Denton F.C. was an English

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club from Denton, east

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

History

Although the club claimed a formation date of 1880, the first recorded match is from the 1883–84 season, a 5–1 defeat to fellow Mancunian club Greenheys.

FA Cup entries

The club first entered the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

in 1887–88, the last season before the introduction of qualifying rounds. Denton was drawn to play South Shore but could not use two of its best players because they had not met the residency requirements for that year's competition. Rather than play with a weakened side, on the day of the tie, Denton scratched, and played the match as a friendly instead, South Shore winning 2–1. Denton only entered the competition twice more, in 1889–90 and 1890–91, both times losing to Gorton Villa in the first qualifying round.

The Combination

In 1890, the club was a founder member of the second incarnation of

the Combination The Combination was a league during the early days of English football. It had two incarnations; the first ran only for the 1888–89 season for teams across Northern England and the Midlands, and was disbanded before completion. The second ...

, a league that operated as a regional third-tier competition, after the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

and

Football Alliance The Football Alliance was an association football league in England which ran for three seasons, from 1889–90 to 1891–92. History In 1888, the same year the Football League was founded, The Combination was established by clubs who had been ...

. In its first season, Denton came 5th out of 9. However, in 1891–92, Denton finished bottom, with only 2 wins in 22 matches, and were "rejected" from the competition.

Lower league football

The club had more success at a lower level. In 1905–06 the Hatters won the Manchester League, but decided not to apply to join the next higher tier, the

Lancashire Combination The Lancashire Combination was a football league founded in the North West of England in 1891–92. It absorbed the Lancashire League in 1903. In 1968 the Combination lost five of its clubs to the newly formed Northern Premier League. In 1982 i ...

. In 1906–07, the club won the Manchester Junior Cup and the Healy Charity Cup, but suffered a loss of £20. The club was showing some ambition by signing more players, including former

Glossop Glossop is a market town in the borough of High Peak (borough), High Peak, Derbyshire, England, east of Manchester, north-west of Sheffield and north of Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock. Near Derbyshire's borders with Cheshire, Greater Mancheste ...

player Barlow, and at the end of 1908–09 finally applied to join the Lancashire Combination. The Hatters in fact remained in the Manchester League for 1909–10 and only joined the Combination in 1910–11. However the move was not a success, the club only twice finishing in the top half, and the club did not re-emerge after World War 1. Its last appearance was in the wartime Lancashire League Southern Division in 1915–16; the club finished bottom with 6 points.

Colours

The earliest club colours were described as red and white, probably referring to the shirts and shorts rather than a pattern. By 1902 the club was wearing chocolate and blue stripes and by 1911–12 plain blue.

Ground

The club played at the Chapel House Ground at Chapel Green, near the Chapel House Hotel.

References

{{Reflist Defunct football clubs in England Association football clubs established in 1880 Football clubs in Manchester Association football clubs disestablished in 1916 Defunct football clubs in Greater Manchester Defunct football clubs in Lancashire