Ilkeston United F.C.
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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox football club |
| clubname=Ilkeston United
| image=
| fullname=Ilkeston United Football Club
| nickname = the Robins{{cite journal |title=Derbyshire League players' future |journal=Football Post |date=30 April 1932 |page=5}}
| founded=1894
| dissolved=1932
| ground=Manor Ground
| capacity=
| chairman=
| mgrtitle=
| manager=
| league = Derbyshire League
| season = 1931–32
(last full season)
| position = 2nd
|pattern_name1 = Original
|pattern_la1=_red_stripes | pattern_b1=_red_stripes| pattern_ra1=_red_stripes | pattern_sh1=| pattern_so1=_2_stripes_white| leftarm1=964B00| body1=964B00| rightarm1=964B00|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=FF0000|
|pattern_name2=1926–32
|pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=|pattern_sh2=|pattern_so2=|leftarm2=FF0000|body2=FF0000|rightarm2=FF0000|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=FF0000|
|}}
Ilkeston United Football Club was an association football club from Ilkeston in Derbyshire.
History
The earliest record of the club is from 1894, when it was an entrant to the Long Eaton Cup Competition, a competition put up by the Long Eaton Rangers for minor clubs.{{cite journal |title=The Long Eaton Cup Competition |journal=Long Eaton Advertiser |date=3 March 1894 |page=5}} Originally the club played within the Nottinghamshire region, joining the Notts Football Association in April 1894,{{cite journal |title=Notts Football Association |journal=Evening Post |date=21 April 1894 |page=2}} before moving over to Derbyshire in 1899.{{cite journal |title=Derbyshire Association |journal=Derby Mercury |date=4 October 1899 |page=7}}
File:Ilkeston United F.C., 1908–09, taken at the Manor Ground.jpg
United gained prominence after the demise of Ilkeston Town, and from the mid-1900s proved a local force. It reached the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup in 1905–06, 1907–08, and 1909–10; in the last of those, the club visited Stoke, and held the Potters in a "particularly entertaining" game until the last 15 minutes, when the home side scored twice - goalkeeper Joe Webster "was responsible for the best example of custodianship I have seen for several years".{{cite journal |title=Splendid game at Stoke |journal=Evening Sentinel |date=22 November 1909 |page=5}} It also won the Erewash section of the Derbyshire Senior Cup from 1903–04{{cite journal |title=Ilkeston United Football Club |journal=Evening Post |date=21 June 1904 |page=4}} At the time, there was no single Cup, but six regional competitions. to 1906–07 and the Derbyshire Senior League in 1907–08, ahead of the Derby County reserve side. At the time the club's crowds were regularly reaching 4,000.{{cite journal |title=Ilkeston United were at peak in palmy days |journal=Derby Evening Telegraph |date=21 November 1951 |page=8}}
The club nearly went out of existence in the late 1920s, and was only kept going by donations from chairman Fred Kenward, a butcher,{{cite journal |title=Soccer was played with salmon tin! |journal=Football Post |date=10 December 1977 |page=7}} who also secured the club admission to the Midland League in 1925; the club also reached the fourth qualifying round of the Cup one more time in 1926–27.
However, after the 1927–28 season, following three seasons of struggling, the club failed re-election{{cite web |title=England - Midland League |url=https://www.rsssf.org/tablese/engmidlandhist.html |website=rsssf.com |access-date=19 March 2025}} NB: club's game erroneously given as Ilkeston Town. and dropped back into the Derbyshire Senior League; an immediate consequence was that in the 1928–29 season the club's gate receipts more than halved to just under £500 - only the transfer of George Robinson to Sunderland, which earned the club £100, ensuring a positive balance.{{cite journal |title=Ilkeston F.C. hint |journal=Evening Telegraph |date=27 August 1929 |page=6}}
Kenward's death in 1931 robbed the club of its chief benefactor.{{cite journal |title=Bolsover show their true form |journal=Football Post |date=26 September 1931 |page=5}} Despite a successful 1931–32 season, which saw the club finish second in the Derbyshire League, the club went bust in July 1932, with four of the committee members being involved in starting up a short-lived phoenix club called simply Ilkeston.{{cite journal |title=New Ilkeston football club |journal=Nottingham Evening Post |date=19 July 1932 |page=5}}
Colours
The club's original colours were red and brown stripes;{{cite journal |title=Riddings |journal=Ripley & Heanor News |date=28 June 1901 |page=2}} by 1910 they were red and blue with white knickers.{{cite journal |title=New blood |journal=Evening Post |date=22 August 1910 |page=7}} In at least 1913–14 they were white shirts with a red V,{{cite web |title=Ilkeston United Football Club |url=https://picturethepast.org.uk/image-library/image-overview/poster/dchq503255/posterid/dchq503255.html |website=Picture The Past |access-date=18 March 2025}} but the red and blue returned after the First World War.{{cite journal |title=M. A. Parsons |journal=Notts Evening Post |date=15 November 1921 |page=5}} In 1926 the club bought a new set of plain red shirts thanks to the sale of raffle tickets.{{cite journal |title=Their new red shirts |journal=Football Post |date=13 March 1926 |page=5}}
Ground
The club played at the Manor Ground,{{cite journal |title=Football notes |journal=Long Eaton Advertiser |date=7 February 1902 |page=3}} inherited from the earlier Ilkeston club.
Former players
:{{further|Category:Ilkeston United F.C. players}}
External links
- [https://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/nlmnet/Aaregs4/DSenL90.html Derbyshire Senior League]