Clubname: | Colchester Casuals Football Club |
Fullname: | Colchester Casuals Football Club |
Nickname: | The Casuals |
Founded: | 1883 |
Dissolved: | 1970 |
Ground: | Old Heath Recreation Ground, Colchester |
League: | Essex and Suffolk Border Football League |
Colchester Casuals Football Club was an amateur football club based in Colchester, England.
Colchester Casuals Football Club history can be traced back to 1883, when the Casuals first appeared in Colchester football records.[1] [2] Colchester Casuals mainly operated as a feeder club for Colchester United.[3]
The 1946–1947 season was their most successful ever when they were winners of the Essex and Suffolk Border League.[4] the British Legion Cup, the Essex and Suffolk Border League Cup and were runners-up in the Clacton Hospital Cup. In 1948, Colchester Casuals entered the FA Cup for the first time, losing 3–2 away to Dagenham British Legion in the extra preliminary round. The following season, the club reached the preliminary round, after beating Saffron Walden Town 3–2, before exiting to the hands of Grays Athletic. During the 1950s, the club also entered the FA Amateur Cup.[5]
The team at this time contained an array of talent including a young Vic Keeble who went on to play for Newcastle United and they were captained by former Chelsea and Northern Ireland player Cecil Allan.
Colchester Casuals once had a close relationship with Colchester United when Benny Fenton was the manager with several of the Casuals players turning out regularly at Colchester United's Layer Road ground in the Combination League or the Southern Mid-Week Football League.[6]
Other players who came through the Colchester Casuals ranks included:
The club folded in 1970 due to financial problems and difficulties raising a full team.[7]