Hitchin Football Club was an English professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842. History Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce peopl ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. Formed in 1865 and based at

Top Field Hitchin Town Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. They are currently members of the . Founded in 1865 and known as 'The Canaries', Hitchin Town have been based at Top Field since their ...

, Hitchin took part in the inaugural FA Cup competition in 1871–72. Turning professional early in the twentieth century, financial worries were compounded by a fire at Top Field in 1911. The club folded soon after.

History

Hitchin Football Club was formed in October 1865 and spent their formative years mainly using Dog Kennel Farm on Charlton Road, Hitchin as their home ground. A brief one-season spell at The Cricket Ground, Hitchin followed, where it's believe they played their inaugural FA Cup fixture. Ahead of the 1872/73 season, the club moved to the Bedford Road Ground - later known as

. During the aforementioned FA Cup fixture it is known that in "torrential rain", Hitchin held Crystal Palace to a 0–0 draw on the first day of the inaugural FA Cup competition on 11 November 1871. Both clubs were allowed through, and Hitchin lost 5–0 to the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

in the next round. The initial fixture versus Crystal Palace was one of the first two FA Cup fixtures to take place. The match in

kicked off at 15:00. Newspaper reports show that the Maidenhead vs Marlow fixture was due to kick-off at 14:30, but was delayed until 15:20, and that the Upton Park vs Clapham Rovers fixture started at 15:30. Hitchin's ground at Top Field acquired a proud

grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap a ...

during the late 19th century, although the players were still obliged to change at The Cricketers public house across the street. The side turned professional around the turn of the century, but this was an economic folly. To make matters worse, the great grandstand burnt down in 1911. Debt-ridden, with no grandstand and little success, the club limped along until finally folding during

the First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. This Club is not to be confused with Hitchin Blue Cross who also played in the Town at this time (frequently against Hitchin). They were founded as Hitchin Blue Cross Brigade in the late 1890s and were founder members of the Herts County League in 1898–99. They changed their name to Hitchin Blue Cross in 1902 and played in the Herts County League until 1924. They were twice runners-up in the

Herts Senior Cup The Herts Senior Cup, officially titled the Hertfordshire County Football Association Senior Challenge Cup, is the oldest County-based football Cup competition based exclusively in Hertfordshire, England. It was first contested in the 1886-87 se ...

in 1906–07 and 1920–21 and won it in 1922–23.

Hitchin Town Football Club Hitchin Town Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. They are currently members of the . Founded in 1865 and known as 'The Canaries', Hitchin Town have been based at Top Field since their fo ...

were formed in 1928 and are generally seen as the successor to the original club and still play at Top Field.

Colours

The club's colours were originally given as chocolate and magenta, and from 1869 as black and magenta, probably in hoops.Charles Alcock Yearbooks 1870 to 1875

References

;General * * * {{Authority control Hitchin Town F.C. Association football clubs established in 1865 Defunct football clubs in Hertfordshire Hitchin Defunct football clubs in England Association football clubs disestablished in 1915 1865 establishments in England 1915 disestablishments in England