Bilston Town Football Club is a football club based in

Bilston Bilston is a market town, ward, and civil parish located in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is close to the borders of Sandwell and Walsall. The nearest towns are Darlaston, Wednesbury, and Willenhall. Historically in Staffordshi ...

, West Midlands, England. Having played under the names Bilston United, Bilston Borough, Bilston, Bilston Town, Bilston Town (2007) and Bilston Town Community, they are currently members of the and play at Queen Street, Bilston.

History

The club was founded in 1894 as a merger of Bilston Rovers and Bilston Wanderers, and was initially known as Bilston United. In the same year they joined the Walsall & District Junior League.1894–1915 tables
History of Bilston Town F.C. After finishing fourth in their first season, they won the league in 1895–96. The league was renamed the Walsall & District League in 1897 and the club were runners-up in 1898–99. They won the league again in 1900–01 and retained the title the following season, before finishing as runners-up in 1902–03. After finishing third in 1906–07, the club moved up to the

Birmingham Combination The Birmingham Combination was an English football competition for teams in Birmingham and the surrounding areas, which was active from 1892 until 1954. It was founded as the Birmingham & District Junior League, and changed its name in 1908. The ...

, where they finished as runners-up in their first season. Bilston remained in the Combination until the end of the 1920–21 season,Birmingham Combination 1919–1954
Non-League Matters when they joined the Birmingham & District League.Birmingham & District League 1890–1930
Non-League Matters They were runners-up to

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

in 1922–23 and spent the rest of the 1920s in mid-table before finishing second-from-bottom in 1929–30. They left the league at the end of the 1931–32 season,Birmingham & District League 1930–1962
Non-League Matters dropping into the Walsall & District League and changing their name to Bilston Borough.1919–1939 tables
History of Bilston Town F.C. Their first season back in the Walsall & District League saw Bilston win the league title, a feat they repeated in 1935–36, before finishing the 1937–38 season as runners-up. After disbanding in 1939 due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the club was reformed in 1946 under the name Bilston. Rejoining the renamed Walsall Senior, they were champions in 1947–48,Honours
History of Bilston Town F.C. after which they rejoined the Birmingham Combination in 1948, finishing second-from-bottom of the league in 1950–51. They were runners-up in 1953–54, the last season before the league merged into the Birmingham & District League, with Bilston placed in the Northern Division. An eighth-place finish in 1954–55 saw the club placed in Division One the following season. However, after finishing in the bottom four, they were relegated to Division Two. The Division Two title was won at the first attempt, securing Bilston an immediate promotion back to Division One. The league was reduced to a single division in 1960 and the club were champions in 1960–61. In 1962 the league was renamed the

West Midlands (Regional) League The West Midlands (Regional) League is an English association football competition for semi-professional and amateur teams based in the West Midlands county, Shropshire, Worcestershire, southern Staffordshire and northern Herefordshire. It has tw ...

, and when it gained a second division in 1965, Bilston were placed in the Premier Division. In 1968–69 the club reached the first round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

for the first time, losing 3–1 at home to

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

. After finishing as Premier Division runners-up in 1970–71, the 1972–73 season saw Bilston reach the second round of the FA Cup, as well as winning the Premier Division title and the Premier Division Cup; in the FA Cup they defeated Barnstaple Town 2–0 in the first round, before losing 1–0 at home to Barnet in a second round replay. Bilston were Premier Division runners-up the following season and again in 1975–76. Despite finishing bottom of the division in 1979–80 they avoided relegation to Division One. The club was renamed Bilston Town in 1983. They were Premier Division runners-up in 1984–85, earning promotion to the Midland Division of the Southern League. The division was renamed the Western Division in 1999, with the club missing out on promotion to the Premier Division by two points in 2000–01. They finished seventeenth the following season, after which the club resigned from the league, dropping into Division One North of the West Midlands Regional League. The 2002–03 season saw Bilston finish as runners-up in Division One North, after which they were switched to Division One South for the 2003–04 season, and then to Division One in 2004–05 amid league reorganisation. Despite finishing seventh in 2006–07 the club resigned from the league, but after reforming as Bilston Town (2007) they were readmitted to the league and placed in Division Two. The club were Division Two runners up in 2007–08 and promoted to Division One. After finishing as Division One runners-up in

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, earning promotion to the Premier Division. In July 2017 the club were awarded the

Queen's Award for Voluntary Service The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, also known as The Queen's Golden Jubilee Award for Voluntary Service by Groups in the Community and The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Volunteering Award is an annual award given to groups in the voluntary sect ...

. At the end of the 2020–21 season Bilston were transferred to Division One of the

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History T ...

when the Premier Division of the West Midlands (Regional) League lost its status as a step six division.

Ground

Early in the club's history they played at Prouds Lane, using the nearby Spread Eagle pub as their changing room. They moved to Queen Street after in 1919, with the opening game played against Tamworth Castle in the

, with Bilston winning 1–0.Queen Street
History of Bilston Town F.C. Floodlights were installed in 1953 and were first used for a match against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

on 10 March 1953, with a record attendance of 8,000 seeing Wolves win 4–2. The ground's record attendance for a competitive game was set in 1968–69 for the FA Cup first round match against

, when 4,300 spectators attended the game. After over 120 attacks by vandals in five years, the ground was closed in 2007 after it was deemed to be unsafe, with the club having to play on an unenclosed pitch at

Bantock park Bantock House Museum and Park, is a museum of Edwardian life and local history, with of surrounding parkland in Wolverhampton, England. It is named after Alderman Baldwin and Kitty Bantock who once lived there. It is run by Wolverhampton City ...

. In 2008 plans were announced to refurbish and reopen the ground, Work was complete ready for the 2008–09 season, with the club signing a 99-year lease.Football club is going home
Express & Star, 21 August 2008 The Queen Street ground has also been used by Bustleholme, Dudley Town (who shared the ground for a season in the mid-1980s after subsidence caused by old mineworkings led to the closure of their ground), Wolverhampton Wanderers Reserves, Wolverhampton Wanderers Women and Willenhall Town.

Honours

*West Midlands (Regional) League **Champions 1960–61, 1972–73 **Division Two champions 1956–57 **Premier Division League Cup winners 1972–73 **Division One League Cup winners 2003–04 *Walsall & District League **Champions 1895–96, 1900–01, 1901–02, 1932–33, 1935–36, 1947–48 *

Staffordshire Senior Cup The Staffordshire Senior Challenge Cup is a football cup tournament based in the county of Staffordshire in England first competed for in 1877–78. Organised by the Staffordshire Football Association, it is competed for by a mix of clubs from St ...

**Winners 1957–58, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1997–98 *Staffordshire Junior Cup **Winners 1905–06 *Staffordshire FA Challenge Cup **Winners 1921–22, 2002–03 * Walsall Senior Cup **Winners 1968–69, 1971–72, 1972–73Walsall Senior Cup winners
Staffordshire FA *Bilston Charity Cup **Winners 1900–01, 1913–14 *Birmingham Junior Cup **Winners 1895–96 *John Martin Trophy **Winners 2009–10 (joint), 2010–11, 2013–14 (joint) *Rugeley Charity Cup **Winners 1966–67 *Smedley Crooke Memorial Charity Cup **Winners 2017–18 *Staffordshire Junior Cup **Winners 1900–01 *Walsall Charity Cup **Winners 1901–02 *Walsall Hospital Cup **Winners 1900–01, 1901–02 *Walsall Junior/Challenge Cup **Winners 1900–01, 1905–06, 1932–34 (shared), 1934–35, 1935–36, 1946–47, 1947–48, 1948–49 *

Wednesbury Charity Cup The Wednesbury Charity Cup was an early football competition held from 1880 - eight years before the foundation of the Football League - for teams from the West Midlands region of England. The competition was conceived and initiated by Isaak G ...

**Winners 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1984–85 *Willenhall Nursing Institute Cup **Winners 1908–09 *Wolverhampton Charity Cup **Winners 1895–96, 1899–1900, 1900–01, 1903–04

Records

*Best

performance: Second round, 1972–73 *Best FA Trophy performance: Fourth round, 2000–01 *Best FA Vase performance: Quarter-finals, 1992–93 *Record victory: 12–0 vs Norton Wood, 15 February 1936Records
History of Bilston Town F.C. *Record defeat: 19–1 vs Worcester City, 21 November 1931 *Record attendance: 8,000 vs Wolverhampton Wanderers, friendly match, 10 March 1953

References

External links