area, in those days - it wasn’t all Excelsior & St George’s, you know…
The “Unity”, formed in 1874 by members of the local Cricket Club, were one of the first teams from Birmingham to compete for the famous F.A Cup, first appearing back in 1882/83 where they’ll be drawn against another Aston-ian mob, the “Villa”, in the third round…
“…Somewhere between 4,000 & 5,000 spectators assembled on to the Villa Ground in very fine weather to witness the above match between these two well known clubs…Great interest was manifested in the contest, the previous struggles between the clubs having been noted for keen & close play & this proved to be no exception to the rule…”
“…the Villa forwards all had a good game-The Unity forward division simply lacked the combination of their opponents…”
That being, sadly, as good as it ever got in the Cup for the ‘Unity’, however & they probably wished they never bothered turning up at all, the following few seasons, losing very heavily in coming ties &, on the 1st of November 1885, will have registered against them, the quickest Hat-Trick in the tournaments history…
(…in a little under four minutes, the scorer, St George’s human battering ram, “Terrible” Tommy Green…)
“Terrible” !!
Uni reach the Final of the wonderful Wednesbury Charity Cup in 1882, & even come within a minute of actually winning the thing, before most unfortunately Own-Goal-ing in the last minute of the Final against Wednesbury’s very own Old Athletic in the replay…
So Close, So Far Away…
Wednesbury’s jammy “Old ‘uns”
“…in the course of the game there was some very excellent play, indeed…”
Aston Villa
3-1
Aston Unity
…Understandably more than a little fed up with producing outstanding players only to lose them to the “Villans” for absolutely ‘nout (the Uni were strictly an Amateur outfit, you see…) in 1906, the ‘Unity’ gave up on the Footer & revert back to being a humble, local cricket club again…
English Association Challenge Cup
…Wellington Road
6th of January, 1883…
Credit, where Credit’s due, Brian…
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