Football in Eccleshall

Details kindly supplied by Richard Marsh from Eccleshall F.C.

the early years

With Stafford Rangers being formed in the late 1870’s and Stone Town in 1888 it is probable that football was played in Eccleshall in the last decade of the 19th century although “Victorian Eccleshall” published in 1982 makes no mention of sport.

Any early games would, however have been friendlies only as the major local league the Stone, Stafford and District League was not formed until 1903. By 1908 an Eccleshall Town team was in Division Two of the Stafford and District League but the most successful of the pre-1971  (when the current Eccleshall Football Club was formed) clubs, was Eccleshall Comrades. They were formed in 1918 and were probably based at the Comrades of the Great War Society in Gas Works Lane.

Their initial season saw them playing friendlies locally with their first recorded result being a 6-1 win at Gnosall on September 20th 1918. However Gnosall won the return 4-3, one of only two defeats for the Comrades that term. Three games were played over Christmas and in the second ( versus Chance and Hunt at home, drew 2-2) and in the third (versus Chebsey and Norton Bridge at home, won 3-2) the Reverend K.R.G. Hunt appeared.

Kenneth Hunt was a magnificent defensive wing-half with muscle, skill and speed who performed without any sort of fear whatsoever.

He was an amateur throughout his career and amongst his clubs were Corinthians (1906-07 and 1920-23), Wolves (occasionally between 1907 and 1920 - 61 appearances), Leyton, Crystal Palace (1913) and Oxford City (1913-15). Between 1907 and 1920 he won 20 caps for the England amateur team, 2 caps for the full England team in 1911 and played for the Football League.
He scored for Wolves in the 1908 F.A. Cup final which they won and the in same year for Great Britain when they won the gold medal in the Olympic Games. In 1918 he was a teacher at Highgate School and the reason for his appearing for Eccleshall Comrades was that his father was Vicar of Eccleshall.

In February 1919, Stafford Juniors (the only other team to defeat the Comrades) were defeated 8-3 and in April Stone Comrades were beaten 7-1. The results of the 25 games were reported and the final record was won 16, drawn 7 and lost 2, goals for 83 and against 31. Not all the scorers were recorded but the leading scorers were Lowe 14, Jones 13 and Smith 7. On March 27th the first team played the reserves and won 5-1, the scorer for the reserves being G. Kinnersley junior. This was the only reported game for the reserves and this may have been a one off. (Dale Kinnersley - related - is a player with Eccleshall 1993-present).

An unusual incident occurred when Stone Christ Church were defeated 5-0. The game ended 10 minutes early when first one ball burst, the another and there were no more available.

The final game of the seaon was on April 17th at home to Crewe St Barnabas’s and the line-up was :-

W.Mellor, Jack Kinnersley, F. Yoxall, Gallagher, O. Shenton, F. Clutterham, D. Pronfold, Reg Simkin, Fred Lowe, Rupert Jones, W. Smith.

Simkin scored the only goal of the game. Other teams played that season were Stone Congregational, Woodseaves Institute, Standon, Littleworth St Johns, Royal Field Artillery (Stafford), Crewe Wanderers and Stafford Railway Institute.