Wigan County F.C.

Infobox Football club
clubname = Wigan County
fullname = Wigan County Football Club
nickname = County
shortname =
founded = 1897
dissolved = 1900
ground = "Springfield Park"
capacity = "30,000 (approx)"
league = Lancashire League

Wigan County F.C was the first attempt to establish a football club to represent Wigan. They were the first football team to play their games at Springfield Park and would be followed by Wigan Town, Wigan United and Wigan Borough.

Wigan County (1897-1900)

Wigan County were formed in May 1897, and were accepted into the Lancashire League. The club pulled off something of a coup, signing former Everton goalkeeper Robert Menham, and announced their ambitions to play in the Football League.

The first match was played on the 25th August 1897, with the club letting the supporters in for free, the intention being to raise the club's profile. The second game was played in atrocious weather conditions, but still attracted a crowd of over 3,000.

The first recorded game was on Wednesday 1st September 1897, at Springfield Park. 1,500 people braved the awful conditions that persisted in Wigan for the last month or so, to see County draw 1-1 with Burton Swifts. The club's first Lancashire League game was against Southport Central, a game in which they won 5-1 in front of a crowd of 4000. Admission prices where considered to be steep, costing 4d and 8d.

County made a bid to join the football league in 1898, not expecting to be accepted. They weren't, but they managed to receive seven votes whereas Coventry City, a club much bigger than County, received none.

County And The Cups

In County's first F.A. Cup run, they qualified for the first round proper by beating Fleetwood Ramblers 1-0, Hunt Ramblers 4-3, Blackburn Park Road 2-1 and Nelson 3-1. County drew Manchester City, who at the time played in the old Football League Division Two, at Ardwick. The game took place on the 28th January 1898 and City won 1-0, courtesy of a goalkeeping error. Playing for county that day was Jack Gordon, who scored the first ever football league goal for Preston against Blackburn in 1888. He also played in the match that saw the highest recorded number of goals in an F.A cup game, as Preston dispatched Hyde United 26-0 in 1887.

County's first Lancashire cup game was against Bacup Borough in October 1897, which County won 1-0. In the next round in December 1897, County played Newton Heath (later to become Manchester United). After eighty minutes, the game was stopped due to bad light, with County losing 6-0. The club attempted to get the result overturned, but the Lancashire F.A ruled that the result would stand.

In the 1898/99 season, County won Wigan's first ever trophy, the Rawclife Charity Cup; Wigan beat St. Helens Rec at Victory Park in Chorley 2-0 and in front of 6,000 spectators. Later the club paraded the trophy around Wigan in a wagonette, accompanied by a brass band.

The Demise Of Wigan County

On the 13th September 1899, George Wilcock offered Springfield Park up for auction at the venue where the ground was born – The Ship Hotel. The ground covered almost 18 acres of land and contained a 'half mile cinder trotting track', an 'excellent cinder pedestrian track', a 'grand cement cycling track' and a 'splendid football ground, with a grandstand, entrance turnstiles and refreshment bars'. Bids started at around £5,000 and it was also revealed that County had a contract to play there until 30th April 1900.

In October 1899, there was a meeting of all local football clubs to discuss if there where any means of helping County, whose squad was restricted only thirteen players. Thirty clubs attended the meeting and all agreed that the County could have the best of local talent. In return County provided the amateur clubs with a qualified instructor, to help them improve.

Two months later, the club was rumoured to be closed, this was not yet the case. However after poor results and falling attendances, the club agreed to fulfil all its fixtures before folding in April 1900.