The History of Horsley United
Playing football in Horsley since 1903
According to Gloucestershire County Football Association records, the present Horsley United is the fifth in the village. The first club was founded in 1903. Our colours were chocolate and blue (nice!) and we played at Downend - although it's hard to imagine a piece of ground flat enough for football in Downend. There are no records of us playing in a league and we are not listed after 1906.
The second Horsley United was formed in 1912, played at Barley Close and wore the colours of claret and sky blue. It was one of six clubs who formed the new third division of the Stroud League, finishing third after one club withdrew. After the break caused by the first World War, we resumed in the League's second Division until 1926, when we dropped into the third division.
Horsley United won this division with a record of played 20, won 16, drew 3, lost 1, scored 72 goals and conceded 15. We returned to Division One which we won in 1928-29, with a record of played 20, won 17, drew 2, lost 1, scored 98 goals and conceded 26. The next season we finished bottom of the Premier division and then disbanded after a further season in Division One.
We also fielded a reserve team in 1920-21, 1922-23 and 1926-31. We failed to complete the last season withdrawing after playing and losing four matches.
The third club was Horsley British Legion who joined the league's first division in 1934. The league dropped its Premier Division at the end of the 1934-35 season and we were moved to Division three in 1935 where we finished runners-up. The next season we won Division two with a record of played 20, won 18, lost 2, scored 77 goals and conceded 22. This was the height of this team's success as we withdrew the following year after playing only 10 of our 26 games.
Horsley then resurfaced in division 2 in 1947-48 adding a reserve team the following season. However, this was short-lived as both first and reserve teams failed to complete the second season. The first team withdrew as late as April 2nd.
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Stroud league?s third division in 1959-60 and a reserve team joined the league in 1972.
Since then, our most successful years in the Stroud League are as follows:
First Team
Division 4 runners-up 1973-74
Division 3 winners 1974-75
Division 4 winners 1992-93
Division 3 winners 1993-94
Division 3 winners 1999-2000
Division 2 runners-up 2001-02
Division 1 winners 2003-04 - promoted to Gloucestershire Northern Senior League
Reserves
Division 8 winners 2000-01
Division 7 runners up 2001-02
Division 6 winners 2002-03
Promoted from Division 5 to Division 4 2003-04
Most of this history was kindly compiled by Mr Colin Timbrell, Historian of the Gloucestershire Football Association.
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