Kilnhurst 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

Kilnhurst Kilnhurst is a village in South Yorkshire, England, on the banks of the River Don and the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation. It grew up around the coal mining, ceramics, glass, brick-making and locomotive industries; none of these ind ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

History

The club was founded in 1877, its first competitive football coming in the Hallamshire Cup in 1880–81. The club had a successful 1890–91 season, winning the Sheffield & District League, going through the season unbeaten at home, and only losing 2 of its 14 league matches and finishing the season with nearly £8 cash in hand. It had a fierce rivalry with

Mexborough Mexborough is a town in the City of Doncaster, City of Doncaster District, South Yorkshire, England, between Manvers and Denaby Main, on the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don close to where it joins the River Dearne, and the A6023 road. It is co ...

, one match in 1893 at Kilnhurst resulting in criminal proceedings, as when a fight broke out between players, a spectator climbed over a 2' 6" wire fence to join in, and provoked a general mêlée that took 20 minutes to clear; the original spectator was fined 10s . A home

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 ...

tie with

Sheffield F.C. Sheffield Football Club is an English association football, football club, currently based in Dronfield, Derbyshire. They compete in the , on the eighth level of the English football league system, English football pyramid. Founded in October ...

in 1896 attracted a crowd of 2,000 to their home ground. The club was defunct by 1898, and did not play any fixtures in the 1898–99 season; the club committee still existed and tried to raise funds to pay off debts, with a view to re-starting in 1899 free from debt, but the attempt was unsuccessful, and a fresh club started up in 1902.

League and cup history

Colours

The club played in black and yellow striped shirts, hence the club being nicknamed the Wasps; however such was its financial state that it did not have a regular change kit, having to borrow from other clubs when there was a clash - on one occasion, when no such change was available, the players wore "divers colours and patterns, generally speaking old-fashioned and faded".

Ground

The club's ground was a field rented from William Henry Barton, of the Station Inn, who threatened to evict the club in 1892 on the basis that the club was skimming some of the admission takings to which he was entitled. The ground was sparse, with no grandstand or facilities, notable only for a chip shop at the entrance.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Defunct football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in South Yorkshire Sheffield & District Football League Sheffield Association League Association football clubs disestablished in 1899 Association football clubs established in 1877