Wednesbury Old Athletic
| Full name | Wednesbury Old Athletic Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Old 'Uns |
| Founded | 1874 |
| Ground | The Oval, Wednesbury |
Wednesbury Old Athletic was an English association football club based in Wednesbury, West Midlands (Staffordshire at the time). There were three clubs that had this name.
The first began life as the Wednesbury Literary & Athletic Institute in October 1874, adopting the more familiar title of Wednesbury Old Athletic Club (WOAC for short) the following year. WOAC became a founder member of the Birmingham & District Football Association in December 1875 and won the inaugural Birmingham Cup competition, defeating Stafford Road 3–2 in the 1877 Final. This success was repeated two years later, and in 1880, having joined the Staffordshire Football Association, the Old Athletic won the Staffs Cup, beating Aston Villa 2–1 in the Final. The club played in the FA Cup of 1881–82 and reached the quarter finals, beating Aston Villa by four goals to two on the way. But they lost 13–0 to Villa in the Cup on 30 October 1886 (still Villa's biggest ever win) and would later be knocked out of the competition by Blackburn Rovers. The Old Uns played in the tournament in every season up to its eventual demise in 1893, but never matched the performance of that first season, and failed to progress beyond the qualifying rounds after 1888. Wednesbury Old Athletic played in the Birmingham & District League from 1890 to 1891, before joining the Midland League for the following two seasons. After narrowly missing out on the Midland League championship in 1892 the club's fortunes declined. Wednesbury was unable to support a professional club and the Old Athletic disbanded in July 1893. The second club was formed from the ashes of the first, but its career was to be brief. Unable to obtain the use of a regular home ground, the club withdraw from the Walsall Junior League half way through the season and subsequently folded. The third club began life as Wednesbury Excelsior in around 1891. It existed in local football, playing cup ties and friendlies, before joining the West Midlands Amateur League in 1896. Finishing as runners-up at the first attempt, the club joined the Walsall & District League in 1897 and adopted the title of Wednesbury Old Athletic. WOAC spent 10 seasons in this league, winning the title in 1900 & 1905, and the Staffordshire Junior Cup three times in six seasons, as well as various other local cup competitions. In 1907 Wednesbury Old Athletic joined the Birmingham Combination, spending three seasons there before joining the professional Birmingham & District League. Here, the club pitted itself against future Football League clubs Crewe Alexandra, Kidderminster Harriers, Shrewsbury Town, Stoke City, Walsall & Wrexham, in addition to the reserve sides of Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Coventry City, West Bromwich Albion & Wolverhampton Wanderers.The Old Uns never finished higher than 12th out of 18th in this league, and left the competition in 1924 following its sixth consecutive application for re-election. The club dropped back down to the Birmingham Combination, but after collecting just a single point from 12 fixtures the Old Athletic withdrew from the competition and disbanded.
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