This week in County History Edition 6 ... 1900

 

 

 Header from Stockport County - From the Nursery !

 

 

We are going back a very long way for this week's article - all the way to our first season after being elected to the Football League.

 The newspapers back in 1900 started the week with reflections on the first Football League game in County's history. We had managed a draw in Leicester on the Saturday on our visit to Leicester Fosse. Below are some extracts from one of the match reports of that game.

Monday's Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser reported at Leicester in beautiful weather, before 7,000 spectators. Leicester Fosse won the toss, and had the wind in the first half. The homesters were the first to attack, and a corner was quickly forced, but nothing tangible occurred. The Fossils, however, kept the pressure, but twice the ball was put behind. McMillan ultimately headed through, gaining the first point for Fosse 17 minutes from the start Some exciting play followed,

James Moores

Connachan, for Fosse, hitting the crossbar, while Moores had all his work cut out to save from Dunkley. 

Then Betteley gave Beardsloy his first piece of work, but the Fosse defence cleared. Shortly afterwards, however, Stockport again got down, and Betteley scored in the corner of the net. The game continued to rule fast, and five minutes from the interval McMillan headed the second goal through for Fosse.

For the second half Stockport attacked, but their effort failed, and Fosse obtained relief from a free kick. The visitors quickly returned the assault, and Patterson made the score equal by a low shot, which Beardsley failed to clear. Fosse pressed keenly from this point, but the visitors' defence was effective. The game proceeded evenly, neither side having any particular advantage until the close, when Fosse attacked vainly.

 

 

On the same day as those match reports we were off to play early Monday evening in the Potteries. The Cheshire Daily Echo reported the team left a little before 3 for Cobridge just two hours before the scheduled kick off time.

 

Our first ever Division Two goal scorer, Billy Betteley, had to miss the game as the same paper reported he had been "considerably knocked about on Saturday." Who said the dark arts were a new phenomenon.

 His loss did not prove too big an issue as with a penalty conversion after 53 minutes Billy S

Billy Betteley

 

mith gave us victory over Burslem Port Vale, and earned our first two points in the Football League. The penalty was awarded when Patterson was brought down by Clare with the goal at his mercy. The attendance on what was undoubtably a working day for the locals was reported as about 2,000 and included around 50 enthusiasts who travelled with the County team.

The two sides on that Monday evening of 3rd September were:

Burslem: Tommy Poole, Tommy Clare, Frank Stokes, Lucien Boullimier, James Beech, R Seaton, Bill Heames, John Henshall, Daniel Simpson, George Price and Tom Aston

County: James Moores, Jack Earp, Jimmy Wainwright, Percy Pickford, Andy Limond, Ben Harvey, Harry Stansfield, Billy Smith, John Patterson, Joe Foster and Billy Parker

 Ben Harvey

Taking his place in the side for the first time was Heaton Norris born and bred inside forward Billy Parker( SCAN 22), whose descendent is a regular at County games all these years later and received Billy's SCAN certificate on the launch night of the scheme.

 Dools hands the SCAN Cert to Wardy.

 

 

The next day there was more relatively good news as County had been exonerated at a Football League meeting over the signing of Harry Stansfield. Preston North End had reported County for approaching and signing the transfer listed player.

It was an example of the way club's decided where a man could play back in those days. The previous season Harry had been turning out for Berry's Employees Association - a non-league team, but he was still officially a retained player for Preston so they felt County should have been talking to them.

County did not get off scot free as they were ordered to pay Preston a fee of £12 10s.

 

So after a couple of trips to the Midlands it was time for that first home Football League game on the ground behind the Nursery Inn on Green Lane. Around 7,000 people crowded into the enclosure.

 

They were to see a League debutant in outside left Harry Singleton (SCAN 23). Harry had been with the club since January having been signed from Macclesfield and who was working as a clerk at the time. He played three games scoring two goals in our Lancashire League title winning season.

 

The game turned out to be his only match at this level for the Hatters as the opposition side - reportedly set up as a commercial venture to attract people to the town outside the holiday season and named after its most prominent feature - proved far too strong for the Hatters.

 

Tower inflicted our worst home defeat in the League - obviously so as it was our first game. It was a record that stood until 1961 when in their own first season in the Football League Peterborough United won 6-0 at Edgeley Park.

 

Danny Cunliffe scored four goals with two in the first half on 10 and 30 minutes. He completed his hat-trick in the second half before Ben Hulse got in on the act and the dangerous forward then scored his fourth goal of the game.

 

Jack Earp (from Stockport County from the Nursery)

 

 

The two sides that day were:

County: James Moores, Jack Earp, Jimmy Wainwright, Percy Pickford, Andy Limond, Ben Harvey, Harry Stansfield, Billy Smith, John Patterson, Joe Foster and Harold Singleton

New Brighton Tower: Frank Barrett, Archie Goldie, Smart Arridge, John Holmes, Herbert Dainty, Tommy Allison, Tom Bradshaw, Danny Cunliffe, Jack Farrell, Ben Hulse and George Barnes

The remarkably named Smart Arridge would later join County.

 

Joe Butler

(From Pete Freeman & Richard Harnwell`s Stockport County `A Complete Record`) 

 

 

Meanwhile the reserves also suffered a heavy defeat that day 0-3 at Padiham in the Lancashire Combination despite the presence of the man who would become probably the first of County's well regarded keepers in Joe Butler guarding the net..

 

So a varied start to our Football League career. More next week.

 

Ian Watts