Blackstones F.C.

Blackstones

Full name	Blackstones Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Stones or Blackos
Founded	1891 Rutland Ironworks 1921 Rutland Engineering Works 1938 Blackstones 1969 Mirlees Blackstones
Ground	Blackstones Sports & Social Club, Lincoln Road, Stamford, PE9 1UU
Ground Capacity	100 seats plus standing
Chairman	Gary Peace
Manager	Gary Peace
League	United Counties League Division One
2012–13	United Counties League Premier Division, 20th (relegated)
Home colours

Blackstones F.C. is an association football club based in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England. The club plays its home games at Lincoln Road.

History

Half Moon Inn, St Pauls Street, Stamford Blackstones FC Original headquarters

The first football club with links to Blackstones was the "Rutland Ironworks". The club's headquarters were the "Half Moon Inn" while football matches were played on Ryhall Road, Stamford. The first evidence of the ironworks was recorded in 1891, the Stamford Mercury local press reported them beating Stamford Town Reserves 1–0 on 20 January 1891.

Blackstones Works site of first football matches, Ryhall Road, Stamford

The club was founded in 1920 as the works team for the Stamford engineering manufacturer Mirrlees Blackstone^[1] and adopted the company's name. Mirrlees Blackstone Limited was formed on 1 June 1969 by the merger of Mirrlees National Limited (formerly Mirrlees, Bickerton and Day) and Blackstone & Company Limited. All were, at the time, members of the Hawker Siddeley Group.

Blackstone & Co Broad Street Stamford

Blackstones FC joined the United Counties League Division One in 1984.^[2] Finishing second in 1987–88, they were promoted to the Premier Division from the start of the 1988–89 season, where they remained until being relegated in 2013.^[3]

Blackstone & Co St Peters Street Stamford

2003–04 was a particularly successful season for the club, and they reached four cup finals. The only one which they won was the Lincolnshire F.A. Senior 'A' Cup. This success spurred the club on in the following seasons; in 2004–05 they finished fifteenth in the UCL Premier Division, rising to tenth in 2005–06, eighth in 2006–07 and fourth in 2007–08. In 2007–08 they reached the First Preliminary Round of the FA Cup, losing 2–1 at Northern Premier League Division One South team Grantham Town in a replay. They have also reached the final of the Lincolnshire FA Senior Trophy.

After a long trouble spell the regeneration of the club. This regeneration has started to occur as of November 2013 when Blackstones FC achieved the FA Charter Standard Club Mark for its Junior Team.^[4]

Stadium

The clubhouse, which stands behind the near goal, was extended in 1984, the year which saw the club join the UCL. In 1998, the parent company was taken over, and the club changed its name to Blackstones F.C. For several years the club was seen as the poor relation of Stamford (the Daniels) until Stamford secured promotion from the UCL. For a number of years during the 1990s, the club's future seemed in jeopardy, as the new owner of the Mirlees Blackstones company seemed intent on selling the ground where the club is based for housing development, but this did not happen. On one side of the ground there is a wooden stand, which has a some rows of benches and a mini terrace behind it. There are trees on either side of the ground, with a couple of dugouts opposite the stand on the far side. Floodlights were erected in 1989, along with a perimeter fence and various other buildings.

The club was told by the United Counties League that if a number of alterations were not completed by end of March 2010 they would be relegated. These included a stand for 100 spectators and alterations to the pitch fencing and hard standing. The Football Stadia Improvement Fund (FSIF) provided a grant of £2,000 to enable the club to carry out this work.^[5]

Current squad

As of December 2013^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player – GK John Swales – GK T Bedford – DF Sam Bush – DF K Kefford – DF C Lenton – DF Nico Stafferri – MF Andrew Boome – MF Danny Hotchkiss – DF Andy Hattersley – DF James Curran – MF Ryan Brown – MF Chris McRoyal

No. Position Player – MF Guispno Stafferri – MF Ashley Fleming – MF M Fox – MF C Hunt – MF Kieran Arthur – MF Roberto Da Silva – MF Sam Strange – MF Matt Sharp – FW Declan Carr – FW Addie Stafferri – FW Adam Scotcher

Officials

Honours

Peterborough and District Football League

• Champions 1918–19

Division 1

• Champions 1975–76 Blackstones Works
• Champions 1985–86 Blackstones Works Reserves

Division 3 (Northern Section)

• Champions 1972–73 Blackstones Works Reserves
• Champions 1975–76 Blackstones Works Reserves

Division 5

• Champions 1984–85 Blackstones Works 'A'

League KO. Cup

• Champions 2002–03

Lincs Senior 'A' Cup Winners

• Champions 1992–93 Blackstones 2-1 Bourne Town
• Champions 2003–04
• Champions 2007–08^[9]
• Champions 2010–11^[10]

Reserve Divisions Cup

• 1989–90 Mirrlees Blackstone
• 1995–96 Mirrlees Blackstone
• 2003–04 Blackstones
• 2007–08 Blackstones
• 2008–09 Blackstones

Managers

Not a complete list of Blackstones FC managers.

1. Peter Thomas ^[11]
2. Ian Jarvie and Stuart Gray
3. Chris Corby
4. Steve Blades
5. Dominic Genovese
6. Vince Adams
7. Ian Jackson
8. Mel Landin
9. Kevin Flynn
10. Tony Lowther
11. D. Bird
12. M. Goode and D. Jarvis
13. David Stratton
14. Gary Peace

Former players

Alan Neilson signed by Newcastle United and later transferred to Southampton for a fee of £300,000

References

External links

• Blackstones Sports and Social Club Official Website
• Blackstones FC Official Website
• Blackstones Juniors Football Team

Coordinates: 52°39.7025′N 0°28.1355′W / 52.6617083°N 0.4689250°W / 52.6617083; -0.4689250