Established in 1898, Welford Victoria FC originally played in the Market Harborough League until they joined the Northamptonshire Combination in 1966. Over the years the club has won many honours and is a Charter Standard Club affiliated to the Northamptonshire Football Association.
First Team Honours:
Premier Division Runners Up 2011/12
Premier Division K.O. Cup Winners 2010/11
Division 1 League Winners 2009/10
Division 2 League Winners 2005/06 & 1975/76
K.O. Cup Runners-Up 1975/76, 2007/08 & 2009/10
Market Harborough West Division Champions 1923-24
Market Harborough League Winners 1932-33, 1956-57, 1962-63, 1963-64. Runners-up 1957-58, 1958-59, 1961-62, 1964-65
Market Harborough Knock-Out Cup Winners 1932-33, 1965-66
Market Harborough Stokes Cup Winners 1957-58, 1963-64. Runners-up 1965-66
Market Harborough Charity Cup Runners-up 1956-57, 1957-58
Market Harborough Division 2 Champions 1937-38
Rugby Rally Cup Winners 1947-48
Lutterworth Charity Cup Winners 1949-50
Northants Central Combination Division 2 Winners 1975-76
Northants Central Combination Cup Division 2 Runners-up 1975-76, Division 1 Runners-up 1979-80
Reserve Team Honours:
K.O. Cup Winners 2005/06 & Runners-Up 2007/08
Executive Cup Runners-Up 1990, 1992
Youth Team Honours:
Under 17 John Henry Sports League & Cup Winners 2008
Under 16 Leicester Youth League Winners 2005
Under 15 Leicester Youth League Winners 2004
Under 13 Leicester Youth League Winners 2002
Back left – A Cornish, W.P. James, The Vicar
Middle Row from left: J Smith (Vice Captain), W.G. Cockerill, H.W. Partridge (Captain)
Front row from left: E Halford
Featured in the Welford Bugle in April 2018. The original was given to Welford SFA by Doreen Beck, sister of Colin Grant (front right) 
Published on Facebook by Alan Bale (front row, second from right)
Back row from left: Bob Boyles, John Barber, George Voss, Colin Grant, Steve Thomas, Richard Underwood, Ted Voss, Ernie Badger (trainer)
Front row: John Hollis, Herbert Grewcock, Mike Brown, Alan Bale, Ken Underwood
Back row from left: Ernie Badger (trainer), ?, Steve Thomas, George Voss, Geoff McAlister, Michael Brown, Bill Thomas, Charlie Miller
Front row: John Hollis, John Barber, Ted Voss, ?, Colin Grant
This wonderful image of the first Welford Victoria team to be formed after the war was recently unearthed and shared on Facebook by Alan Bale. Alan was born on Newlands Road in 1933 and played in this team – he’s second from the right in the front row.
Alan moved to Rugby when he was 17, so given this is a post war team that puts the photo somewhere between 1946 and 1950. Alan, and local residents who responded to his post, have identified many of the players.
Also within the thread was a link to an article that appeared in the Welford Bugle a few years ago with a team photo from the early 1950s. The article is full of interesting trivia about the players pieced together by a local resident (whose son has played for various Welford teams over the years and whose grandson plays with the U9s) and also notes that WVFC used to play matches in another part of the village that is now a housing estate (Wakefield Drive).
You can read the full article from April 2018 at https://www.welfordvillage.org.uk/uploads/bugle-april-2018.pdf
The Welford and Sulby Historical Society recently shared their incredible archive with us, including a newspaper cutting after a game in 1898, which we believe to be the first record of the club. Additional photos from early in the 20th century have been added to the gallery on this page, while we couldn’t resist putting the 1922 reserves next to our 2022 Colts below.
