Mark Sellers recounts the curious tale of a long-standing local club that has vanished (almost) without trace... please log in to view this image Hull Brunswick FC were formed before Hull City, were around for almost 80 years, yet little now remains of them. The strange thing about looking for traces of this extinct football club is how little mention there is of them on the Internet. Obviously this is because although they had a long history, the club ceased to exist well before the web was even a twinkle in Tim Berners-Lee’s eye. A Google search reveals very little, the briefest of Wikipedia entries, a few fleeting references on football forum sites, and that’s about it. And this for a club with a 79 year history, and who just over 40 years ago were the second club in the city. Formed in 1894 (when Queen Victoria was still on the throne) the originally named “Brunswick Wesleyans” were part of the burgeoning local football scene at the start of the 20th century when many clubs were busy starting up, folding, and merging, including the club that was to become Hull City – Hull Association FC. Around the early 1900s, when Hull was rapidly expanding in size, the club moved out to Sutton Ings near Holderness Road, a plot of land owned by the Wesleyan Church. This would remain their home until their demise in the 1973. For most of their history the club played in the East Riding Amateur League but it was shortly after the Second World War that they had their first real success by beating (the professional) Hull City 3-1 in the Final of the East Riding Senior Cup. In the early sixties Brunswick took an ambitious step up, and were admitted to the (now defunct) Yorkshire League. In its heyday the notoriously tough league (covering such a big county) comprised of a diverse range of teams, including reserve sides from Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday, as well as the likes of Bridlington Trinity and Whitby Town. Brunswick adjusted well to the step up and enjoyed two promotions to reach the First Division of the Yorkshire League. This new confidence saw them enter the FA Cup for the first time in 1964, and although they never achieved spectacular Cup success they entered the competition each year until the early 1970s. Throughout their history Brunswick had close links with their professional big brother club Hull City, in much the same way North Ferriby do now. Legendary Hull City keeper Billy Bly was involved at committee level with Brunswick after his playing days ended, and Brunswick players Les Collinson and Brian Crispey went on to make 296 and 145 appearances respectively for the Tigers. The biggest transfer from Brunswick was in 1967, when the club sold local lad Gerry Ingram to Blackpool (who were managed by Stan Mortenson) for the then princely sum of £2,000. Ingram went on to represent Preston North End and Bradford City, before playing in the NASL in the 1970s for the Washington Diplomats, competing against Pele and Johan Cruyff. Despite enjoying their most success through the late 60s and early 70s the Kingston Wesley Church trustees gave the club (who played in navy and sky blue stripes) notice that the ground was required for development in 1973. Brunswick fought hard to get the decision reversed, but sadly they completed their last fixture later that year. Houses now cover the site near Charnock Avenue on the south side of Holderness Road. Despite the dearth of information available on Hull Brunswick, I’m in a privileged position to know some of their history as my father was a player, manager and secretary for the club throughout their most successful years. Jim Sellers was a Semi-Pro player who represented Bridlington Town and Trinity, as well as Goole Town and Hull Brunswick. After he stopped playing he was involved in all aspects of running Brunswick, from negotiating the Ingram transfer to picking the team. My Dad passed away in 1984 and although my brother and I didn’t inherit too much of his footballing prowess, there are defunct Sunday League and 5-a-side teams we’ve played for that have a stronger web legacy than Hull Brunswick. It may be impossible to be forgotten in the digital age, but seemingly if a club’s heyday was before the dawn of the Internet then it’s surprisingly easy. http://hullcitysupporterstrust.com/hull-brunswick-the-disappearance-of-a-football-club/
We used to play in a pre-season 7 aside run and played at Brunswicks ground before it's demise in 1973. A real pity they folded, as they we certainly one of the top amateur teams around then.
I played as a trialist for hull brunswick in 1972. Sadly I wasn't signed lol. Top local amateur club in those days.
Really enjoyed the above piece as I've long wondered about the lack of information available on one of Hull's most successful amateur clubs. The mention of the club's demise in 1973 is interesting as on 11th September 1976 my club (Easington United) played against "Hull Brunswick" in Division 4 of the East Riding County League. Brunswick won 7-0 and went on to be crowned champions thus there is no further mention of them in our records. Given the three-year gap, was this a "new" club formed under the old name and where did they play? One for the County League archivists perhaps!
I played for Hull Brunswick in the old Yorkshire league back in the mid 60's for season, very tough league with plenty of hard players, the players I played with were, Paul Massey, Billy Grainger, Alan Gaunt, Harry Barrass, Ron Mudd, Ron Longman, Dave Plews, Syd Makin, Martin Gibbs and A. Hawksley don't know if any of you remember them. Jim Sellers was Mr. Hull Brunswick.
My only link with Hull Brunswick was watching them a few times before retiring to the Crooked Billet over the road.
My brother played for Brunswick, he was a left winger (not a left wing back), it must have been in the late 60's early 70's. I remember both Ron Mudd and Martyn Gibbs, we played together for Ideal Standard, Ron was a very good Centre Half and I believe Martyn was a winger.
Was Barrass off North Hull, cos his lad was a good player too. Ronnie Mudd was a mate of my old mans. I went to school with his lad.
I used to live in the prefabs on the same field watched many games I recall big games against Harrogate Railway and Bridlington Trinity I actually believe BIlly Bly played a few games for them. There were also tennis courts on same area along with a decent cricket team. Cant recall the name but they had a very good goalkeeper played for them when known as Brunswick Institute who had just returned from National Service just returned from National Service in Cyprus
