| Full name | Woolston Works Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1878 (as "Southampton Rangers") | |
| Dissolved | 1889 | |
| Ground | Antelope Ground, Southampton | |
Woolston Works Football Club is a defunct football club formerly based atWoolston, Hampshire which was active from the late-1870s until 1889. The club pre-datesSouthampton Football Club in whose early years the two clubs vied for dominance inSouthampton.
The team was founded as "Southampton Rangers" in 1878 and comprised employees of the Oswald, Mordaunt & Co. shipyard inWoolston, which later became part ofVosper Thornycroft.[1] Many of the workers had been recruited from the north of England and Scotland who had previously played football in their home towns.[2] In their early days, the team played their home matches onSouthampton Common[1] before moving to Woolston Park.[3]
Writing in 1936,William Pickford, who had helped found theHampshire F.A. in 1887 before going on to become president ofThe Football Association, said:
The effect of this galaxy of Scotsmen on the game in Hampshire was electifying. Up to then, few local people knew anything about the fine points of the game, and the public troubled little about it as a spectacle. The opening of the Woolston Shipyard turned Southampton into an association (football) hot-bed, and it woke up with a start.[3]
In 1886, Woolston Works entered the South Hants & Dorset Senior Cup, defeating the Portsmouth Sunflowers 6–1 in the First Round on 9 October 1886. The Sunflowers were run by CanonNorman Pares, who had played for theOld Etonians when they won the1879 FA Cup Final. The Works team progressed to the final where they defeatedWimborne Town with a single goal. The umpire for the final wasM. P. Betts who won the very first FA Cup Final with theWanderers in1872.[2]
Woolston Works also reached the final of the Portsmouth & District Cup in 1887, where they lost 2–0 to Portsmouth A.F.C. (not connected with the present-dayPortsmouth Football Club). Playing in goal for the Portsmouth side was "A. C. Smith", a pseudonym for Dr.Arthur Conan Doyle.[2]
In 1887, the club became joint tenants with the Pirates Rugby Club of theAntelope Ground. The Antelope Ground, which stood on the east side ofSt Mary's Road between Brinton's Terrace and Clovelly Road, had previously been used byHampshire County Cricket Club until they moved to theCounty Ground in Northlands Road in 1885.[4]
In the same year, the club entered the inauguralHampshire Senior Cup (whereasSt. Mary's Y.M.A. entered the Junior Cup); in the final, they defeatedWinchester by two goals to nil to claim the trophy. With St. Mary's winning the Junior Cup, the two clubs decided that they should compete to decide which was Southampton's top club. The match was played at theAntelope Ground on 14 April 1888 and the home side were victorious by three goals to nil; theBournemouth Guardian report on the match summed up the clubs' season:
Both teams have had a wonderfully good time of it on the whole and the people of Southampton ought to feel proud of their football population.[5]
In 1888–89, Woolston Works continued to occupy the Antelope Ground, sharing this with theTrojans Rugby Club. reached the final of theHampshire Senior Cup, where they lost to a team from theRoyal Engineers based atAldershot, By now, Oswald, Mordaunt & Co. were in financial trouble as a result of which many of their better footballers had returned to their native north-east and Scotland, causing the works to put out a weakened team for the final.[6]
The Woolston shipyard was closed in April 1889 and Oswald, Mordaunt & Co. was wound up, resulting in the disbanding of the football team.[7]
During the First World War, a team from the works, now owned byJohn I. Thornycroft & Company was formed, known asThornycrofts (Woolston) F.C..[8] They survived until 1926 and reached the First Round Proper of theF.A. Cup in1919–20 where they tookBurnley of theFootball League First Division to a replay.[9]
In 1960,Vosper Thornycroft F.C. was founded. They subsequently changed their name to VT F.C. and then toSholing F.C. who now play in theSouthern League Division One South & West.[10]
The club's dominant jersey was black and white hoops.[11]
