Halliwell F.C. was an English association football club based in Halliwell, in north-west Bolton.
History
The club was an early member of the Lancashire Football Association and took part in the first Lancashire Senior Cup in 1879.
The club first took part in the FA Cup in 1882-83, winning 3-2 at Great Lever in the first round in front of over 4,000 spectators, in something of a shock result, as the Leverites had brought in Alf Jones and Evans from Walsall Swifts to boost their squad.
Professionalism
For the 1883-84 season, the club sought players "from all over Lancashire", and had invested nearly £300 into making the ground "one of the best in Lancashire". These suggest that the club had turned professional, along with many other clubs from the county, backed by the local cotton mills. This caused problems for the club in competitions, because it was effectively barred from fielding its best players, as professionals were banned from them until 1885 and after then residency requirements sometimes stopped them from taking part.
The club changed almost its entire playing roster for 1884-85, only four players being carried over, and importing 5 players from Kilmarnock 1884-85, plus two from Eagley. This enabled the club to field a first-class eleven in friendlies, but many of the players were ineligible for Cup competitions. Halliwell lost in the first round of the FA Cup, in a considerable surprise, to Lower Darwen F.C.; amongst Halliwell's earlier results that season was a 20–0 win at Southport, on the same day as Lower Darwen were losing 5–0 to Preston Zingari. However the lack of Halliwell's star players reduced the attendance to a mere 50.
By 1885, the club was employing seven Scottish players - more than anyone in England other than Preston North End and Burnley. In the 1885-86 FA Cup, the club was drawn against Fishwick Ramblers of Preston in the first round, and was initially suspended from the competition for fielding an Astley Bridge player in a friendly match without permission. However, on appeal, the FA lifted the suspension, and Halliwell won the tie 2-1, despite the FA's rules on professional eligibility requiring Halliwell to field mostly a reserve team. The same eligibility rules seemed to have cost the club in the second round, its reserves losing 3-1 at Hurst, but Halliwell's protest against the size of the Hurst pitch was upheld and a replay ordered. Rather than attend the replay, Hurst scratched, but it was a stay of execution for the Halliwellians, as a side which "consisted almost entirely of second eleven youngsters" lost 6-1 to South Shore F.C., in front of a "mere handful" of spectators.
In the 1886-87 FA Cup the club was drawn away to Cup holders Blackburn Rovers in the first round; the Rovers had adopted professionalism before any of the other Lancashire clubs (other than Darwen F.C.) and had a considerable advantage from both the head-start and their players being grandfathered into the residency requirements. Halliwell, forced to drop six of their best players because of the regulations, scratched from the tie, and played the match as a friendly instead. The ability of the Halliwell full-strength side was shown by the Halliwellians managing a 3-3 draw against the Rovers.
1887-88 FA Cup
Halliwell's FA Cup run in 1887-88 involved two protests, one against the club, and one which did not involve the club at all, but could have affected it.
Halliwell beat Liverpool Stanley in the first round, going in at half-time 1-0 down, but a tactical switch for the second half - left-winger Weir swapping places with centre-forward Mullin, which forced Stanley to withdraw midfielder Goodall to cover him - saw Halliwell rattle in five without reply. In the second round, the club easily beat Astley Bridge. The Bridgeites protested that Halliwell's Hewitson was not qualified to play for Halliwell. Halliwell attended the hearing with Hewitson's birth certificate, the FA dismissed the protest, and ordered Astley Bridge to pay 2 guineas and Halliwell's expenses.