A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



little the Association game has surely won its 

 way into popular favour, and now in every 

 important town in the county save North- 

 ampton enjoys unchallenged supremacy. Al- 

 most every village has its Association club and 

 numerous competitions are carried on. North- 

 amptonshire clubs have done exceedingly well 

 in such competitions as the Midland and 

 United Leagues, and have made a creditable 

 show in the English Cup. Northamptonshire 

 players have deservedly won places in the 

 International teams. The first to obtain 

 such distinction was J. B. Challen, a master 

 at Wellingborough Grammar School, who 

 was chosen more than once to play for 

 Wales. It was during his association 

 with Wellingborough Grammar School, in 

 1884, 1885, and 1886, that the school team 

 included such players as A. G. Henfrey, W. 

 H. Game, A. Piatt, L. C. R. Thring, and 

 W. Pretty. Several of these, including Challen 

 and Henfrey, obtained no little celebrity with 

 that famous amateur combination, the Co- 

 rinthians. Henfrey it may be incidentally 

 mentioned was a fine runner and cricketer, 

 and is generally considered the best athlete 

 Northamptonshire has produced. He was 

 born at Finedon (near Wellingborough), and 

 for many years this little village possessed one 

 of the best amateur teams in the Midlands. 

 At this time Finedon could well hold its own 

 with the clubs of the important towns in the 

 county, but the advance of professionalism has 

 caused it now to take a somewhat secondary 

 position. Another International hailing from 

 Northamptonshire may be mentioned in Gar- 

 field of Higham Ferrers, who in later years did 

 yeoman service for the Wolverhampton 

 Wanderers. Reverting to the doings of 

 Wellingborough Grammar School it may be 

 questioned whether any school of similar pre- 

 tensions in the country has had such a brilliant 

 record in connexion with Association foot- 

 ball. It supplied for years the backbone of 

 the Northamptonshire F.A. (which was for a 

 time very successful) and the East Midland 

 Counties F.A. 



There are few towns in the country which 

 have shown a greater proportionate advance 

 than Rushden in the last quarter of a century. 

 The inhabitants have deservedly won a 

 reputation for go-aheadness, and in nothing 

 is this more marked than in their love of sport. 

 The Rushden Association F.C. was formed 

 about 1877, and in 1890 amalgamated with 

 the Rugby football and the cricket clubs. 

 For years Rushden held a leading position 

 among Association clubs in the county, 

 and the organization was run on purely 

 amateur lines. The Northamptonshire Cup 



was won by Rushden in the first year of its 

 institution, the opposing team in the final 

 beina: the then well-nisjh invincible Wellina;- 

 borough Grammar School. Rushden also 

 carried off at this period the Wellingborough 

 and District, the Luton, and the Kettering 

 and District Cups, and supplied a good number 

 of county players at various times, having 

 always loyally supported the County Associa- 

 tion. Rushden entered the Midland League in 

 the season of I 894-95, and a year later became 

 a professional club. Since then it has done 

 well in the Midland and United Leagues, 

 though handicapped by lack of popular support. 



It is probable that the Association game 

 has been played at Kettering longer than at 

 any place in Northamptonshire. Prior to the 

 town club (originally a Rugby organization) 

 taking up Association there were many good 

 junior clubs. For six or seven years the 

 Kettering Club played matches under both 

 codes, but about twelve years ago Rugby 

 was given up, and in the season of 

 1890-91 Kettering as an amateur Associa- 

 tion team won the Luton Charity Cup. 

 In 1891-92 the club adopted professionalism 

 and held the seventh position in the Midland 

 League. Since that period the team has 

 made excellent progress and has twice finished 

 at the head of the Midland League (1895-96, 

 1899— 1900). Kettering has done very well 

 in the various county competitions, better 

 than any other Northamptonshire club in the 

 contest for the English Cup, and has turned 

 out a considerable number of sound players, of 

 whom H. Dixon, W. Draper, J. Garfield, 

 and Perkins (the Liverpool goal-keeper) have 

 obtained more than local reputations. Lord 

 Southampton is the present president of the 

 Kettering Club, and he takes a very practical 

 interest in its welfare. 



The prowess of Wellingborough Grammar 

 School served as an incentive to the forma- 

 tion of other clubs in the town. The 

 most important of these were the Welling- 

 borough Revellers and the Wellingborough 

 Britons. In 1887, the Jubilee year, 

 these clubs amalgamated and formed the 

 Town Club, playing splendidly against 

 Rushden in the Northamptonshire Cup. 

 Since then the Wellingborough Club has 

 always been prominent in competitions in 

 this part of the Midlands. Six years ago 

 Wellingborough joined the Midland League, 

 and its struggles against the neighbouring 

 clubs of Kettering and Rushden and latterly 

 of Northampton have always excited the 

 keenest interest and enthusiasm. Welling- 

 borough, in addition to always showing a bold 

 front in the Midland League (finishing second 



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