Full name | Wigan Borough Football Club |
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Nickname(s) | The 'Boro – The Green Linnets |
Founded | December 1920 after being known as Wigan United and Wigan Association |
Dissolved | 1931 |
Ground | Springfield Park |
Capacity | 30,000 (approx) |
League | Football League North |
Wigan Borough Football Club was an English football club from the town of Wigan, Lancashire. It was a fifth attempt at establishing football in Wigan, their forerunners were Wigan A.F.C., Wigan County, Wigan United and Wigan Town, County and Town having fallen into liquidation previously.
According to the Wigan Observer of 21 June 1920, Wigan Borough was originally formed as the amateur side Wigan United in November 1919, although the club predates this by at least two months as records exist from the previous September. It is also possible that United were a continuation of the club who played at Springfield Park some 20 years earlier. United played 18 games in the 1919–20 season as members of the West Lancashire League and also entered the Richardson Cup. The club applied to join the Lancashire Combination for the 1920–21 season and continued as Wigan United for a further nine games (P9 L9) before being forced to close by the Lancashire FA as they were found guilty of paying their players for "lost time", which contravened rules of the time. A new club, Wigan Association, was formed on 6 November 1920, taking over the fixtures of Wigan United for four games (P4 D1 L3). After this short period the F.A. agreed that all their demands had been met with the exception that the club would have to change their name again to avoid confusion with Wigan FC, the town's rugby league team, allowing Wigan Association to become officially known as Wigan Borough Football Club on 11 December 1920. The newly named Wigan Borough applied for entrance to the football league's Third Division North for the 1921–22 season, despite only finishing 17th of 18 clubs in the Lancashire Combination league. Astonishingly, they were, along with Barrow and Accrington Stanley, granted a place for the inaugural season of the competition.