History of St Agnes
The Cornwall County Football Association
was founded on the 18th September 1889 at a meeting in the Royal
Hotel,
By November 1891 the
West Briton was able to report that
the “Association game was making much headway in Cornwall; whereas last year
only six clubs were affiliated to the CCFA, this year 14 clubs have
representatives on the committee”.
In September 1892 a meeting was held at
St Agnes for the purpose of forming a football club.
Mr G.C. Hancock presided and it was decided that
the club would be formed under Association rules. The following officers were
elected: Mr G.C. Hancock C.C. president; Mr W. Littleton-Geach, vice president;
Mr Pollard, captain; Mr G.C. Hancock jnr, vice
captain; Mr Alfred Martin C.C. secretary; and a committee of C. Harris jnr,
James Johns and S.J. Hooper. Several members were enrolled and it was thought
that there was every prospect of the game becoming very popular in St Agnes.
St Agnes played
in the Senior Cup, with fixtures against teams including
The situation had changed by the 1904/05
season and St Agnes was suffering very heavy defeats. Another local team however
appears to have been doing better, and in August 1905 the
Royal Cornwall Gazette reported: “The
best football in the district will probably be seen this season with the
Goonvrea club which held its annual meeting…A selection committee was also
appointed and decided to join the CCFA.
In September, at the St Agnes club’s
annual meeting, it was agreed to disband the club, but on the 21st of
that month the Cornish Post and Mining
News carried a report about the two teams from St Agnes parish which would
be competing during the coming season: “It would appear as if we may after all
have a little football in the place, seeing two clubs have started, instead of
the one just disbanded. The Goonvrea Club have engaged the
Goonvrea started their 1905/06 in September with an away
match against Blackwater, another parish side, and won 3-0. Records
unfortunately do not show how many of the old St Agnes team moved to this club.
Goonvrea played in the Dunn Cup and the Mining League, competing against
Blackwater four times between September and November.
At the end of September the Church team
had a practice game on their new ground in
During the summer of 1906 the Goonvrea
club disbanded and amalgamated with the St Agnes Church team, which was to
become the main St Agnes side until the First World War, winning both the Junior
Cup and the Dunn Cup in the 1910/11 season. The
Mining Division Football League Golden
Jubilee Souvenir Handbook of 1955 includes ‘A short history of St Agnes
Football Club’, which describes the Church team’ success:
The team which won the Junior Cup in 1910/11 drew
1-1 with Truro City 1st eleven which went on to win the Senior Cup.
After such a successful run, the club was instructed to enter senior football or
drop five of their regular players, but it so happened that a number of the
players emigrated to
In the 1912/13 season they again won the
Junior Cup and the Dunn Cup but sadly in February 1914 the
West Briton reported that owing to
lack of support the St Agnes Church Football Club was to be wound up. Later in
1914, with the outbreak of the First World War, all competition football in
In February 1918 a local team called St
Agnes Rangers played
In September 1919 St Agnes held a
meeting to revive the club. The West
Briton described this meeting as ‘well attended and enthusiastic’. Mr C.
Letcher was appointed hon. Secretary, Mr H. Heamingway was the president and Mr
M. Uglow treasurer. The appointment of captain would be made later. It was
decided to enter the Junior and Dunn Cup competitions. Most of the former
players had indicated their intention to assist, but unfortunately the team did
not last long. On the 6th January 1921 the
West Briton, under the heading ‘Wind
up of St Agnes club’, carried this report: Owing to lack of support the St Agnes
Football Club has been compelled to wind up and all fixtures have been
cancelled. The failure is partly due to the great expense incurred through
taking over Mithian’s Junior Cup engagements, the poor success of the team and
the consequent small takings on the field. The club has a debit balance of £21s
[£2.05] which it is hoped to be wiped out by the sale of goalposts and balls.
St Agnes was to reform again for the
1923/24 season. At the time there were other teams playing in the parish,
including Mithian, Blackwater, Mount Hawke and a newly formed Porthtowan side,
but in August 1923 the Royal Cornwall
Gazette reported that the football club in St Agnes itself was to be
restarted, playing in the Junior and Dunn Cup competitions and the Truro and
District League.
During the 1920s and early 1930s St
Agnes had a very successful team, winning the Dunn Cup, the
After this very successful season
results went downhill, and at the annual meeting of the
The St Agnes club would not reform again
until 1949, though other teams would play in the parish and the St Agnes area.
Mithian became the dominant team and all good players from St Agnes would play
for them. The Royal Cornwall Gazette
of the 7th September 1949 reported on early results for the 1949/50
season: For many years St Agnes has had no football team, but this season there
are four in the Parish; three of them played their first matches on Saturday,
all in the Junior Cup competition. St Agnes lost 16-0 at Perranporth, Goonbell
drew 2-2 with Zelah and Mithian lost 3-1 at Goonhavern.
Things did not improve for St Agnes in
the New Year – heavy defeats continued in January (6-1 to St Erme and 8-1 to
Goonhavern) and in February (15-1 to Goonhavern). By the end of March they were
in eighth and last place in the
Since St Agnes were having such poor results, finishing below
Mithian and Goonbell in the league, it seems strange that at the end of the
season Mr C.T.R. Eva, the St Agnes secretary, wrote to the Mithian and Goonbell
clubs, asking them to join St Agnes ‘with a view to running a first class club’.
Mithian agreed to join St Agnes and with the arrival of their players for the
1950/51 season St Agnes now had a very strong team and a successful year was
anticipated. The loyal supporters were not to be disappointed and the season
started in September with a 10-0 win against Penhale, a 10-3 win against St Erme
and a 3-0 win against Goonhavern.
The team steadily grew in strength and in 1953/54 won the
Dunn Cup and the Knock-out Shield of the Mining Division League, and were
Western finalists in the Junior Cup.
The 1955/56 season was also successful
and on the 31st May 1956 under the heading ‘Good Season, St Agnes AFC
win two Cups and a Shield’, the West
Briton reported on the club’s annual dinner: St Agnes Association Football
Club was congratulated on one of the most successful seasons in its history at
their annual dinner at Porthvean Private Hotel on Saturday … On view were the
Truro and District and Mining Division Leagues’ cups and the Mining Division
Shield which had been won during the season.
The team maintained their success in
1958/59. The West Briton of the 21st
May 1959, under the heading “Successful Season” reported: The senior team of St
Agnes AFC have had one of the most successful seasons in the club’s history,
having won the Jubilee, Dunn and Hoskins Cups, the last named in the
The sixties and seventies brought few trophies to St Agnes,
although the club came very close to finishing top of the Falmouth-Helston
League in the 1974/75 season, winning 26 of their 32 games and losing the title
to Penryn by just one point. For the 1978/79 season St Agnes took the big step
into senior football, competing in the Cornwall Combination League.
For the 1988/89 season, the team had a
new player-manager, St Agnes-born Chris Thomas, who had had an illustrious
playing career with top Cornish clubs including Newquay,
Chris Thomas left the club before the 1992/93 season and took
several players with him, so St Agnes had to rebuild the squad and mediocre
results meant that they finished mid-table for the next few seasons.
For the 1998/99 season St Agnes had another manager, Martyn
Kimmins, who started to build a new, strong team. His efforts were rewarded in
2001/02 when the club won the Combination League and the Supplementary Cup. The
following season they won the league again.
The next few seasons were not as successful, although St
Agnes finished runners-up in the league in 2005/06 and won the Supplementary Cup
the following season, beating Helston Athletic 5-2 in the final.
Another final was reached in the 2009/10 season when the team
played for the League Cup only to lose 3-0 to Illogan.