Aston Villa Football Club

Aston Villa: English Football Club History, Leagues, and Cup Victories

Aston Villa History and Highlights

Who would you name if you were asked to mention a few historic English football clubs? You might talk about Liverpool, Manchester United, or Arsenal. But, do you know the history of Aston Villa?

The history of Aston Villa formation is a bit strange at first, although it turns out that it’s quite a normal story amongst historical English Football clubs.

In 1874, four cricketers, Jack Hughes, Frederick Matthews, Walter Price, and William Scattergood, founded Aston Villa Football Club in order to keep their health and fitness during the winter. They then played their first match against the Aston Brook St. Mary’s Rugby team. What makes it more strange, however, it that both teams played the first half under rugby rules, and the second half under football rules.

The team’s first trophy came six years after its formation, in 1880, when The Lions won the Birmingham Senior Cup under George Ramsey’s captaincy. Seven years later, in 1887, they then won their first FA Cup title.

Day by day, they became more popular, helped at that time by the club’s president, William McGregor, who sought to attract more fans. To do so, he joined with eleven other leading English clubs to found The Football League in 1888.

During the 1880s, Aston Villa had its most successful period. They won five first division titles, three FA Cups, and a UEFA Super Cup in that time under the reign of Queen Victoria. During this period, Aston Villa also won The Double in 1897, which means they won two trophies (FA Cup and League Title) in the same calendar year.

In addition to being a founding member of the Football League, Aston Villa was also the founding member of the English Premier League, which started in 1992.

In the first season of the English Premier League, they lost the league title to Manchester United and became the runner in the 92/93 season.

Stadium

Aston Villa started their journey football journey with Aston Park as their home ground, where they played from 1874 until 1876. But, they soon moved to Wellington Road, a football stadium in Birmingham. The Lions used this ground for a long 21 years (from 1876 to 1897) as their home stadium. But they changed the ground once again due to the uneven pitch, poor spectator facilities, a lack of access, and exorbitant rental costs.

As a result, Aston Villa moved to the Aston Lower Grounds in 1897, and they have continued to use it as their home ground since then. The fans of Aston Villa named this ground the Villa Park. This name remains unchanged as of today.

Villa Park is the witness of winning The Double of Aston Villa. However, after some renovation and rebuilding, about 42000 spectators can now enjoy a match at Villa Park. The Villa Park has four stands for the visitors, the Holte End, the Trinity Road Stand, Doug Ellis Stand, and the North Stand behind the northern goal.

The Downfall of Aston Villa

After winning six FA Cups, things got bad for The Lions. They won their 6th FA Cup in 1920. Since then, this club remained trophy less for the following 37 years. Moreover, they were relegated in 1937 from the top division in the Football League, which happened for the first time in the history of the team.

There were many reasons behind the failure of Aston Villa. But, World War II affected them very severely. They lost several players in the war. Moreover, football was suspended for a long seven years due to World War II.

Of course, that hasn’t stopped them from maintaining a massive supporter base all around the world. The club is also trying to return to their prime time, holding high hopes of winning more trophies for their fans.