Halliwell 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 Halliwell, in north-west

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

History

The club was an early member of the

Lancashire Football Association The Lancashire County Football Association, also known simply as the Lancashire FA, is the governing body of football within the historical county boundaries of Lancashire, England. They are responsible for the governance and development of foot ...

and took part in the first

Lancashire Senior Cup The Lancashire County Football Association Cup (commonly known as the Lancashire Senior Cup) is an association football knockout tournament involving teams from Lancashire, England. It is a County Cup competition of the Lancashire County Footbal ...

in 1879. The club first took part in 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 ...

in 1882-83, winning 3–2 at

Great Lever Great Lever is a suburb of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is south of Bolton town centre and the same distance north of Farnworth. The district is served by frequent buses runnin ...

in the first round in front of over 4,000 spectators, in something of a shock result, as the Leverites had brought in Alf Jones and Evans from Walsall Swifts to boost their squad.

Professionalism

For the 1883–84 season, the club sought players "from all over Lancashire", and had invested nearly £300 into making the ground "one of the best in Lancashire". These suggest that the club had turned professional, along with many other clubs from the county, backed by the local factories; Halliwell had patronage from a blue manufacturer, W. Edge & Sons. This caused problems for the club in competitions, because it was effectively barred from fielding its best players, as professionals were banned from them until 1885 and after then residency requirements sometimes stopped them from taking part. The club changed almost its entire playing roster for 1884–85, only four players being carried over, and importing 5 players from

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Kilmarnock Athletic, plus two from

Eagley Eagley is a village of the unparished area of South Turton, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it lies on southern slopes of the West Pennine Moors. Eagley Brook passes through ...

. This enabled the club to field a first-class eleven in friendlies, but many of the players were ineligible for Cup competitions. Halliwell lost in the first round of the 1884-85, in a considerable surprise, to

Lower Darwen Lower Darwen is a village in the unitary borough of Blackburn with Darwen, contiguous with the town of Darwen, in the county of Lancashire. It is located between the towns of Blackburn and Darwen. Nearby places include Ewood and Blackamoor. It ...

; amongst Halliwell's earlier results that season was a 20–0 win at Southport Wanderers, on the same day as Lower Darwen were losing 5–0 to Preston Zingari. However the lack of Halliwell's star players reduced the attendance to a mere 50. By 1885, the club was employing seven Scottish players - more than anyone in England other than

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

and

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

. The club also had a deal in principle to sign

Frank Sugg Frank Howe Sugg (11 January 1862 – 29 May 1933) was an English footballer and first-class cricketer. He played for England in two Test matches in 1888 and for three county cricket clubs – Yorkshire in 1883, Derbyshire from 1884 to 1886 and L ...

, but Burnley gazumped Halliwell for his signature, with Sugg being paid to be club secretary. In the 1885-86 FA Cup, the club was drawn against Fishwick Ramblers of Preston in the first round, and was initially suspended from the competition for fielding an Astley Bridge player in a friendly match without permission. However, on appeal, the FA lifted the suspension, and Halliwell won the tie 2–1, despite the FA's rules on professional eligibility requiring Halliwell to field mostly a reserve team. The same eligibility rules seemed to have cost the club in the second round, its reserves losing 3–1 at

Hurst Hurst may refer to: Places England * Hurst, Berkshire, a village * Hurst, Cumbria, a location * Hurst, Dorset, a location * Hurst, Greater Manchester, a location * Hurst, North Yorkshire, a hamlet * Hurst, Somerset, a settlement within the vi ...

, but Halliwell's protest against the size of the Hurst pitch was upheld and a replay ordered. Rather than attend the replay, Hurst scratched, but it was a stay of execution for the Halliwellians, as a side which "consisted almost entirely of second eleven youngsters" lost 6–1 to South Shore, in front of a "mere handful" of spectators. In the 1886–87 FA Cup the club was drawn away to Cup holders

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

in the first round; the Rovers had adopted professionalism before any of the other Lancashire clubs (other than Darwen F.C.) and had a considerable advantage from both the head-start and their players being grandfathered into the residency requirements. Halliwell, forced to drop six of their best players because of the regulations, scratched from the tie, and played the match as a friendly instead. The ability of the Halliwell full-strength side was shown by the Halliwellians managing a 3–3 draw against the Rovers.

1887-88 FA Cup

Halliwell's FA Cup run in 1887-88 involved two protests, one against the club, and one which did not involve the club at all, but could have affected it. Halliwell beat

Liverpool Stanley Liverpool Stanley was a semi-professional rugby league club from Liverpool, England. It was renamed Liverpool City in 1951, but was otherwise unrelated to the Liverpool City (1906) (rugby league), original Liverpool club of the same name. The c ...

in the first round, going in at half-time 1–0 down, but a tactical switch for the second half - left-winger Weir swapping places with centre-forward Mullin, which forced Stanley to withdraw midfielder Goodall to cover him - saw Halliwell rattle in five without reply. In the second round, the club easily beat Astley Bridge. The Bridgeites protested that Halliwell's Hewitson was not qualified to play for Halliwell. Halliwell attended the hearing with Hewitson's birth certificate, the FA dismissed the protest, and ordered Astley Bridge to pay 2

guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...

and Halliwell's expenses. In the third round, the club was drawn to play

. Preston had beaten Everton in the second round. However,

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

, who had lost to Everton in the first round, had protested about Everton's players. The FA permitted Everton to play in the second round despite the protest. Preston duly beat Halliwell in the third round, but the Bolton protest was then upheld, retrospectively disqualifying Everton from the first round and making Preston's second round win over Everton null and void. Technically, this meant that the Preston-Halliwell tie was also a nullity, and the FA sent a telegram to Deepdale before the match stating that the game should be a friendly, but Sudell of Preston arranged with the FA that the match should still stand as a Cup tie, with Preston willing to play Bolton Wanderers should the Bolton protest be upheld. Given Halliwell had lost 10–1 to Preston in a friendly shortly before the tie, there was no protest from Halliwell as to this arrangement.

The search for a league

The club was not one of those invited to join the initial

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

, given that Bolton Wanderers had been invited to represent the town, even though Wanderers secretary John Bentley suggested that Halliwell be invited. Halliwell therefore became one of the members of

The Combination The Combination was a league during the early days of English football. It had two incarnations; the first ran only for the 1888–89 season for teams across Northern England and the Midlands, and was disbanded before completion. The second ...

, although that attempt at a league struggled, with confusion over the fixtures, and the season fizzled out uncompleted. At the time the competition was abandoned, Halliwell had a mid-table record of 6 wins, 2 draws, and 5 defeats. In the aftermath of this competition, a number of clubs decided to form a more regular competition, the

Football Alliance The Football Alliance was an association football league in England which ran for three seasons, from 1889–90 to 1891–92. History In 1888, the same year the Football League was founded, The Combination was established by clubs who had been ...

, for the 1889–90 season. Halliwell applied for membership but was one of three clubs which lost out in the vote. The club did not apply for membership of the Alliance again and instead was one of the 11 clubs which founded the

Midland Football League The Midland Football League, officially known as the Capelli Sport Midland Football League since January 2025 for sponsorship reasons, is an England, English association football, football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the form ...

, with representation on the committee. However, the club reconsidered its stance, and in May decided not to take part. Without a league, the club was struggled, with the leagues taking away lucrative friendlies for the club; in April 1890 the club was even suspended for two weeks for playing a

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

player without permission. The club's final appearance in the FA Cup proper, in 1890-91, proved disastrous. After being drawn at home to

The Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

, the club decided to forgo home advantage in return for "a considerable pecuniary consideration" from the Yorkshire side. The decision was a mistake on two grounds. Firstly, on the same day,

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

was playing

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall ...

, which attracted a crowd of 10,000, with only 1,000 turning up to Owlerton; secondly, with home advantage, The Wednesday ran riot, scoring twice in the first ten minutes, five in the first half, and twelve by the end of the match. With league football proving to be a success around the country, the club was a founder member of the

Lancashire Combination The Lancashire Combination was a football league founded in the North West of England in 1891–92. It absorbed the Lancashire League in 1903. In 1968 the Combination lost five of its clubs to the newly formed Northern Premier League. In 1982 i ...

in 1891. The degradation of Halliwell's status, and the change the

had wrought, was shown by the Combination being primarily for the benefit of the reserve sides of the clubs Halliwell had been playing as equals a few years before. Even this level was far too strong for the club, and in April 1892, having lost every match played (the last being a 4–0 loss at Royton on 2 April), the club announced that it could no longer fulfil its fixtures; the League therefore expelled the club and expunged its results.

End of the club

By 1892, Halliwell's financial state was such that other clubs played friendly matches to raise money for the club. The club's last FA Cup campaign was in 1892–93, beating West Manchester F.C. in the preliminary qualifying round, helped considerably by West having a Lancashire League match on the same day, which took priority, and Halliwell squeezed past West's reserves 4–3. The club went to

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

for the first qualifying round, losing 4–0, but successfully protested about the state of the Stockport pitch. However the club lost the replayed tie 4-2 and no more is heard of the club; a junior club, Halliwell Rovers, eventually stepped up to represent the borough at senior level.

Colours

The club's original colours were navy blue jerseys, white knickers, and blue & white hose. By 1882–83, the club was wearing white jerseys, and at the start of the 1884–85 season, the club's "new dress" was black and gold stripes, described as "waspish". The club donned a new set of yellow and black jerseys in January 1887, which gave the side the appearance of "bilious spiders". In 1888 the club changed to "jerseys of pure white", originally with "dark" knickers, but from 1889 white knickers. The old "spider" shirts were retained as a change kit.

Ground

The club's ground was The Bennetts, one and a half miles from Bolton Station, or from Oaks Station. The ground was better known outside Lancashire as the Halliwell Cricket Ground.

Notable players

Records

*Best

performance: 3rd Round, 1885–86, 1887–88

References

{{Reflist Defunct football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in Greater Manchester Defunct football clubs in Lancashire Association football clubs established in 1877 Association football clubs disestablished in 1893