Just over two and a half years ago now Stevenage Borough FC changed their name to Stevenage FC with chairman Phil Wallace commenting on the new name: “The club was originally founded in 1894 as Stevenage Football Club and it seems fitting that we should start our new life in the Football League with the original name that started a football club in Stevenage so long ago. Strangely enough, when the present club was reformed in 1976 it was as Stevenage Football Club and it was six months later that the word Borough was added to reflect the support given to the club by the local council at the time.
“Looking to the future, the directors do not believe the connotation of the word Borough in the name should be carried into the Football League. It’s served us well as a non-league club in the climb up the non-league pyramid and we shall always be ‘The Boro’ in recognition of our roots, but now it’s time to look to the future. The alternatives of ‘Town’, ‘Athletic’ and ‘United’ all have their problems so, bearing in mind our roots, simply being Stevenage Football Club that started it all off just seems right.”
Like many other clubs over the years it’s simply been a case of dropping one word or adding another for ‘The Boro’ with adding ‘City’, ‘Town’ or ‘United’ seemingly being the most popular move historically. Hartlepool are surely the winners though having changed just one letter from their original name of Hartlepools United through Hartlepool and now Hartlepool United. The ‘s’ apparently being dropped in 1968 in connection with West Hartlepool being absorbed along with the old smaller town of Hartlepool and the village of Hart into one new borough named ‘Hartlepool’.
Quite a few teams have never had either of their current names in their original one though, starting with Arsenal who began life as Dial Square in 1886 after the sundial over an entrance to a workshop at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich where the club was founded. Birmingham City and Manchester United were both ‘Heaths’ after the area they were from, City called ‘Small Heath Alliance’ from 1875 and then just ‘Small Heath’ until finally becoming just ‘Birmingham’ in 1905 while United, from 1878, were known as ‘Newton Heath LYR FC’ and then just ‘Newton Heath’ after being formed from the Newton Heath Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Football Club. The name Manchester United then coming in 1902 after the club had been issued with a winding-up order. How times change.
As far as churches are concerned meanwhile the life of Bolton Wanderers began as Christ Church FC having been formed by Reverend John Farrall Wright and local schoolmaster Thomas Ogden in Deane in 1874, with the Trotters changing names to their current one just three years on. St Domingo’s FC on the other hand, named after The St Domingo Methodist Church Sunday School, were founded in 1878 and played their games in Stanley Park before players being recruited from outside of the parish meant a name change to Everton just twelve months or so later.
Sticking with the word ‘Stanley’ that’s how we get to the original name of Newcastle United who were formed as that in November 1881 by members of the Stanley Cricket Club in the St Peter’s area of South Byker. Meanwhile about as far down the east coastline as we can get from Newcastle we get to Gillingham who began life as New Brompton FC in 1893 after the success of another local side, in Chatham Excelsior, saw some businessmen form the new club with an enclosed ground, and therefore payable admission, which Chatham lacked, while some of the Excelsior players also changed ranks on the formation of New Brompton.
Back up north a bit to London and we finish off for today by stumbling on West Ham United who were formed as Thames Ironworks in 1895 before changing to their current name in 1900. The club being founded by Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co. Ltd owner Arnold Hills and foreman Dave Taylor and playing in the London League and Southern League before resigning from that division and being wound up, only to reform as West Ham United just a week or so later.