FORMER SPORTS TEAMS: ST HELENS BLUE STAR – THE VILLAGE GREEN SIDE THAT PUNCHED ABOVE THEIR WEIGHT

St Helens Blue Star were a force to be reckoned with in Island football for almost 140 years. Island Echo takes an in-depth look at the former club with exclusive photos… The village club are believed to have been formed in 1880 and first registered with the FA in 1884. Blue Star achieved considerable success in their early days before World War I: in 1904 they were Division 2 champions, repeating their success in 1910. In 1909, St Helens won the Hampshire Junior Cup at their first attempt! The village side beat Eastleigh Locos 1-0 in the final, which was played at Fareham. The winning goal was scored by Wheeler with ‘an unstoppable shot’. A contemporary newspaper report stated:

“Mrs Batchelor (wife of chairman of Fareham Urban District Council) presented the cup and medals to the winners, who were lustily cheered. H. Henley (captain) suitably responded on behalf of the victorious team, whose success was received with intense delight at St Helens, where on their return the team and their supporters paraded the village with the cup, calling at the Vine Hotel, where success to the winners was heartily drunk.”

Further success followed. St Helens Blue Star won the Isle of Wight Challenge Cup (now the Island Echo Challenge Cup) some 4 years in succession, from 1911 to 1914. In 1913, the village side won a remarkable Isle of Wight Division 1 Championship and Challenge Cup double. The St Helens side did not always play on the village green as pictured above though; at one time they played on a field behind Broomlands Close. They were also located off Carpenter’s Road at Bottrill’s Camp field before the outbreak of World War I. Once the team settled on the village green, they had to contend with a sloping pitch and the ball ending up on the roads that surround the green. Before the sports pavilion was built, the players would change in The Vine Inn public house.

At one time, Blue Star players were known as ‘Goose Islanders’ – the name deriving from the flocks of geese that once grazed the village green. The name still lives on today as a general term for someone who hails from the village. The inter-war years were a less accomplished period for Blue Star, although they lifted the Isle of Wight Division 2 championship in 1929 and the Memorial Cup in 1936.

After World War II, the village green team reached their lowest point in the 1965-66 season when St Helens were left without a football team. However, their fortunes were revived by the landlord of The Vine – Archie Hayden – who became chairman and life president. St Helens Blue Star reached the zenith of their success in the late 20th century when the legendary Roy Shiner was appointed manager. Roy – the greatest footballer ever to come from the Isle of Wight – had a professional career with Huddersfield Town, Sheffield Wednesday and Hull City, scoring 107 goals in 196 Football League appearances. At the end of his playing career, he went on to manage Seaview, Newport, and then St Helens.

Roy recruited some of East Wight’s greatest players of the time, including Nobby Nash and prolific striker Tony Grimwade. Shiner’s football stars reached their peak in the 1980-81 season when they finished as triple champions: Isle of Wight Division 2, Isle of Wight Junior A Cup, and Hampshire Junior Cup. St Helens’s victory in the Hampshire Cup was the first Isle of Wight win in 82 years – regaining the trophy they had previously lifted in 1909. Sadly, a cup final injury led to the end of Tony Grimwade’s competitive career. The following season saw an exodus of experienced players and Blue Star slump, falling back down to Isle of Wight Division 2. However, a 2nd revival came in the 1999/2000 season when St Helens came close to emulating Roy Shiner’s treble of trophies, winning Isle of Wight Division 2, the Junior A Cup, and reaching the final of the Hampshire Junior Cup.

By the 2010s, St Helens had sunk to the former Isle of Wight 3rd Division. The team’s prospects appeared promising when they won the 3rd Division in 2017 with a record of 10 wins, a draw and no losses. Sadly, this was to prove St Helens’ swansong. The following year, they were unable to field a side. In 2018/19, they started the season in the 2nd Division but were unable to complete their fixtures and had their record expunged. Blue Star have failed to compete in subsequent seasons. Today, St Helens’s village green is the home ground for Vectis FC Reserves. Can St Helens Blue Star be revived? Please let us know in the comments… In the next edition of Former Isle of Wight Sports Teams, we shall look at the history of a very unusual sport for the Isle of Wight: the Wight Rhinos American Football team.