‘Russia is a riddle wrapped inside a mystery inside an enigma’ Churchill’s famous quotation could serve for a description of the elusive, enigmatic, irritatingly private, Wellington football club.
Much as we would love to nail their colours to a flagpole in the beer garden of one of Sheffield’s most atmospheric and heritage rich pubs, The ‘Welly’ in Shalesmoor (the shared moor) and place a plaque on the site of the oldest football team in the world to come from a public house, all we have is a potential link between the club and Houndsfield (sometimes spelt Hounsfield park) Its home ground according to the football annuals-although it is mostly identified as Clough Bank in match reports.
The best thing about Wellington FC is their pink and white kit. They were generally undistinguished on the pitch and probably the least likely team to win the Youdan Cup. Wellington were swiftly erased by Milton 5-0 at the orphanage. Undaunted, the ‘Wellingtonians’ as they called themselves, entered the Cromwell cup in 1868, exiting in four rouges to nil defeat to Garrick. Wellington were formed in 1866 and membership peaked in 1869 at 280. Reports are thin on the ground, and Wellington do not offer any references to passing, positional play or tactical innovation.
Given the geographical location of the merchants and factory owners linked to the club the most likely affiliation is with Wellington Road. The ‘club house’ in 1867 is George Wilkinson’s confectioners on the Moor. The ‘confectioners’ also served wine. ‘Wellingtonian’ is an appellation normally applied to alumni of Wellington school in Somerset but is unlikely that Sheffield could muster enough old boys to form a team.
There does not appear to any link between the old Wellington pub in Darnall and the Wellington, despite the Darnall pub being associated with cricket and the later formation of a Darnall Wellington football club rules out any link with the Youdan Wellington. The Wellington was also an earlier name of the old Hillsborough hotel. Wellington’s demise may have been accelerated by an ambitious attempt at organising a financially unsuccessful athletics event at Bramall Lane in 1869.
Help with solving the mystery of the club’s origins appreciated.
