football in eccleshall - the early years

With Stafford Rangers being formed in the late 1870’s and Stone Town in 1888 it is probable that football was played in Eccleshall in the last decade of the 19th century although “Victorian Eccleshall” published in 1982 makes no mention of sport. Any early games would, however have been friendlies only as the major local league the Stone, Stafford and District League was not formed until 1903.

By 1908 an Eccleshall Town team was in Division Two of the Stafford and District League but the most successful of the pre-1971  (when the current Eccleshall Football Club was formed) clubs, was Eccleshall Comrades. They were formed in 1918 and were probably based at the Comrades of the Great War Society in Gas Works Lane. Their initial season saw them playing friendlies locally with their first recorded result being a 6-1 win at Gnosall on September 20th 1918. However Gnosall won the return 4-3, one of only two defeats for the Comrades that term. Three games were played over Christmas and in the second ( versus Chance and Hunt at home, drew 2-2) and in the third (versus Chebsey and Norton Bridge at home, won 3-2) the Reverend K.R.G. Hunt appeared (pictured left).

In February 1919, Stafford Juniors (the only other team to defeat the Comrades) were defeated 8-3 and in April Stone Comrades were beaten 7-1. The results of the 25 games were reported and the final record was won 16, drawn 7 and lost 2, goals for 83 and against 31. Not all the scorers were recorded but the leading scorers were Lowe 14, Jones 13 and Smith 7. On March 27th the first team played the reserves and won 5-1, the scorer for the reserves being G. Kinnersley junior. This was the only reported game for the reserves and this may have been a one off. (Dale Kinnersley - related - was a player with Eccleshall 1993-2006).

An unusual incident occurred when Stone Christ Church were defeated 5-0. The game ended 10 minutes early when first one ball burst, the another and there were no more available.

The final game of the seaon was on April 17th at home to Crewe St Barnabas’s and the line-up was :-

W.Mellor, Jack Kinnersley, F. Yoxall, Gallagher, O. Shenton, F. Clutterham, D. Pronfold, Reg Simkin, Fred Lowe, Rupert Jones, W. Smith.

Simkin scored the only goal of the game. Other teams played that season were Stone Congregational, Woodseaves Institute, Standon, Littleworth St Johns, Royal Field Arillery (Stafford), Crewe Wanderers and Stafford Railway Institute.

The comrades won the Stafford & District Divison 2 Championship in 1925-26. A team which included Herbert Ryles (pictured right with his medal).

 eccleshall football club - a brief history from 1971

Eccleshall Football Club was reformed in 1971 and nicknamed the Eagles.

The club’s meeting place was the George and Dragon, Eccleshall and whose landlord the late Mr. M. Beale led the first committee.

At that time the team was made up of locals and staff from the Eccleshall Secondary School which also provided training and playing facilities. The club was called Eccleshall Old Boys Football Club.

In 1974 the team won their first trophies, the Mid-Staffs 3rd Division Cup and were also runners-up in that division, gaining promotion to Division 2.

In 1976 they won the 2nd Division Cup in the same league. Interest grew and a second team was formed at the end of the 1975-76 season, ready for the following season. Old Boys was dropped from the club’s name.

In 1979 the first team joined the Staffordshire County League (North) and a third team was formed. With this came the problem of pitches to play on.

In 1981 after much hard fund raising and with the help of grants and a loan a four acre field was purchased at Pershall. In the same year the first team moved into the Premier Division. Work began converting it into a football ground.

In 1982 a building was purchased from British Telecom and with lots of hard work during that and the following year on the building, car park and the pitch, the ground was ready. The ground was christened Pershall Park.

In 1983 a small covered area was put up commonly known as ‘The Shed’.