Wigan United A.F.C. was an association football club existing from around 1896 into the early 1900s, and was based in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

History

The 1900–01 season saw the club in the Lancashire League, and rumours circulating around the town suggested they were going to be a great success playing in the Football League within the year. The opposite turned out to be the case, first match was lost to Southport Central 4–1 and things went from bad to worse with the club finishing in tenth place (out of eleven clubs with Stalybridge Rovers as champions).
One unusual event which occurred during the season was when Wigan United were due to play at Stalybridge Rovers in a Charity Cup match. The pitch was heavy and waterlogged and, in the opinion of the Wigan United team, unplayable. When they refused to play, the referee ordered the Stalybridge team to take the ball down the field and kick it into the empty net, and then awarded them the game Season 1901–02 was much better, Wigan United finishing in third place behind champions

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road, A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to ...

and runner-up Southport Central.
The 1902–03 season was a return to reality with the club almost setting a new record for the Lancashire League by playing for the whole season without winning a game. This was averted in the penultimate game of the season when United recorded a 1–3 success, beating local rivals,

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

, at Rangletts Recreation Ground. The club finished bottom of the twelve team league with Southport Central as champions.
At the end of the season the Lancashire league became, in effect, the Second Division 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 ...

, and the league itself closed. Wigan United did not apply for the new league. It was rumoured that United were to join the Lancashire Alliance League for the 1903/04 season but no record can be found of results from that year. United then went unreported for a number of years as Wigan Town became the main focus of football in the town, but a photograph exists of Wigan United from 1908 and in 1909 the club joined the newly formed Wigan and District Junior Alliance League. A General Meeting was held on 5 September 1909 naming R. Barlow as secretary and treasurer, John Holland as captain and Chris O'Brian as vice-captain. The meeting also announced that the club would once again use the Westwood ground. The club are recorded as playing against Wigan Shops FC on 28 January 1914 No further records of the club are found as football was suspended for the period of World War 1. Although not the first club to reside at Springfield Park, United are the oldest, pre-dating Wigan County by at least one season. It is also possible that the club reformed in 1919 and eventually became

Wigan Borough Wigan Borough Football Club was an English football club from the town of Wigan, Lancashire. their forerunners were Wigan A.F.C., Wigan County, Wigan United and Wigan Town, County and Town having folded. Beginnings According to the Wigan Ob ...

in 1920.

Colours

The club wore green and white quarters.

Grounds

For the first few months of season 1900–01 the club played at the West End Ground
They then played at Springfield Park between November 1900 and December 1902 when the club's lease expired., after which date, all their games were played away from home

League positions

Pos = league position – Pl = games played – W = win – D = draw – L = lost
GF = goals for – GA = goals against – D= goal difference – Pts = points gained
NiL = number of clubs in league

References

External links