United League

Brighton & Hove Albion United League Overview

Brighton & Hove Albion joined the midweek United League ahead of the 1905-06 campaign as the board of directors sought ways to increase income to plug a £1,500 hole in the club’s finances. The competition offered nine additional home fixtures, from which the club could make matchday income and the standard of opposition was good with the league being made up largely of fellow Southern League clubs.

A previous version of the United League had run between 1896 and 1902. Had it not been suspended in 1902, then it is likely that Brighton would have joined the competition for the 1902-03 season when Southern League Division Two only had six entrants. The Albion instead turned to the South Eastern League for a one-season stay to flesh out what would have otherwise been a very bare fixture list.

Since their brief stay in the South Eastern League, Brighton had not taken part in a midweek competition before they joined the reformed United League for the 1905-06 season. 10 teams took part and as late as January 1906, Brighton were bottom of the table. An excellent run of home form in the second half of the campaign – they were unbeaten at the Goldstone in both Southern League and United League from Boxing Day onwards – eventually saw John Jackson’s side climb into a respectable midtable position of seventh.

It was in the 1905-06 United League season that Brighton first came across the club who would go onto become their greatest rivals, Crystal Palace. Palace had only been formed in September 1905 and were one of the few Southern League Division Two sides to take part in the United League.

The Albion’s first meeting with the Eagles came on Wednesday 11^th October 1905 when Palace won 3-2 at the Goldstone. The return match took place on Wednesday 22^nd November 1905 at the Crystal Palace Exhibition Stadium, home of the FA Cup Finals of the early party of the 20^th century. Brighton triumphed 2-0 thanks to goals from Billy Yates and Walter Anthony.

In the 1906-07 season, it was Brighton and Palace who spent most of the campaign battling it out for the title. The majority of the Albion’s fixtures had been crammed into the first half of the campaign and so although there were still more than four months left to play when Frank Scott-Walford’s side drew 1-1 at home to Leyton on Wednesday 12^th December 1906, they were top of the table with only three games left.

Unfortunately, Palace would end up overhauling the Albion to take the title by three points. Brighton’s title hopes suffered a real blow in an extraordinary game away at Hastings & St Leonards United on Wednesday 13^th February 1907. Hastings were 4-1 ahead at the hour mark when Albion full back Julius Gregory was forced off injured. Scott-Walford responded by moving Hugh MacDonald out of goal to take over from Gregory, leaving Brighton to play the remaining 30 minutes without a goalkeeper, as if it were a game of ice hockey. The game eventually finished 6-1 to the hosts at the Sports Park.

That wasn’t Brighton’s only strange fixture in their United League stay. In the 1905-06 campaign, Clapton Orient didn’t turn up to the Goldstone until 15 minutes after the fixture on Wednesday 31st January 1906 was due to kick off. Even then, the only had five players present.

Nobody was prepared to wait any longer and so Orient were forced to start with their five, playing the first 10 minutes with a six man disadvantage until the rest of their side arrived in Hove. The final score? Brighton 0-0 Orient.

The Albion finished the 1906-07 campaign with six wins, six draws and two defeats from their 14 games. That gave them an overall record of 32 matches, 12 wins, 10 draws and 10 losses with 61 goals scored and 54 conceded.

Brighton left the United League at the conclusion of the 1906-07 season, deciding instead to join the Western League for 1907-08. Both Portsmouth and Southampton were to be found in the alternative midweek competition and with games against those two clubs often drawing the biggest crowds to the Goldstone, it made sense for Brighton to take on their south coast rivals on a more frequent basis.