The sensational Aston Villa team of the turn of the last century.

William McGregor founder of the Football League.

Captain Johnny Dixon lifts Villa's 7th FA Cup in 1957.

Discover best deals on many one of a kind collectible sports memorabilia with great savings! Lots to chose from; Boxing, Football and more.

Aston Villa

Aston Villa Football Club play at Villa Park in Aston, Birmingham, England. They currently play in the FA Premier League. Aston Villa were founding members of Football League in 1888 and of the Premier League in 1992. It is one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in England. more...

Home

Arsenal

Barnet

Brighton & Hove Albion

Bristol City

Bristol Rovers

Burnley

Bury

Chelsea

Everton

Fulham

Milton Keynes Dons/...

QPR

Reading

Walsall

Watford

West Bromwich Albion

West Ham United

Wigan Athletic

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wrexham

Wycombe Wanderers

Yeovil Town

English Non-League Clubs

National Teams

Other Football Shirts

Overseas Clubs

Scottish Clubs

Golf Memorabilia

Horse Racing Memorabilia

Ice Hockey Memorabilia

Motor Sport Memorabilia

Olympic Memorabilia

Other

Other Sports Memorabilia

Rugby League Memorabilia

Rugby Union Memorabilia

Subbuteo

Tennis Memorabilia

Wrestling Memorabilia

History

Formation by Villa Cross Cricketers

Aston Villa Football Club was formed in March 1874 by members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel in Aston, Birmingham. Members of the Aston Villa cricket team were looking for a way to stay fit during the winter months and decided to adopt the new sport of football. The 'Four Founding Fathers' were Jack Hughes, Frederick Matthews, Walter Price and William Scattergood. Aston Villa's first match was against the local Aston Brook St Mary's Rugby team and as a condition of the match, the Villa side had to agree to play the first half under rugby rules and the second half under football rules. Villa managed to hold St Mary's to a scoreless draw up to half time and in the second half won the historic affair by one goal, scored by Jack Hughes. Villa won their first honour, the Birmingham Challenge Cup in 1880, under the captaincy of Scotsman George Ramsay.

Rise to prominence

The club won its first FA Cup in 1887, under the captaincy of another Scotsman, Archie Hunter. English football had become professional in 1885. However, the Scottish draper and director of Aston Villa, William McGregor had become frustrated with watching his team in one-sided friendly matches and low attendances for all games but FA Cup ties. He saw that in order to keep interest in the game alive the top teams needed to play each other in a league much like American baseball teams did. So he wrote to the twelve leading clubs in England proposing the formation of a league. The reason the Football League was never called the English League is because McGregor intended Scottish and Welsh teams to join eventually. Welsh teams (most notably Cardiff City) did so but Scottish teams did not. Naturally, Aston Villa were one of the dozen teams that competed in the inaugural Football League in 1888 finishing as runners-up.

Victorian and Edwardian golden age

It didn't take long for Villa to lift their first League Championship trophy, and this was achieved in 1893/94. This would signal the start of Aston Villa's 'Golden Age' and by the start of the First World War the club had won the League Championship six times and the FA Cup five times, including in 1896/97, a League and Cup Double, a feat which would not be repeated for more than 60 years. The captain during this era was John Devey.

Villa attracted such big crowds that a new ground was needed. The club could regularly expect 25,000 people to attend home games, at a time when the FA Cup Final would attract only about 20,000. The League and FA Cup winners had previously played at Wilson Road (Birchfields), then in 1878 moved to Perry Barr, where they stayed until 1897. In 1897, they moved to their current home ground, the Aston Lower Grounds. It would be a number of years before it was officially known as Villa Park.