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White Stars F.C.

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White Stars F.C.
Full nameWhite Stars Football Club
Nickname(s)the Stars
Founded1875
Dissolved1881
GroundWelshpool Road
SecretaryE. H. Morgan

White Stars F.C., also known as White Star or Newtown White Stars, was an association football club from Newtown, Powys, active in the 1870s, and (indirectly) a progenitor club of the current Newtown club.

History

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Foundation

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The club was formed at a meeting at the Greyhound Inn at a date variously given as 1873[1] 1874,[2] or 1875;[3] the club was certainly playing by 1876 as there was confusion between the White Stars and the Newtown club.[4]

1877–78 season

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The White Stars entered the first Welsh Cup in 1877–78. The club won 1–0 at Ruabon in the first round[5] and drew at Aberystwyth in the second,[6] but Aberystwyth scratched from the replay and the Stars were drawn to play Druids at Plasmadoc in the "final five" stage. The White Stars played a defensive game in the tie to earn a home replay,[7] which the White Stars won thanks to scrimmaging the only goal in the first half, but the result was overturned on appeal, on the basis that the home crowd kept coming onto the pitch every time the Druids threatened the White Stars' goal, and the referee failed to award a goal to Druids after a Ketley shot was only stopped behind the goal-line[8] - and were not given a free-kick after goalkeeper Tom Jones carried the ball for several yards in the aftermath in contradiction to the laws at the time.[9] Indeed a story was later bruited that the White Star supporters had been brandishing knives.[10] The second replay was played at Oswestry and the Druids put the tie beyond any doubt with a 3–0 win.[11]

Welsh Cup winner

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Newtown White Stars

The Stars gained ample compensation in the 1878–79 Welsh Cup. The club was not considered one of the stronger entries in the competition,[12] but won through to the third round after two away wins. In the third, the club met Bangor at Wrexham, and after being two goals to the good, were forced into a replay after it conceded a bizarre late own-goal, defenders trying to get out of the way of a goal-bound throw-in but one inadvertently touching the ball en route.[13] The replay, at Chester, ended in controversy; half-an-hour into the game, with the White Stars 3–1 up, a fight between two players on the pitch was interrupted by the Bangor umpire punching a White Star player to the ground, and the match abandoned.[14] The Welsh Association ordered a replay, but Bangor refused to accept the decision, and resigned from the Welsh FA.[15]

In club reached the semi-final, where it was drawn to play Newtown. The first match, at Oswestry, ended in a draw, and the replay, at Newtown's ground, went the White Stars' way 2–1, holding on after scoring twice in the first half-an-hour.[16] The final against Wrexham was played at Oswestry, where the White Stars proved to be the favourites with the thousand-strong crowd, even though they were the outsiders; one expert stating that he would bet "Lombard Street to a bottle of pop" on the Wrexhamites. However the White Stars won 1–0, the winning goal coming on the hour when Rees followed up up after a Davies shot was saved.[17]

Failed merger

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Despite the Cup win, in August 1879, the White Stars' secretary wrote to his opposite number at Newtown with a view to fielding a combined club in the Welsh Cup.[18] A new club, Excelsior, was duly formed,[19] but although most of the Newtown players joined it,[20] most of the White Stars remained aloof, or played for Excelsior in addition to the Stars.[21]

The White Stars' defence of the Cup ended against the eventual winners Druids in the "semi" final (due to an imbalance in the draw, there were 3 teams remaining at the time) at Oswestry, the match being delayed by the referee not turning up and the clubs having to select a suitable individual from the crowd; the White Stars never recovered after conceding twice in the opening nine minutes.[22] By this time White Stars was in the process of swallowing Excelsior - the clubs met in February 1880, White Stars winning by 4 (or 5) goals[23] to nil,[24] and by the 1880–81 season many of the former Newtown players(such as goalkeeper Hibbott, captain Edward Morgan, and forward Gittins) were all playing for the White Stars.[25]

Final season and revival as Newtown

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More players joined the White Stars later in the season, in time to play for the White Stars in the 1881 Welsh Cup final on Wrexham's Racecourse Ground.[26] The match attracted a crowd of 3,000, of whom 700 had come on special trains from Newtown.[27] Druids again proved to be the White Stars' nemesis, winning 2–0, the second goal coming when Hibbott was charged through the goal having just caught a Vaughan shot.[28]

The White Stars protested the eligibility of the Druids' captain Jack Powell, to no avail.[29] The failure of the protest seems to have dispirited the team to the extent that it did not re-emerge for the 1881–82 season. Indeed, football in Newtown went into abeyance until a meeting at the Lion Hotel on 23 July 1884 re-established a Newtown association football club.[30] Notably, many of those involved with the new club, including players Hibbott, Owen, W. Andrew, D. Andrew, George Woosnam, Rees, and Gittins,[31] and committee member Cornelius Morgan, had been involved with the previous Newtown clubs.

Colours

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Originally, the club did not rely on coloured jerseys to distinguish its players, but a motif sewn onto a jersey (and, originally, cap)[32] of any colour, namely the white star from which the club took its name. Its official colours were (in 1878–79) blue,[33] (in 1879–80) navy blue & white,[34] and (in 1880–81) black & white.[35]

Ground

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The club's ground was on Welshpool Road, a four-minute walk from Newtown railway station, with the Excelsior ground lying beyond.[36][37]

Notable players

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References

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  1. ^ Grosvenor, Gavin. "The tale of Newtown White Stars FC - Newtown's first working class heroes". Powys County Times. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  2. ^ Alcock, Charles (1881). Football Annual. London: Wright & Co. p. 187.
  3. ^ Alcock, Charles (1879). Football Annual. London: Cricket Press. p. 140.
  4. ^ Edwards, W. H. (18 January 1876). "The Football Match". Montgomeryshire Express: 8.
  5. ^ "The Welsh Challenge Cup". Wrexham Guardian and Denbighshire and Flintshire Advertiser: 8. 3 November 1877.
  6. ^ "Football". Aberystwyth Observer: 4. 22 December 1877.
  7. ^ "Druids v White Star". Wrexham Guardian: 3. 9 February 1875.
  8. ^ "Druids v White Star (Newton) [sic]". Wrexham Guardian: 3. 16 February 1878.
  9. ^ "Football appeal". Wrexham Guardian: 4. 16 February 1878.
  10. ^ "When Liverpool was without a club". Athletic News: 9. 20 August 1928.
  11. ^ "Druids v White Star (Newtown)". Wrexham Guardian: 3. 2 March 1878.
  12. ^ "Review of the past season and anticipations for the Welsh Challenge Cup". Wrexham Advertiser: 3. 19 October 1878.
  13. ^ "Welsh Association Challenge Cup". Cambrian News: 3. 10 January 1879.
  14. ^ "The Welsh Challenge Cup". Wrexham Guardian: 8. 25 January 1879.
  15. ^ "The North Wales Challenge Cup". Liverpool Mercury: 3. 30 January 1879.
  16. ^ "Welsh Association Challenge Cup". Cambrian News: 3. 14 March 1879.
  17. ^ "The Welsh Challenge Cup". Cambrian News: 6. 4 April 1879.
  18. ^ "The White Star Football Club". Wellington Journal: 7. 2 August 1879.
  19. ^ "Newtown clubs". Wrexham Guardian and Denbighshire and Flintshire Advertiser: 8. 13 September 1879.
  20. ^ "Newtown v Aberystwyth". Wrexham Guardian and Denbighshire and Flintshire Advertiser: 8. 1 February 1879.
  21. ^ "White Star (Newtown) v Foresters (Gwersyllt)". Wrexham Guardian and Denbighshire and Flintshire Advertiser: 8. 20 December 1879.
  22. ^ "Welsh Association Challenge Cup". Cambrian Times: 6. 27 February 1889.
  23. ^ One goal was disputed.
  24. ^ "White Star v Excelsior". Montgomeryshire Express: 8. 10 February 1880.
  25. ^ "Civil Service v White Stars, Newtown". Wrexham Advertiser: 8. 6 November 1880.
  26. ^ "Welsh Association Challenge Cup Final Tie". Wrexham Advertiser: 7. 2 April 1881.
  27. ^ "report". Cambrian News: 7. 8 April 1881.
  28. ^ "Welsh Association Challenge Cup". Wrexham Advertiser: 7. 2 April 1881.
  29. ^ "Football Association of Wales". Wrexham Advertiser: 5. 9 April 1881.
  30. ^ "Establishment of football club". Montgomeryshire Express: 5. 29 July 1884.
  31. ^ "Newtown v West Bromwich Albion". Wrexham Advertiser: 3. 18 October 1884.
  32. ^ "Druids v White Star". Wrexham Guardian: 3. 9 February 1875.
  33. ^ Alcock, Charles (1879). Football Annual. London: Cricket Press. p. 140.
  34. ^ Alcock, Charles (1880). Football Annual. London: Cricket Press. p. 136.
  35. ^ Alcock, Charles (1881). Football Annual. London: Wright & Co. p. 187.
  36. ^ Alcock, Charles (1879). Football Annual. London: Cricket Press. p. 140.
  37. ^ Alcock, Charles (1880). Football Annual. London: Cricket Press. p. 136.
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