Great Bridge Unity F.C. was an English
association football club from
Great Bridge, then in
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
, now in the
West Midlands county.
History
The Unity first entered competitive football in 1883-84, with an entry for the
Birmingham Senior Cup and the Walsall Cup. In the former, the club lost to Sutton Coldfield in the first round, after two replays. In the latter, the club beat Aston Victoria in the first round, but lost to West Bromwich All Saints in the second.
The club competed in the
FA Cup in the
1887-88 season. In the first round, the Unity was beaten by
Stafford Road F.C.
Stafford Road F.C. was an English association football club founded in 1874, which now defunct. The club was connected to the Stafford Road railway works in Wolverhampton, then-Staffordshire.
History
The club was founded by the works manager C ...
, but the
Football Association
The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world an ...
ordered a replay as only seven of the Stafford Road players were eligible for the tournament. Rather than replay the tie, the Wolverhampton side scratched, and played a friendly against the Unity on the due date (which ended 1-1).
In the second round, the Unity came from 2-1 down to beat
Burton Swifts
Burton Swifts Football Club was a football club based in Burton upon Trent, England. Established in 1871, the club joined the Football League in 1892, remaining members until merging with Burton Wanderers to form Burton United in 1901.
History ...
5-2 away from home. The Unity beat
Birmingham Excelsior
Birmingham Excelsior Football Club was an English football club with a claimed foundation date of 1874.
History
The club emerged from an athletics club founded in 1869, which in turn was related to the Excelsior Works in Birmingham town centre. ...
away in the third but were finally downed by
Bootle in the fourth, amid controversy; the
Sporting Life judged Bootle's winner to have been offside, and the Unity made protests against the eligibility of six Bootle players. By the time the appeal had been heard, Bootle had been knocked out by the
Old Carthusians, and the FA had little appetite for finding in the Unity's favour in such circumstances.
In 1889-90 the club was one of the founders of the Birmingham and District League; it later dropped out but resumed membership of the league for the season of 1891–92, but did not complete the season.
The final reported matches for the club are in the 1895-96 season, in the West Midland League for amateur and reserve clubs.
Colours
The club wore white shirts, although it formally described its colours as black and white.
Records
FA Cup
*Best performance: 4th Round – 1887-88
Dudley Charity Cup
*Winners: 1885-86
Notable players
*
Jack Glover, League champion with
Liverpool
Later clubs
There were various attempts to start a new Great Bridge Unity club, the only one with any longevity being a 1910s incarnation which played in the very low-ranking Hill Top League in Birmingham.
References
Defunct football clubs in England
Defunct football clubs in the West Midlands (county)
Association football clubs established in the 19th century
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