The earliest mention of any form of organised football in Luton came when the birth was announced of the  Luton Wanderers in September 1880 following a meeting held at the Cricketers Arms in High Town Road.  Its members, who were all working men, paid a shilling (5p) entrance fee and a subscription of twopence (1p) per week for the season.

This well run side played its games on Bell’s Close, then as now a public open space, and so were unable to collect any form of gate money.  This all changed in 1884 when a field, now the Dallow Road Recreation Ground, belonging to Mr W Deacon was hired and a paying gate watched the first F.A.Cup tie to be played in the town. Old Etonians, then a big power in football, were the visitors and ran out easy 3-1 winners.

The only other club in the area with any pretensions to equal strength was Luton Excelsior who were also made up of working class men but rather more rough and ready than their aristocratic neighbours.  They did, however, boast a more enclosed playing pitch in Dallow Lane no more than a stone’s throw from the Wanderers ground and it is this reason above all others that led to suggestions being raised as to an amalgamation of the two clubs which would then be able to take on opponents from further afield, as football continued to take a hold on the population.

At a meeting called on April 11th 1885 it was moved that a Town Football Club be formed, to be called Luton Town Football Club.  The Excelsior body at the meeting was fully behind the merger but there was a pocket from the other camp that were not quite so keen as they had decided to change the name of the Wanderers to the Luton Town Football Club at a meeting held at St Matthew’s School some three months before.

Fortunately the motion opposing the merger was overwhelmingly defeated but it is difficult to see why there should have been any bad feeling as the joining together of the two strongest sides made eminent sense especially when the Excelsior ground was thrown into the equation.

A poll was taken to elect the inaugural committee of nine gentlemen and to keep the peace it was agreed that six players from Wanderers would be selected for the first game to be played added to five from Excelsior with the split changing the following week and on throughout the season.  Certain Wanderers officials still festered over the merger, however, and managed to put out a side in the F.A.Cup over the following two campaigns albeit with little success.  No mention of Wanderers as a separate entity is evident past 1887.

Football was obviously a different game compared to that played today.  In 1885 professionalism had only just been legalised but was confined to northern clubs, there were no goal nets and the penalty kick was still six years away from entering the rule books.  Players were courteous to each other but on the other hand play was brutal to say the least with little finesse being exhibited as the combatants kicked lumps out of each other.  The Luton Town minute book famously confirms that the ‘colors (note the American spelling) of the club should be navy blue and pink with a shirt and cap to be worn by each member when playing.’

How the players were expected to play while wearing a cap is anyone’s guess but they were certainly still being worn the following year as it was reported that ‘Messrs Beecroft’s were to be taken to task for overcharging for the new caps.’.

Adverts were placed in the popular ‘Pastime’ and ‘Referee’ magazine asking for fixtures and a list of likely opponents was also drawn up and letters written.  Among the earliest invitees were Old Etonians, Grove House, Old Foresters, Old Wykehamists, Prairie Rangers, Hendon, Hotspur and St Albans. Although most of these names mean little to today’s supporter they were, in fact, the Premiership of the day boasting international players galore.

Negotiations were immediately entered into with John Sanders, the joint owner of the Dallow Lane ground previously used by Excelsior, and the annual rent of five guineas (£5.25) was swiftly agreed.  The committee then confirmed that a ball should be purchased and scaffold poles erected for the goals.

This was then followed by the erection of a hut for the convenience of members as well as requesting that one constable should be present at each of the forthcoming games.

The ground at Dallow Lane (now Road) was situated immediately behind what was Dunstable Road School and hemmed in by the railway line to Dunstable.  Steam trains chugged past the pitch while games were taking place and during an early local derby against St Albans, star centre-forward Harry Whitby missed a sitter and later claimed that smoke from a passing engine got in his eyes!

In those formative years the season stretched from October through to Easter finishing with two games played on Bank Holiday Monday.  Apart from entry into the F.A Cup, or English Cup as it was then known, and forays into local charity cup competitions the remainder of the matches were friendlies with the club’s committee being forced to pay more and more out by way of financial ‘guarantees’ to the opposition as the popularity of the game grew.  It is reported in the club’s minutes that some clubs, particularly northern professional outfits, were seeking amounts that simply could not be afforded on home gates of just a few hundred people.

Although the birth of the club had been difficult its life could quite easily have been over before it had chance to develop if the minutes from the first Annual General Meeting called for 15th May 1886 could be believed.  It was reported that it was impossible to start the meeting at the agreed time as the attendance was so low which confirmed that ‘the club was on its last legs’ both support and money-wise.

Mercifully, although the committee was regarded as being three bodies short, it was agreed that the club should continue and by March of the following year it was reported that the gate for the game to be played on April 9th against Hanover United should be for the benefit of three players. This would indicate that the club had overcome its initial financial worries and, as an aside, had ventured into quasi-professionalism earlier than previously thought.

Although the committee members paid an annual subscription, and could therefore be regarded as custodians of the club, they seemed to carry rather more clout with the control of the players than would be acceptable today even to a benefactor with millions.

Players were regularly called to the committee meetings to be castigated over their ‘selfish play’ and failure to find the back of the net as well as to be warned over their future behaviour after being spotted ‘taking the drink’ in the fleshpots of Luton.

With most of the committee members owners of some of the many hat factories in the town they treated the players as they would their own employees apart from the fact that the players were not paid at the time.  This small fact did not seem to prevent them from holding back with their criticisms nor, it must be said, did the players seem to take offence, touching their forelocks in deference to a higher class of person in those late Victorian days.

Victorian morals also spread to a paternalistic attitude towards the players and the unpaid officials of the club.  It is reported that during a game against London Caledonians over Easter 1887, McLennon, the visiting captain, went over after a heavy tackle. Although he twice tried to continue two Luton doctors in the crowd confirmed he had a broken leg and placed him on one of the duckboards surrounding the pitch and carried him to St Mary’s hospital across the road while the contest was abandoned.

In those days there was no state help if you were unable to work so the Luton committee proposed that committee member H.G.Spratley should provide the player with a pair of crutches!

As crowds started to increase at Dallow Lane it was soon realised that spectators needed a few creature comforts available to make sure they returned. A ‘ground man’ was taken on at a wage of 3/- (15p) per match, urinals built (although nothing for ladies) and the goalposts painted white for ease of visibility.

The changes to Dallow Lane appeared very cosmetic, which gave the impression that even from the earliest days the committee was seeking an alternative venue and every few months a deputation visited the Bury (Bury Park) to view the football field there.

One of the main problems at Dallow Lane was the lack of adequate changing facilities and after the Fox public house (which was just over the road from the ground) decided not to continue with offering a dressing room, the players had to change at the Crown and Anchor which was a fair walk away even though ‘towels and hot water’ were available.

Despite all this, the club decided to make a fist of it at Dallow Lane and signed a seven year lease in July 1890 which all of a sudden seemed ‘hardly long enough’. A small covered stand with some seating was then erected on the Dallow Lane side of the ground. Unfortunately, the club could not use the new stand at the start of the 1890/91 season as the Luton Cricket Club, which had use of the ground over the summer months as part of the agreement with the landowner, still had games to play.  The football side therefore had to borrow Captain Carruthers ground at Bury Park Farm for a one-off and such was the state of the Dallow Lane pitch, as it had been used by all and sundry over the summer apart from the cricketers, Mr Heley’s ground, used by Luton Montrose ‘at the back of the Bury’ ( roughly situated between the present day Beech Road and Oak Road) had to be rented until the end of November and in fact was used for an F.A.Cup match against 93rd Highland Regiment in October 1890.

Although the thought of taking on a ground that could not be used smacks of amateurism the club’s committee had high ideas and in December 1890 the minute book reports that it was ‘resolved that 5/- (25p) a week be offered to brothers F and H Whitby and Reed, failing this the Hon. Sec.to use his own discretion in the matter.’

That this was the beginning of the slippery slope towards full professionalism was soon revealed as, less than two months later, it was reported that Frank Whitby wanted 1/- (5p) a week more than his brother Harry to pay for travelling and loss of earnings.

The Town’s committee then realised that ‘if one or two were paid the remainder had a perfect right to ask for payment on the same lines.’  At the end of that particular meeting it was decided that ‘enough money had already been spent on professionalism and that if continued it undoubtedly would prove disastrous to the club.’

As such, Whitby’s request was turned down but by August 1891 the club were proposing to pay all players 2/6 (12.5p) per week for matches played at home with 6d (2.5p) extra for out (away) matches while time lost before 12.00am would be made up to them on reasonable terms.  The carrot also came with a stick though, as any player delaying the kick-off by 15 minutes would receive a fine of one fifth of his remuneration or 30 minutes two fifths.  

There is no mention of Frank Whitby’s response to all this!

Below: Frank (left) and Harry Whitby

The advent of semi-professionalism had one plus point in that it made sure the players would be present for games and hopefully spelt the end to little tales such as that recorded in the minutes of 4th December 1890.

‘One of the Harpenden men, Moore, could not play unless he could get back by 8 pm.  This being the case it was thought we ought to play Moore by some means.  It was therefore proposed, seconded and carried unanimously that Mr Long (a committee member) should hire Mr Cannon’s horse and trap, drive down gently early in the day and bring Mr Moore back at night.’

Semi-professionalism was a natural successor to all that was happening in the game at the time.  A Southern League had been mooted as early as February 1890 as clubs such as Luton grew tired of a procession of friendly games against a huge variety of opposing  sides where the standard differed wildly.  It was common for the Town to offer financial ‘guarantees’ to some of the big northern clubs to come to play in Luton but when the supposed team of high flyers turned up it bore no resemblance to the eleven that turned out for their last Football League outing. On the other side of the coin, clubs were always pestering the Town’s committee for a game but as in the case of Formby’s visit to Luton where the home team ran out 16-0 winners the opposition, who were thought to be ‘class opponents’, turned out to be the ‘biggest failure’ ever to appear on the Town ground.

Despite this variance in opposition, crowds were on the increase and for the big English (F.A.) Cup games up to 4,000 were present on a ground that lacked most of the basic amenities.  The club’s first good run in the competition, in 1891/92, ended with the Town drawn against ‘big boys’ Middlesbrough at Dallow Lane.

The northern club’s representatives immediately offered a huge financial inducement of £50 to switch the tie but the Town’s committee refused and probably regretted it as a miserable 0-3 defeat followed amidst spectator complaints of overcrowding and a lack of creature comforts.

The lesson learned, the committee then made immediate plans to erect a state of the art grandstand, but it was not until December 1893 that the new structure was opened.  Situated on the railway side of the ground with a direct entrance from Dunstable Road the new stand was 120 feet long, 18 feet high, 13 feet deep and had five tiers of seats as well as a Press table.  At last the club had some decent facilities with the stand immediately becoming highly popular, taking over from the small pavilion behind the goal and the shed along the other touchline.

Other additions at that time consisted of goal nets, which had just been sanctioned by the Football Association, and a large canvas sheet to be erected to protect the ground from non-paying onlookers.

On the field, an advert placed in the ‘Athletic News’ had brought a response from many well known footballers of the day and from the list the committee plumped for J.W. Julian of Woolwich Arsenal.  Bill Julian was a real coup for not only were the Town picking up a star player but secretary Isaac Smith convinced him that he should continue to live in Plumstead and work at the munitions factory there which meant that no outside job or house had to be provided.

Soon after this came the signing of Hugh Galbraith from Burnley. Galbraith was quickly regarded as the ’finest goalscorer in the south’ and he and Julian formed the backbone of a new look Luton Town side that beat Old Westminsters at Wembley Park in the F.A.Cup in November 1893. Old Westminsters, who included six internationals in their side, were a notable scalp and a ‘great throng’ was present at Luton railway station to greet the returning heroes. Unfortunately, although the Town won through to the first round proper once more, they went down 1-2 at Middlesbrough Ironopolis.

Below: Hugh Galbraith

Galbraith, despite becoming a crowd favourite, was still not immune from criticism as the club’s secretary was ordered to write to him “drawing his attention to the way he hangs on to the ball instead of passing it when the opportunity presents itself.”

At the same time Jack Dimmock was to be spoken to “to put a little more heart and dash into his play,” and also extract a promise from John Finlayson to, “try his best to keep himself from the drink.”

As well as cracking the whip, the committee also showed their gentler and more paternalistic side when ,”on Gorman’s expiration of his term in the army £5 be granted to him in order to obtain civilian clothing.”

With the club now in fine fettle both on and off the pitch the opportunity to become founder members of the Southern League came just at the right time. Only nine teams took part in that inaugural season but it finally meant truly competitive football in a professional league.

The new stand was extended by 12 yards at each end, advertising hoardings placed on every available space around the ground and ‘Match Cards’ were to be produced for the first time with Samuel Pride coming out with the highest tender of 50/- (£2.50) for the season.

The new campaign started with a home defeat at the hands of Millwall in front of a crowd of 5,000 at Dallow Lane and this set the pattern for the rest of the season with the Town following in the wake of the ‘Dockers’ and finishing runners-up. Another good run in the F.A.Cup saw mighty Preston win 2-0 at Luton in the first round proper (equivalent to today’s fourth round).

Towards the end of that season came the news that it was unlikely that the lease on Dallow Lane, which was due to expire in 1897, would be renewed as the owners wished to sell part of the land in order that the eventual Dunstable Road school could be built.

The Town’s committee then approached a Mr Crawley regarding the possible sale of the Bury Park land and football pitch, which the club had used before, and which was now being used by Luton Montrose.  This offer was evidently refused with Mr Crawley proving very difficult and with time running out a deal was struck to rent the ground although it could be seen that until the club owned its own land then this situation could arise again.

The 1895/96 season saw the Town finish as runners-up to Millwall once more in the Southern League and at the end of the campaign the strange decision was taken to resign from the competition and only then apply to the Football League for membership of Division Two.  Of course, the inevitable happened with Blackpool, Walsall and Gainsborough Trinity being elected and the Town, Port Vale and five other clubs failing to gain the necessary votes.

Fortunately, the United League was in the process of being formed and the Town quickly applied for membership.  At the Annual General Meeting of the club it was mentioned that the financial losses made during the previous season were due to lack of spectator interest in the Southern League as well as the cost of travelling.  It was regarded that the smaller United League would enable costs to be kept down although this is difficult to substantiate and there is no mention of the abortive attempt to gain admission to the predominantly northern based Football League. Even a century later these words smack of face saving!

Caught between two stools on the playing front, starved of cash with a £500 overdraft request being refused by the club’s bankers and virtually homeless it is a miracle that the club survived.  Showing great resilience both on and off the pitch everyone pulled together.  On the playing side the Town finished runners-up once more, again to Millwall, and had another good run in the F.A.Cup before being narrowly beaten 0-1 by West Bromwich Albion in front of a record crowd of 6,898 at Dallow Lane.

Shortly afterwards the club made the short move to Dunstable Road, Bury Park for the next chapter in its history.

The new ground was just across the railway line, only a goal kick away from the old pitch and was probably better situated with ample room for expansion. It was originally intended to build a new stand on the Dunstable Road side of the ground but this was refused by Luton Town Council after long deliberations.  The intention was to build the new stand with dressing rooms underneath, but nine people living in the new houses opposite objected to the proposed height of 27 feet.

Consideration was then made to placing the stand along the opposite touchline (where Avondale Road now stands) which would mean that spectators would not have the sun in their eyes, but for ease of access the Dunstable Road side was favoured and it was finally decided that the Dallow Lane stand, erected only three years previously, should be dismantled and moved to the new site.

The club was living on borrowed time, as they should strictly have left Dallow Lane at the end of the previous year and were on a month by month agreement with the owners of the land who were becoming increasingly agitated.  The decision to move the old stand was taken only three weeks before the proposed opening of the new ground, because of the long delays with the planning department, and one wonders what would have happened should the Council have found in the club’s favour at the end of their deliberations and told them they could, after all, erect a new stand!

Although games had to be played on the new field from February onwards with no creature comforts on site, the official opening of the ground was scheduled for 3rd April 1897 with Loughborough the visitors for a United League fixture and amazingly just about everything was in place when the big day arrived.  The stand was adorned with bunting in the new club colours of red, white and black stripes (the club had changed from their original pink and blue to cardinal red in 1889) and a band led the procession of dignitaries from the Town Hall, which included the Duke of Bedford who was to carry out the official opening as well as the kick-off.

A crowd of 5,000 had gathered on the new ground but only a few would have heard the Duke express his long held support of the club, that he was honoured to be there on such an occasion, where all the inhabitants of Luton, all classes and all ages appeared to take the greatest interest and then declare the ground open.  In a vote of thanks the local M.P. Mr T.G.Ashton thanked His Grace for coming and then saying, “Perhaps a Saturday half-holiday is not so precious to the Duke of Bedford as to some of those here,” before trying to extricate himself from the hole he was digging by adding, “not that he is a less hard working man.”  The Duke seemed not to be offended and pledged £50 towards the £800 still needed to bring the ground completely up to scratch before kicking off the game.  For the record the contest was a dull affair which finished 1-0 to the Town with future manager John McCartney scoring the goal.

The old ground at Dallow Lane was soon unrecognisable with Dunstable Road school built within a year.  The remainder of the site was used by Henry Brown for a timber yard and the shed used by the Town for covered accommodation on the Dallow Lane side of the ground, and left behind, was still utilised for storing wood as late as the 1960’s.

Less than a month after the opening of the new ground the committee met to agree that the club should be floated as a Limited Liability Company with capital of £2,000 in £1 shares.  At the same time it was agreed that all Football League clubs should be canvassed once more to gain the necessary votes for admittance to Division Two.

This time the Town gained the extra couple of votes needed to gain admission.  Lincoln City and Burton Swifts were re-elected with the Town next on the list with 13 votes effectively taking the place of Burton Wanderers.

The Town had brought together a decent side for that first season in the Football League and after an opening day draw at Leicester Fosse more than held their own at this new level and finished a creditable eighth.  Crowds hovered around the 4 to 5000 mark and the central part of the terraces opposite the main stand were covered in to provide more spectator comfort.

Below: Team Photo at Dallow Road.

The record attendance for a game at Dunstable Road came on 29th January 1898 when a crowd of 9,000 were present to see top flight Bolton Wanderers win an F.A.Cup tie 1-0. The Trotters still ran out winners despite being without their influential skipper Jones who had badly burnt his toe after trying to cure a corn.

Trainer Billy Lawson was offered a wage of 30/- (£1.50) a week with an additional 2/6 (12.5p) for washing the kit.

When all seems to be going well something crops up to send you back to earth. During the close season of 1898, newly voted in Glossop North End made an audacious £300 bid for four Luton players, Jimmy McEwen, Robert Donaldson, Richard Williams and William Gallacher which was reluctantly accepted by the Luton board. This led to a mini-exodus of players, but the hastily arranged new look side was nowhere near as successful as the Town tumbled down to fourth bottom in the new campaign,  Glossop, incidentally, went on to win promotion to Division One at the first time of asking!

In November 1898 three players were called in front of the Board to answer charges of ‘immorality and misconduct’. The misconduct turned out to be drunkenness but details of the other charge are frustratingly not recorded. All three players were severely censured, fined and suspended for 14 days.

The Town’s third season in the Football League was an unmitigated disaster. A poor squad of young, inexperienced players won only five league games during the campaign and with all the other sides apart from Woolwich Arsenal northern or midlands based the cost of travel was astronomical. Crowds dropped to around 1,500 as defeat followed defeat and the Board was facing a massive loss as the season drew to a close.

With the team finishing one off the bottom in the table the decision was taken not to bother to apply for re-election but instead go cap in hand to the Southern League to ask for forgiveness and re-admittance. The Southern League was now a much stronger competition than the one that was left behind four years before but they accepted the Town back with open arms.

The 1900-01 season saw the Town back amongst old friends and on the opening day Southampton, adversaries from the club’s earliest days, were the visitors. A much improved crowd of around 5,000 saw the Town go down 3-4 but matters improved and the team finished in a comfortable position while behind the scenes it was a case of repairing the club’s parlous financial position.

It was not long, though, before it was revealed that there would be a strong likelihood that the club would have to uproot yet again. The owners of the Dunstable Road site could see the development potential, especially as the area was seeing a building boom alongside the rapid growth of the town.

This time the Board was determined to own any new ground to enable the club to finally grow some roots and a ‘Ground Committee’ was set up as early as September 1903 so that as many new sites as possible could be explored.

The Board received a report that Messrs Lawson, Lindsay, Sharp and Blessington were drunk on the return journey from Oxford after the friendly match at City. All were suspended for a week with trainer Lawson threatened with dismissal unless he consented to becoming teetotal.

After looking at various sites around the town the Board finally decided on another piece of land bounded by the Luton to Dunstable railway line and again only a goal kick from their existing home. The site at the end of the newly developed Ivy Road was a smaller plot than the one on Dunstable Road, sloped from one corner to the other and had a part sliced off by the railway line. Little did anyone know that this site, not ideal then, would be the club’s home for over a century.

Industry was being encouraged to come to the town at the time on the promise of cheap land and it is fairly certain that the club’s directors could have taken advantage of this situation as the workers being attracted to the area would need spectator sports for their relaxation. That they chose to take up such a piece of land when the alternatives could have produced a far more practical solution was obvious. Cost!

The Ivy Road site was purchased for £300 by six directors, Messrs Arnold, Squires, Allen, Smith, Gibbs and Smart and then rented back to the club on a seven year lease at £160 per annum.

In fairness, a good amount needed to be spent on bringing the new ground up to scratch but as the land was purchased a year before occupation and a ‘New Ground Fund’ had been set up for supporter contributions the end cost to the directors was probably not as much as it could have been.

It was reported at a supporters meeting at the Plait Hall in April 1905 that the cost of levelling and preparation of the new site plus the moving of the Dunstable Road grandstand was £1,000 while at the club’s Annual General Meeting in July these costs were stated as being £2,000. It is not revealed how much the ‘New Ground Fund’ raised nor how much advertising revenue was being obtained after erecting ten foot high fences at the Dunstable end (Oak Road) of the ground.