Oldbury Town Football Club was an

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football club from the Oldbury, then in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

Foundation

The success of the Crosswell's Brewery works side in the 1886–87

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, and the number of people from the town who went to

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

for the latter's home games, led businessmen in Oldbury to consider setting up a side for the town. There were two separate groups; one led by a Mr Morton of the Bell Hotel, which proposed

Brooke Robinson Brooke Robinson (1836–1911) was a British Conservative Party politician, who was MP for Dudley and held a number of public posts including that of County Coroner for Dudley. He also was an art collector and benefactor whose legacy was the Town ...

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for

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

, as the club president, and one led by a Mr Garbett, who proposed renting a ground in Low Town from the Chance Brothers firm. The latter organization won out and Benjamin Hingley, MP for Oldbury's constituency of North Worcestershire, accepted a role as President.

History

The club immediately entered the FA Cup in its own right, although there was some confusion in the media, listing the club's entry as under the name of Crosswells; the support for the latter club seems to have transferred to the more inclusive Oldbury. In the first round the club was drawn against Aston Villa, and a 4–0 home defeat against the Cup holders was not disgraceful in the circumstances; indeed Town kept the score to two until the last ten minutes, and had a goal disallowed. The club also got to the quarter-finals of the

Birmingham Senior Cup The Birmingham Senior Cup is a football competition for Birmingham County FA club teams, organised by the Birmingham County Football Association. It began in 1876 and is the oldest county cup competition still active. The Birmingham Senior Cup is ...

, only losing 2–0 to

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. In 1888–89 the club beat

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

4-1 in the third round but lost to

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

in the last sixteen. At the close of the season however the club lost captain Bradbury to Birmingham St George's. Despite this promising start, the club had been founded too late to be a success; with established clubs all around them, Town, lacking the track record to join a national league, joined the Birmingham and District League instead. Although a top three side in the first two seasons, by 1897 the club was struggling to compete. The club's final league season was in the Birmingham Junior League in 1906–07, in which the club won precisely one match; its final game, against Bournville Athletic. The club was not re-elected and seems to have wound up, although a new club, Oldbury F.C., was formed in 1915. This club, which played at the old Town ground, and also wore blue, was often called Oldbury Town.

Colours

The club played in light and dark blue.

References

{{Reflist Association football clubs established in 1887 Defunct football clubs in the West Midlands (county)