voted down his objections. The motion to form a "Luton Town Football Club", put forward by G H Small and seconded by E H Lomax, was carried. A club committee was elected by ballot and the team colours were agreed to be pink and dark blue shirts and caps. The club's early years saw around 35 matches played between October and the following Easter. Most of these were friendlies arranged by the club's secretary, but Luton also competed in the FA Cup. The team had little success – it was not until the 1891–92 season that Luton reached the first round proper. Luton's first achievement was perhaps to become the first professional club in the south of England, at a time when professionalism was mainly restricted to the north. Most players had to work on a Saturday morning and were often late for a game, which annoyed the crowd. It also meant shortened games in the dark winter months. On 15 December 1890, a salary of five shillings per week was offered to three players – Frank Whitby, Harry Whitby and Tom Read – to replace their lost earnings for Saturday morning, to ensure they arrived at the game on time. Harry Whitby and Thomas Read were the first to sign and thus became the first professional footballers in the south. Frank Whitby held out for a shilling a week more than his brother, but did not get it and eventually signed a month after his brother. In August 1891 it was decided to pay the whole team two shillings and sixpence per week, plus expenses. Woolwich Arsenal became the second professional club in southern England a few weeks later. Luton Town were founder members of the Southern Football League in 1894–95 – the club's first competitive league match was on 6 October 1894 – a 4–3 home defeat to Millwall Athletic, who went on to win the inaugural championship as Luton finished as runners-up. The next season, 1895–96, saw Luton come second again as Millwall retained the championship. The sparse programme of league matches was still supplemented by numerous friendly matches at this time. After the two successive runners-up finishes, Luton applied to join the Football League's Second Division in 1896. When the club was not elected, Luton Town instead helped to form the United League. With only eight members, the United League was a short-lived failure and produced