Linby Colliery F.C.

A Nottinghamshire village club formed in 1892, nineteen years after the colliery whose name it carries began raising coal, and known for a spell in the 1990s and 2000s as Linby Colliery Welfare. Its high point came in 1950–51, when it reached the first round proper of the FA Cup after a run of seven ties, beating Boston United 4–0 away on the way, and lost 4–1 at home to Gillingham in front of its own village. The pit closed in 1988; the club is still playing.

The mining history in this record

Linby Colliery Football Club was formed in 1892 in a Leen Valley village that existed for its pit. The colliery had been raising coal since the early 1870s, employed between 1,200 and 1,400 people by the 1890s, and would go on to be named Britain’s Champion Pit in the early 1960s. The club took the colliery’s name and, for a period during the 1990s and 2000s, the fuller form used by miners’ welfare clubs across the coalfields: Linby Colliery Welfare.

The company it kept in competition says as much about the world it came from as its name does. The Football Club History Database’s record of Linby’s FA Cup ties in the late 1940s and 1950s is a roll of the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire coalfield: Creswell Colliery four times, Bestwood Colliery twice, Shirebrook Miners Welfare, Sutton Town of Ashfield, Ransome & Marles of Newark, and — twice — Parliament Street Methodists of Nottingham. This was the football of pit villages playing each other, organised around the welfare ground and the shift pattern.

The run of 1950–51 took it out of that world for one afternoon. Linby came through the extra preliminary round against Parliament Street Methodists 4–3 away, beat Retford Town 3–0 and Shirebrook 2–0, won 4–0 at Boston United in the second qualifying round, drew 2–2 at Spalding United and won the replay 3–1, and beat Nuneaton Borough 3–1 to reach the first round proper. On 25 November 1950 Gillingham came to Linby and won 4–1. Linby’s goal was scored by Ralph "Dickie" Dulson, whose son Garry later played for Port Vale.

People

Ralph "Dickie" Dulson, who scored Linby’s goal against Gillingham in the FA Cup first round on 25 November 1950, and whose son Garry Dulson went on to play for Port Vale.

Legacy today

The colliery closed on 31 March 1988 and its site has been cleared to a memorial and a plaque. The club outlived it by nearly forty years and counting: it was a founder member of the Midland League’s new Division One in 1975–76 and finished runner-up on goal difference two seasons later, joined the Central Midlands League in 2012–13, won that league’s cup in 2021–22 on penalties against Mickleover RBL, and took the Nottinghamshire FA Senior Trophy in 2024–25, beating Blidworth Welfare — another colliery welfare club — 3–0 in the final. It plays at Church Lane, Linby. The name on the shirt is now the last thing in the village that says what the place was for.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each tagged with how solidly it's grounded and attached to the source(s) that support it. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• The club was formed in 1892 and was known as Linby Colliery Welfare for a period during the 1990s and 2000s. (documented fact) ¹
• Linby beat Parliament Street Methodists 4–3, Retford Town 3–0, Shirebrook 2–0, Boston United 4–0 away, Spalding United 3–1 after a 2–2 draw, and Nuneaton Borough 3–1 to reach the first round proper, where they lost 4–1 at home to Gillingham on 25 November 1950. (documented fact) ^1,2
• Linby’s FA Cup ties between 1948 and 1957 were played largely against other coalfield sides — Creswell Colliery on four occasions, Bestwood Colliery twice, and Shirebrook Miners Welfare. (documented fact) ²
• Linby’s goal against Gillingham was scored by Ralph "Dickie" Dulson, father of the future Port Vale player Garry Dulson. (documented fact) ¹

Mines

• Linby Colliery — Nottinghamshire
  The club carries the colliery’s name and, for a period, its welfare designation. The colliery was working from the early 1870s and closed on 31 March 1988; the club was formed in 1892 and is still playing at Church Lane in the village.

Regions

Nottinghamshire

Real-world mining concepts used here

Coal, Colliery

Sources

1. (secondary) Linby Colliery F.C. — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Linby Colliery — Football Club History Database — Football Club History Database
3. (primary) Linby Colliery (Nottinghamshire) — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 6 September 2026 · Last researched: 6 September 2026