THE history of Maidstone United Football Club may have to be rewritten after new research revealed a team called Maidstone United played in the County Town in 1891 - six years before their official birth in 1897.

The established version of events says a club called Maidstone Invicta was formed in 1890 and played for seven years before changing its name to Maidstone United in 1897.

But a recently-uncovered book and reports from the Kent County Examiner show a team called Maidstone United played its first game in 1891 in front of a crowd of 3,000 fans at a ground off the Sandling Road.

FULL STORY IN THE CURRENT EDITION OF THE KENT MESSENGER