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Author Topic: 1875: The first recorded Villa games  (Read 9720 times)

Offline dave.woodhall

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Re: 1875: The first recorded Villa games
« Reply #15 on: January 01, 2016, 09:38:33 PM »
For those of you interested in our history.  When we first moved into our present ground in March !897 it was known as Aston Lower Grounds. Today I have found an article in the Lancashire Evening Post dated 18th Sept 1897 which states "Aston Lower Grounds the Villa's new home,has been rechristened and will be known in future as Villa Park- a very appropriate name".  That didn't take long then! I bet Joe Dunkley wanted it called Wellington Rd Perry Barr!

That's interesting. Even Simon Inglis in the Villa Park centenary says there was no offical re-naming date so that's a big find.

Their hack must have got this information direct from the club Dave.

Looking at the book, Simon says that the Birmingham Daily Mail referred to "Villa Park" in August 1897 but it doesn't seem to have caught on and the News & Record still used Lower Grounds until 1907.

Offline castlefields_villan

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Re: 1875: The first recorded Villa games
« Reply #16 on: January 02, 2016, 01:19:02 AM »
great to see that in 1875 that we were known as "the Villa"

thanks for posting :)

UTV
The Doc

I know being Aston Villa makes us the most beautifully named club in the world - but I do love it when we are referred to as "The Villa".

Offline Ron Manager

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Re: 1875: The first recorded Villa games
« Reply #17 on: January 03, 2016, 04:38:56 PM »
For those of you interested in our history.  When we first moved into our present ground in March !897 it was known as Aston Lower Grounds. Today I have found an article in the Lancashire Evening Post dated 18th Sept 1897 which states "Aston Lower Grounds the Villa's new home,has been rechristened and will be known in future as Villa Park- a very appropriate name".  That didn't take long then! I bet Joe Dunkley wanted it called Wellington Rd Perry Barr!

That's interesting. Even Simon Inglis in the Villa Park centenary says there was no offical re-naming date so that's a big find.


Their hack must have got this information direct from the club Dave.

Looking at the book, Simon says that the Birmingham Daily Mail referred to "Villa Park" in August 1897 but it doesn't seem to have caught on and the News & Record still used Lower Grounds until 1907.

Ive had a look at the papers for the England V Scotland game in 1899,well nine of them anyway. We have 4 Aston Lower Grounds,2 Villa Parks, 2 Aston Villa Ground and one Aston Ground. I suppose it must be a bit like West Hams ground. I dont know anybody who calls it Boleyn Ground its always been Upton Park.
Anyway it took the club 10 yrs to sort that one out satisfactory!

Offline DeKuip

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Re: 1875: The first recorded Villa games
« Reply #18 on: January 04, 2016, 11:43:39 PM »
Fascinating stuff so thanks for posting the reports and the follow up revelations about when the ground might have become known as it is today. I love it when things like this get uncovered.

Back then Villa Park would have been an unusual name to be given. Most grounds for decades became known by either the area they were in or the road or street they were situated on and which would have been part of the address. I can't think of another ground which included part of the club's name in it until Vale Park 50 or so years later and since then only really the Cardiff City Stadium. There were others before Villa with Park in the name, but Goodison Park was on Goodison Road and Ewood Park was in the Ewood area. I think St James' Park was already the name of the land on which the football was played and then the ground built.

Since becoming known as Villa Park i also don't think our ground has ever really been known has anything else has it by Villa fans? It's been shortened to just 'the Park' and my dad remembers older relatives still referring to it as The Lower Grounds but that's about it as far as I know. "Hall of Memories" was something other clubs fans called it when I was a kid and I'm sure "The Theatre of Sadness" will stick before too long too.

Offline peter w

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Re: 1875: The first recorded Villa games
« Reply #19 on: January 05, 2016, 06:28:05 PM »
For those of you interested in our history.  When we first moved into our present ground in March !897 it was known as Aston Lower Grounds. Today I have found an article in the Lancashire Evening Post dated 18th Sept 1897 which states "Aston Lower Grounds the Villa's new home,has been rechristened and will be known in future as Villa Park- a very appropriate name".  That didn't take long then! I bet Joe Dunkley wanted it called Wellington Rd Perry Barr!

That's interesting. Even Simon Inglis in the Villa Park centenary says there was no offical re-naming date so that's a big find.

Their hack must have got this information direct from the club Dave.

I don't. Think so as the club state that Villa Park was never official but a nickname given to the ground that stuck.

As for the match reports they sound very much like a modern day caricature of how we poke fun of Americans when commentating on football.

Offline MorrisNielson

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Re: 1875: The first recorded Villa games
« Reply #20 on: June 02, 2016, 04:59:34 PM »
Now thereby hangs a tale. The Birmingham Morning News of 16th November 1875 reported on a match that had taken place two days earlier between Aston Villa and Aston Brook St Mary's at Heathfield Rd - mention of this was in issue 10 of Soccer History magazine, winter 2004. Villa won 1-0, the goal being scored by Jack Hughes with a ball that had been hired for the occasion, and it stretches credulity to think that the same teams could play each other twice, particuarly at twelve months interval, with exactly the same outcome so the Aston Brook game can safely be said to have taken place then. The library archives don't have a copy of the BMN for that day so one may no longer exist.

The Aston Unity club (an offshoot of the cricket club of the same name, which still exists) regarded the games in January 1875 as full fixtures, while the Villa were said to be a scratch side drawn from members of the cricket club. The club's early history was, I believe, almost exclusively  catalogued by Hughes so if they/he says the Aston Brook game was the first, who are mere mortals to argue? 
Just thought I’d bump this thread.
I took the liberty in looking up the Birmingham Morning News on the said date and I couldn’t find any reference to that or any other Villa game.
The only football report in the Oct-Dec 1875 period of the BMN was Calthorpe vs Birmingham (no, not that Birmingham).
However, there were a few references to St Mary’s rugby matches.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that the match report doesn’t exist, just not at that particular date in that particular paper.

Offline dave.woodhall

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Re: 1875: The first recorded Villa games
« Reply #21 on: June 04, 2016, 09:54:09 PM »
Now thereby hangs a tale. The Birmingham Morning News of 16th November 1875 reported on a match that had taken place two days earlier between Aston Villa and Aston Brook St Mary's at Heathfield Rd - mention of this was in issue 10 of Soccer History magazine, winter 2004. Villa won 1-0, the goal being scored by Jack Hughes with a ball that had been hired for the occasion, and it stretches credulity to think that the same teams could play each other twice, particuarly at twelve months interval, with exactly the same outcome so the Aston Brook game can safely be said to have taken place then. The library archives don't have a copy of the BMN for that day so one may no longer exist.

The Aston Unity club (an offshoot of the cricket club of the same name, which still exists) regarded the games in January 1875 as full fixtures, while the Villa were said to be a scratch side drawn from members of the cricket club. The club's early history was, I believe, almost exclusively  catalogued by Hughes so if they/he says the Aston Brook game was the first, who are mere mortals to argue? 
Just thought I’d bump this thread.
I took the liberty in looking up the Birmingham Morning News on the said date and I couldn’t find any reference to that or any other Villa game.
The only football report in the Oct-Dec 1875 period of the BMN was Calthorpe vs Birmingham (no, not that Birmingham).
However, there were a few references to St Mary’s rugby matches.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that the match report doesn’t exist, just not at that particular date in that particular paper.

Where did you find that edition?


Offline dave.woodhall

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Re: 1875: The first recorded Villa games
« Reply #23 on: June 04, 2016, 10:09:48 PM »
Dave

You can view it at The British Newspaper Library, St Pancras, Euston Road, London. It’s close to Euston Station.
It’s in their catalogue here (apologies for the long link):

http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01013896659&indx=1&recIds=BLL01013896659&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&dscnt=2&fromLogin=true&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1465073981276&vl%28freeText0%29=birmingham%20morning%20news&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic


That's interesting because the article in question definitely makes reference to that day's newspaper as the focus of the piece.

Offline MorrisNielson

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Re: 1875: The first recorded Villa games
« Reply #24 on: July 09, 2016, 09:12:00 PM »
This seems a good a place as any to drop this into.
One for those you are interested in our formation.



Offline MorrisNielson

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Re: 1875: The first recorded Villa games
« Reply #25 on: July 09, 2016, 09:18:14 PM »

Offline four fornicholl

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Re: 1875: The first recorded Villa games
« Reply #26 on: July 09, 2016, 09:19:48 PM »
Heres my shilling!!Villa for ever

Offline Woofles The Wonder Dog

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Re: 1875: The first recorded Villa games
« Reply #27 on: July 10, 2016, 04:46:06 PM »


That's both brilliant and bizarre (by today's standards). Thank you.

Offline PeterWithesShin

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Re: 1875: The first recorded Villa games
« Reply #28 on: July 10, 2016, 10:11:18 PM »
Superb stuff Morris.

Offline cdbearsfan

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Re: 1875: The first recorded Villa games
« Reply #29 on: July 11, 2016, 09:15:25 AM »
Fantastic stuff. So we now have a rough date of our founding and an exact date for our first game.

Also was it known who scored our first goal before?

 


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