The details of Hereford United’s formation have been forgotten over the decades, leaving the club’s supporters unaware of the exact date the club was founded. In this centenary year, the Bring Back United group have scoured the archives to reveal the story of how and when Hereford United was formed.
The first suggestion of a merger came on Monday 31st March 1924 at the annual meeting of Hereford Athletic Ground Ltd - the organisation who ran the Edgar Street stadium. The chair of the meeting, Mr M.C.Oatfield, expressed his personal opinion that Hereford’s five football clubs was too many. He proposed that the city could not support more than one football club of a standard to compete with the big clubs of the midlands. His comments at this meeting appear to have led to the formation of the ‘Better Football Movement’.
On Monday 12th May 1924, Dr E.W. Maples chaired a meeting with representatives of four of the city’s teams: Hereford City, St Martin’s, Hereford Thistle and R.O.A.C. (Rotherwas).
At this meeting, it was unanimously decided that all four clubs should meet their supporters with the view of forming one united amateur club for the city of Hereford. If three of the four clubs supported the idea then plans would be put in place for a new club to start in time for the 1924/25 season.
A week later the clubs voted on these proposals. Whilst Hereford City decided amalgamation was not something they wanted to be a part of, the other three clubs supported the idea. So, planning began for the merger.
The new club was to be called ‘Hereford and County Football Club’. A further vote at each club was arranged for the following week to review the final plans.
Having reviewed the detailed proposals, supporters of Hereford Thistle decided they could no longer support a merger. Despite the other two clubs being in favour, without the support of a majority of the City’s sides, it was deemed impossible to proceed.
Following a meeting of the three clubs on Wednesday 28th May 1924, the merger proposals were officially abandoned.
However, St Martin’s and R.A.O.C. (Rotherwas) were still intent on the idea of a merger and had several meetings over the following weeks. The last of these came on the evening of Monday 16th June 1924 when St Martin’s met at the Saracen’s Head.
The vote at this meeting confirmed the merger. That evening, Hereford United was formed as the City’s Senior club.
The new club was awarded the tenancy to Edgar Street and entered the Birmingham Combination. From there the club rose to be one of the top non-league sides before being elected into the Football League in 1972.
Hereford United reached a peak league position in the second tier of English football. Sadly, following a series of well publicised events, the club was liquidated in their 90th anniversary year.
Hereford FC was set up to replace them but were not allowed to use the Hereford United name for five years. This centenary year has seen renewed calls for a return to the historic name, with the ‘Bring Back United’ chant ringing out of terraces across the country.
This article has been written by the Bring Back United group. They are a collection of Hereford United supporters working together on a campaign for Hereford FC to return to the historic Hereford United name. Later this year Bring Back United will trigger a vote of the Hereford United Supporters Trust on a return to the Hereford United name.
You can keep up to date with their progress on their X (formally known as Twitter) account @BringUnitedBack.
