Chesterfield FC Kits DLS/FTS

Although there are claims that Chesterfield were formed in 1866, the club historian has cast doubt on this, citing October 1867 as the date on which the first Chesterfield football club was founded. There is another view, supported by an excellent article in the club's comprehensive history section by Stuart Basson that the modern club was in fact formed as late as 1919. Stuart has convincingly argued that the current club is in fact the fourth to have carried the name.

The original Chesterfield's first match appears to have been against Garrick FC from Sheffield although the score is lost. The first reference to the club’s colours comes in the 1870-71 season when they are described as “blue shirts and caps with white trousers.”

Chesterfield is renowned for the famous crooked spire of St Mary’s and All Saints Parish Church and so the club is known to this day as “The Spireites.” In September 1881, the original club got into financial difficulties and was wound up.

In 1884 former members of the old team and a group of players from Spital FC formed a new club known as Chesterfield Town. They grew to local prominence, joining the Sheffield League in 1891 and winning it at the first attempt. It was during this period that the club turned out in shirts featuring the union flag, one of the chesterfield crest 1898most unusual playing kits of the era. John Taylor believes that the shirts were found in the loft of the Spital Hotel and, rather than throw them out, the landlord donated them to the club. Quite why and for whom these wonderful, unique shirts were made remains a mystery.

In 1897, Chesterfield Town stepped up to the Midland League finishing fourth, third and fourth. For the 1898-99 season the club was presented with a set of silk badges bearing the famous crooked spire. At the end of that season Chesterfield successfully applied for admission to the Football League and became a limited company. They stayed in the Football League Division Two until 1908 when they were voted out having applied for re-election for the fourth season in a row.

The club returned to the Midland League where they enjoyed some success prior to the First World War but in 1915, faced with mounting financial problems, the club was wound up. A new Chesterfield FC was immediately formed by a local restaurateur, CW Everest, and this team competed in the Midland Combination with several "guest players" from Football League clubs. This club was disbanded in 1917 following a scandal over payments to players, following which 40 players and officials were suspended. (Clubs were not permitted to pay their players during the Great War). Shortly afterwards, the local council formed a sports committee, which resolved to form a new association football club that would be directly accountable to the electorate.

Logo