Club History - History 1
Although it was 1933 before the name Boston United first appeared, football had been played in the town since the late 1800s and, indeed, always on the same site as the present York Street stadium. The first time that a team from Boston entered the FA Cup was in 1887. In the first round they were drawn against Gainsborough Trinity and were soundly thrashed 7-0. Those early years saw some spectacular defeats in the FA Cup, including a 9-0 defeat at Lincoln City in 1890 and in the following season Grimsby Town went one better to notch up a 10-0 win.
By the start of the First World War there were two clubs in Boston, Boston Town, whose headquarters were "The Coach and Horses" and Boston Swifts, who used "The Indian Queen" as their HQ. In fact, as both the public houses were situated on "Main Ridge" and the pitch was virtually just opposite, it wasn't surprising that for the first 40 years or so that was what the ground was called. A small stand was erected in the early 1900s but other than that there were no other facilities, and the teams changed at the back of the appropriate pub! Both teams were members of the Lincoln and District League.
After the First World War only one club, called simply Boston, emerged. After winning the Lincoln and District League in successive seasons, in 1921 the club joined the Midland League as a semi-professional side. In 1925 it went on to achieve the first Boston giant-killing in the FA Cup by beating the then-powerful Football League club Bradford Park Avenue 1-0 in the second round. The club was also achieving respectable positions in the Midland League, being runners up in 1924-25, behind Mansfield Town and again in 1926-27 behind Scunthorpe United. Both Mansfield and Scunthorpe were non-league sides at this time.
With entrances and dressing rooms at the west end, the ground was now known as "Shodfriars Lane." At the end of the 1932-33 season, the directors of Boston FC decided to wind up the club and they took the company into liquidation. Lack of success had meant that the club was not bringing in sufficient funds to make continuation of the Midland League side financially viable. It was proposed to keep football present in the town by running an amateur team in the Peterborough League. However, on July 3, a group of Boston FC supporters held a meeting in the Friendly Societies Hall to discuss an alternative proposal; to form a new club, to be called Boston United, that would take the place of Boston FC in the Midland League. There was enough support for the new proposal, so the new club was born and began playing in the summer of 1933. It was able to replace Boston FC in the Midland League and the Lincolnshire League, but was unable to get agreement from the FA in time to take over Boston's entry to the FA Cup for the upcoming season. The new club was also able to play on the Shodfriars Lane ground. For the first few games of the season they wore the blue strip of the old Boston side, but after a month they switched to black shirts with a white V-neck as they found that the blue shirts tended to fade and were looking untidy.
In January 1934, Ernest Malkinson, a local entertainment entrepreneur, was elected to the board. For most of the next 70 years, the Malkinson family, owners of the Gliderdrome bingo and dance hall, were one of the driving forces behind Boston United as the club established themselves as a major semi-professional side. In 1936, a player who is arguably the most famous to ever pull on a United shirt joined the club. It was Freddy Tunstall, the former Sheffield United and England winger. He had made seven appearances for England between 1923 and 1925 and was England captain for matches against Canada and France. He had also scored the only goal in the 1925 FA Cup Final when Sheffield United beat Cardiff City at Wembley Stadium in front of 91,763 fans. Tunstall was soon appointed as player-manager at Boston and went on to become the longest-serving manager in the club's history with a total of almost nine seasons in charge to his credit.
By the start of the First World War there were two clubs in Boston, Boston Town, whose headquarters were "The Coach and Horses" and Boston Swifts, who used "The Indian Queen" as their HQ. In fact, as both the public houses were situated on "Main Ridge" and the pitch was virtually just opposite, it wasn't surprising that for the first 40 years or so that was what the ground was called. A small stand was erected in the early 1900s but other than that there were no other facilities, and the teams changed at the back of the appropriate pub! Both teams were members of the Lincoln and District League.
After the First World War only one club, called simply Boston, emerged. After winning the Lincoln and District League in successive seasons, in 1921 the club joined the Midland League as a semi-professional side. In 1925 it went on to achieve the first Boston giant-killing in the FA Cup by beating the then-powerful Football League club Bradford Park Avenue 1-0 in the second round. The club was also achieving respectable positions in the Midland League, being runners up in 1924-25, behind Mansfield Town and again in 1926-27 behind Scunthorpe United. Both Mansfield and Scunthorpe were non-league sides at this time.
With entrances and dressing rooms at the west end, the ground was now known as "Shodfriars Lane." At the end of the 1932-33 season, the directors of Boston FC decided to wind up the club and they took the company into liquidation. Lack of success had meant that the club was not bringing in sufficient funds to make continuation of the Midland League side financially viable. It was proposed to keep football present in the town by running an amateur team in the Peterborough League. However, on July 3, a group of Boston FC supporters held a meeting in the Friendly Societies Hall to discuss an alternative proposal; to form a new club, to be called Boston United, that would take the place of Boston FC in the Midland League. There was enough support for the new proposal, so the new club was born and began playing in the summer of 1933. It was able to replace Boston FC in the Midland League and the Lincolnshire League, but was unable to get agreement from the FA in time to take over Boston's entry to the FA Cup for the upcoming season. The new club was also able to play on the Shodfriars Lane ground. For the first few games of the season they wore the blue strip of the old Boston side, but after a month they switched to black shirts with a white V-neck as they found that the blue shirts tended to fade and were looking untidy.
In January 1934, Ernest Malkinson, a local entertainment entrepreneur, was elected to the board. For most of the next 70 years, the Malkinson family, owners of the Gliderdrome bingo and dance hall, were one of the driving forces behind Boston United as the club established themselves as a major semi-professional side. In 1936, a player who is arguably the most famous to ever pull on a United shirt joined the club. It was Freddy Tunstall, the former Sheffield United and England winger. He had made seven appearances for England between 1923 and 1925 and was England captain for matches against Canada and France. He had also scored the only goal in the 1925 FA Cup Final when Sheffield United beat Cardiff City at Wembley Stadium in front of 91,763 fans. Tunstall was soon appointed as player-manager at Boston and went on to become the longest-serving manager in the club's history with a total of almost nine seasons in charge to his credit.
RSS Feeds