Craghead United F.C. was an English

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club based in the village of

Craghead Craghead is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Stanley, in the County Durham district, in the ceremonial county of Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durh ...

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

. The team initially competed in the Chester-le-Street & District Football League. They unsuccessfully applied to enter the

Northern Football Alliance The Northern Football Alliance is a football league based in the North East, England. It has four divisions headed by the Premier Division, which sits at step 7 (or level 11) of the National League System. The top club in the Premier Division i ...

in 1908—receiving no votes from the member clubs—before joining the Northern League in 1912. They finished fifth in both their seasons in the division before leaving the league at the end of the 1913–14 season. Craghead United subsequently submitted another application to the Northern Alliance in 1920 and were accepted into the league along with Backworth United and Hexham Comrades, and the reserve teams of

Ashington Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 27,864 at the 2011 Census. It was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is north of Newcastle upon Tyne, west of the A189 and bordered to the ...

and Durham City. Craghead United entered the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

for the first time in the 1907–08 season, but were defeated in the preliminary round by Leadgate Park. The club enjoyed their best run in the Cup during the 1909–10 campaign, defeating

Crook Town Crook Town Association Football Club is a football club based in Crook, County Durham, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Sir Tom Cowie Millfield. The club won the FA Amateur Cup five times. History Crook Town Football ...

and

Stanley United Stanley United Football Club were an English association football club which participated in the Northern Football League, Northern League from 1910 to 1974. The club also participated in the Wearside Football League, Wearside League from 1988 to ...

before losing to

Seaham Harbour Seaham ( ) is a seaside town in County Durham, England. Located on the Durham Coast, Seaham is situated south of Sunderland and east of Durham. The town grew from the late 19th century onwards as a result of investments in its harbour and ...

in the third qualifying round. Craghead United were knocked out in the second qualifying round on two occasions, but generally struggled to progress past the preliminary stage. During their last five seasons in the FA Cup between 1924 and 1929, the team failed to win a single match.The FA Cup results archive
at thefa.com Despite being an amateur team, Craghead United were represented by several players who also played professional football. Walter Coates, who went on to play for

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

and

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

, and Arthur Thomson, who had a spell at

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

, both spent some of their early careers at the club.

Harry Pringle Henry Pringle (8 April 1900 – 8 January 1965) Access individual season statistics via Season Stats dropdown menu. was an English professional footballer who scored 60 goals from 292 appearances in the Football League playing as a forward for ...

and

Jack Small John Small (7 October 1765 – 21 January 1836)
at the CricketArchive was an English cricke ...

, who both went on to play in the Football League, both started their careers with Craghead United.

FA Cup history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craghead United Defunct football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in County Durham North Eastern League Northern Football Alliance Northern Football League Stanley, County Durham