Saturday is the 90th anniversary of the first competitive Hereford United match.
The club took on Atherstone Town in the Birmingham Combination on August 30th, 1924, at Edgar Street - losing 3-2. The club's first goalscorer was Billy Hann -
Hann, Billy
Born Abertillery, died 1998
Billy was one of the most popular players ever to don a Hereford United shirt and was a member of the very first team that turned out in the Birmingham Combination in 1924. His tremendous pace, nifty footwork and pinpoint crossing endeared him to supporters and made him a target for much bigger clubs. Wolverhampton Wanderers courted him throughout that first season but in March 1925 he rejected their advances and to the immense pleasure of fans, he committed himself to Hereford. Wolves wouldn’t take no for an answer and pursued him throughout the following season until he finally relented and headed off to Molineux in February 1926.
Billy spent the whole of the next season with the Wolves and played in 14 Second Division games, scoring two goals but he was released at the end of the season. He had many other offers but to the delight of United fans he decided to return to the Edgar Street fold but not many supporters could have dreamt just how long his relationship with the club would last.. He played regularly from 1927/28 right through until 1934/35 when he joined Cheltenham Town but even then he returned for one final season in 1938/39, making a further 17 first-team appearances. His remarkable career record amounted to 354 first-team games with a more than healthy yield of 89 goals.
The Birmingham Combination was roughly at the same level of the pyramid as the Southern League Premier is today, although the league structure was not so well defined back then. The club finished 11th in the 18 team league, netting 71 goals in their 34 games.
The Atherstone side that played that day went bust in 1979, being replaced by Atherstone United before that in turn was replaced by the new Atherstone Town that currently plies it's trade in the Midland Combination.
Also in that first team was Captain Cec Morris, who played for United forebear Hereford City and played part time in 1924 for the equivalent of £74 a week:
Morris, Cec
An ex-Hereford City centre-half, Cec had represented the Army at outside-left and played regularly for Ebbw Vale before joining United for £1 8shillings a week in 1924. He was United’s first ever captain and landlord of the No. 5 Hotel in Widemarsh and commented at the time “I never do any training, there’s enough hard work to do in the pub to keep me fit”. Cec was highly enough thought of to represent the Birmingham Combination against the London Combination at the end of the 1926/27 season and he served Hereford United faithfully for seven seasons and notched up 175 first-team appearances, scoring a total of 18 goals. When he finally hung his boots up, the Club gave him a benefit match against his old club Ebbw Vale and although the gate money was £84, all that Cec collected after expenses, was £25, which he used to buy his wife a diamond ring. Cec finally ended his association with Hereford when he emigrated to Australia in 1958.
Club historian Ron Parrott, who has provided the pen pics, is still working on a book of the club's history and is looking for information on a player known as "Rubberneck" Stone from that opening season.