Spalding United Football Club is a

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

Spalding, Lincolnshire Spalding () is a market town on the River Welland in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. The town had a population of 31,588 at the 2011 census. The town is the administrative centre of the South Holland District. The town is ...

, England. The club are currently members of the and play at the Sir Halley Stewart Field.

History

The club was established in 1905 when Fulney Institute and Victoria merged.Spalding United’s centenary
South Holland Heritage Their first match was a 3–1 defeat at Stamford. The club joined the Peterborough & District League and were champions in 1930–31. They then stepped up to the Northamptonshire League, which became the United Counties League in 1934. Prior to World War 1 the club played under the banner of Spalding United having merged in 1905/06 with Fulney Institute following a failed merger with then arch rivals Spalding Town, prior to this the club was known as Spalding Victoria. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

they won the

Lincolnshire Senior B Cup Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire an ...

in 1950–51 and the Senior A Cup in 1952–53. In 1954 they applied to join the

Eastern Counties League The Eastern Counties Football League, currently known as the Thurlow Nunn League for sponsorship purposes, is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suff ...

, but were rejected after a vote. However, the following season they won the UCL for the first time, also winning the League Cup and were accepted into the ECL. In 1960 they switched to the

Central Alliance The Central Alliance was a football league in England, covering the East Midlands. History The league was established in 1911 with twelve clubs, most of which had previously been members of the Notts & Derbyshire League; Derby County Reserve ...

, before joining the

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History T ...

the following season. After finishing bottom in 1967–68 they returned to the UCL. During this period they twice reached the first round of the

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 ...

, losing 3–1 at Durham City in 1957–58 and 5–3 at Newport County in 1964–65. They won the UCL in 1974–75 and after several successive top-four finishes, rejoined the Midland League in 1978. They finished fourth in 1981–82, so were placed in the Premier Division of the

Northern Counties East League The Northern Counties East Football League is a semi-professional English football league. It has two divisions – Premier Division and Division One – which stand at the ninth and tenth levels of the football pyramid respectively. History T ...

when it was formed by a merger of the Midland League and the Yorkshire League in 1982. They won the first ever NCEL title with a 1–0 win on the final day of the season. After internal disputes within the NCEL related to the

miners' strike Miners' strikes are when miners conduct strike actions. See also * List of strikes References {{Reflist Miners A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are tw ...

, Spalding rejoined the UCL in 1986 and were champions in 1987–88, resulting in promotion to the Midland Division of the Southern League. After finishing bottom in 1990–91 they returned to the UCL. After a narrow escape from

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

in the early 1990s the club won the UCL Cup in 1994–95 and the Premier Division in 1998–99.Mike Blakeman (2010) ''The Official History of the Eastern Counties Football League 1935–2010, Volume II'' They were promoted back to the Southern League, but again struggled. Despite finishing bottom in 2000–01 the club avoided relegation as other clubs resigned. However, they finished second from bottom in 2002–03 and were relegated again. After a fifth UCL title in 2003–04 they were promoted to Division One of the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

. They were transferred to the Midland Division of the Southern League in 2006 but moved back to the NPL a year later to join Division One South. In 2009–10 they finished in the relegation places but avoided demotion due to clubs transferring between leagues. However, they finished bottom of the following season and were relegated back to the UCL. The club started the 2013–14 season Premier Division season by winning seventeen games in a row, a league record. The run ended on 14 December 2013 when they lost at home to

AFC Rushden & Diamonds A.F.C. Rushden & Diamonds is an English football club based in Rushden in Northamptonshire. They played their opening season at Kiln Park, the home of Raunds Town, in 2011–12 and subsequently shared the Dog & Duck ground with Wellingboroug ...

. The club went on to win the league, earning promotion to First Division South of the Northern Premier League.

Ground

The club initially played on several different pitches in Clay Lake, Fulney, Love Lane and Black Swan Field, with the latter eventually becoming the club's permanent home ground. In 1954 it was renamed after

Halley Stewart Sir Halley Stewart (18 January 1838 – 26 January 1937) was an English businessman, journalist, philanthropist and Liberal Party politician who sat as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1887 to 1895 and again from 1906 to 1910. Family and educati ...

, a local MP. After

the club spent a season playing at a temporary ground in nearby Low Fulney. The record attendance of 6,972 was set in 1952 for an FA Cup qualifying match against

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

Honours

*Northern Counties East League **Premier Division champions 1982–83 *United Counties League **Premier Division champions 1954–55, 1974–75, 1987–88, 1998–99, 2003–04, 2013–14 **League Cup winners 1954–55, 1994–95 *Peterborough & District League **Champions 1930–31 *Lincolnshire Senior A Cup **Winners 1952–53 *Lincolnshire Senior B Cup **Winners 1950–51

Club records

*Best league performance: 6th in Southern League Midlands Division, 1989–90 *Best

performance: First round proper, 1957–58, 1964–65 *Best

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

performance: Third round, 1999–2000 *Best

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

performance: Quarter-finals, 1989–90, 1996–97

References

External links

* {{coord, 52, 47, 24.047, N, 0, 9, 9.126, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Football clubs in England Football clubs in Lincolnshire Association football clubs established in 1905 United Counties League Eastern Counties Football League Northern Counties East Football League Southern Football League clubs Northern Premier League clubs 1905 establishments in England Spalding, Lincolnshire