United Hospitals FC - Non-League Day 2024

This feature is part of a series of articles about seven of Athletic Club's past English opponents that are currently playing Non-League football. These clubs not only played a pivotal role in Athletic's early years, but also in helping football become a global sport.

A representative side taking students from London’s top medical universities, United Hospitals FC played two matches against Athletic Club on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day in 1911/12.

The day before the first clash, local papers told fans to expect what “would undoubtedly be some of the most interesting matches” to have taken place at Jolaseta (Athletic’s ground before San Mames), with United Hospitals being “one of the best amateur teams in England”.

Pre-match analysis on UH was extensive for its time, with one article giving a detailed rundown of their players and the university each one studied at:

Hopewell (Cambridge University), Norman (St Bartholomew's), Neale (Guy's), Camp (Guy's), Neely (Guy's), Macklevey (St. Mary's), Bevis (Guy's), Berg (Guy's), Coxon (Guy's), Tonks (Guy's), Manton King (Guy's).

United Hospitals thrashed Athletic 0-4 in the opening fixture, scoring one goal in the first half and three in the second 45. There was high praise for the English side’s short, quick passing game, their standout player being the left inside-forward who also scored UH’s third with a “massive shot”.

The New Year’s Day clash was a more evenly matched affair with Athletic recording a 3-2 win over the English visitors. Pichichi netted in the seventh minute, Juan Arzuaga extended the Lions’ lead on the half-hour mark and Pichichi put Athletic 3-0 up by half-time. 

United Hospitals – “much fatigued and demoralised” – rallied in the second half. Manton King drew one back shortly after the restart while they also scored a contentious second goal, which most Bilbao-based papers claimed was offside.

The reports singled out Bevis, Camp and Manton as the visitors best players. It was also said that in the proceedings days Bilbainos did little else other than talk about the two matches.

Modern Day

The five universities that currently make up United Hospitals FC (Barts and The London School of Medicine, Imperial College School of Medicine, King's College London School of Medicine, UCL Medical School and St George's Hospital Medical School) compete against each other in a small league called the UH Challenge Cup, one of the oldest cup competitions in football history.

The combined XI plays several friendlies throughout a season, mostly against other universities like Oxford Blues or representative teams such as British Dentists FC and the British Army XI.

UH have no specific Non-League Day fixture this season, but their next match sees them face British Dentists at a future date still to be confirmed.

Flag exchange and retro jersey raffle

As part of Athletic Club’s collaborations with our historical opponents, we have sent each of the seven clubs in this series an Athletic flag to hang at their ground and a retro jersey to raffle off among their fans.

In return, each club has donated a flag to Los Leones. These colours will be on show at different grounds throughout Euskal Non-League Day and then given to the AC Museum.

Euskal Non-League Day

Drawing inspiration from the UK version, Athletic has organised Euskal Non-League Day with the aim of celebrating grassroots football in the Basque Country and recognising the important role our affiliated clubs play in their respective communities in addition to producing players for Athletic.

Coinciding with the Non-League day in the UK, on the weekend on March 23-24, 86 of our partner clubs will be participating in this second edition of Euskal Non-League Day.

Historical English opponents

Our features on the seven English teams are being published in chronological order based on the date of their first match against Athletic.

(Click to club to read)
Monday 18th: Civil Service FC, United Hospitals
Tuesday 19th: Eastbourne Town FC
Wednesday 20th: Merton FC
Thursday 21st: Bromley FC
Friday 22nd: Dulwich Hamlet, Corinthian-Casuals FC

These are the details of the sides’ Non-League Day fixtures. If you’re an Athleticzale in England over the weekend of March 23-24, we encourage you to attend one of these matches.

Civil Service FC vs Old Carthusians. March 23, 13:00 GMT. King’s House Sports Ground
Eastbourne Town vs Shoreham. March 23, 15:00 GMT. The Saffrons
Merton FC vs Winchmore Hill. March 23, 14:00 GMT. Joseph Hood Recreation Ground
Bromley FC vs York City. March 23, 15:00 GMT. Hayes Lane
Bognor Regis Town vs Dulwich Hamlet. March 23, 15:00 GMT. Nyewood Lane
Corinthian-Casuals vs Badshot Lea. March 23, 15:00 GMT. King George’s Field