Hartlepool United F.C.

In 1905 the amateur team West Hartlepool FC won the FA Amateur Cup which at the time was considered second only to the FA Cup. The opportunity for a professional team arose in 1908 when West Hartlepool Rugby Club went bust. Their stadium ‘The Victoria Ground’ was bought and Hartlepool United was founded under the name ‘Hartlepools United Football Athletic Company’. The new team joined the professional North-Eastern league and West Hartlepool FC lost some of their players to the new professional side. West Hartlepool managed to continue for a few seasons however it wasn’t long before they broke up leaving Hartlepools United as the only team in town. Hartlepools United made many early applications to join the Football League however their proximity to Sunderland, Newcastle and Middlesborough led to these being rejected. In 1920 the FA decided to form a third division however in practice this turned out to be purely a southern league, the following season however a northern third division was founded and Hartlepool were one of the founder members. Despite a promising 4th place finish in their first season Hartlepool failed to gain anything having to fight for re-election on many occasions. Hartlepool had a brief good spell in the mid 50s- In 1955 the FA Cup 4th round was reached- the best the club has ever achieved, in 1957 they narrowly missed out on winning the league. In 1958 following the death of their manager however things took a turn for the worse and Hartlepool finished in the bottom half of the table, this coincided with the FA ending regionalism and Hartlepool being forced to compete in the new division 4 the following season. Hartlepool’s time in the 4th division included several re-election challenges though in the 1967/1968 season they managed to finish the season in 3rd place and won promotion to the third division for the first time in their history- they were only here for one season however before being relegated once more. In 1977 the team’s name was changed over the close season to its current form of Hartlepool United. The 1985/1986 season’s introduction of the playoffs and the end of re-election was welcomed with open arms by Hartlepool with whom being relegated looked more and more certain every time they faced re-election. In 1991 Hartlepool finished in third place and managed to gain only the second promotion in the club’s history. This stint in division 3 was longer then their last one and included the renaming of the league making Hartlepool a second division team for the first time in their history. In the 1993/1994 season however after 3 seasons Hartlepool were relegated to the third division. Their first seasons back in the third division were marred by financial crisis and the team narrowly avoided relegation for 5 seasons in a row. In 1999/2000 however their problems seemed to be over and they reached the playoffs, they failed to win promotion however kept trying reaching the playoffs for the next 3 seasons. In 2002/2003 they finished in second place and won promotion to division 2 once more. Hartlepool look to be doing well in division 2 with a possible playoff finish this season.

Old division 4 champions:

1967/1968

New division 3 runners up

2002/2003

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