Eccles United Football Club, previously known as Eccles Borough and Springfield Athletic, was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Eccles, Greater Manchester Eccles () is a market town in the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England, west of Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford and west of Manchester, split by the M602 motorway and bordered by the Manchester Ship Canal to the south. The t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, which participated in 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 ...

and various local leagues.

History

The club was founded as Springfield Athletic in 1901, originally playing in the North Salford league, and changed its name to Eccles Borough in 1907, when joining the Manchester League; alternative choices for names included Eccles, Barton, or Patricroft. In December that year, the club resolved to form a

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...

, the funds raised being used to buy a long lease on a new ground. In 1909, having finished third in the Manchester League, the club joined 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 ...

second division, and was promoted to the top flight in 1911 after the reserve sides of clubs from 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 ...

left. The club won the title twice, in 1912–13 and 1914–15, and remained a member until 1925. It also entered the

Lancashire Senior Cup The Lancashire County Football Association Cup (commonly known as the Lancashire Senior Cup) is an association football knockout tournament involving teams from Lancashire, England. It is a County Cup competition of the Lancashire County Footbal ...

from 1912–13 to 1914–15, but only won one tie, against

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

in the first round in its last entry. The club changed its name to Eccles United in 1919 and its best run in the

was in 1920–21, reaching the first round proper, or last 64 (equivalent of the third round in 2025). At that stage it was drawn to visit Southend United; Eccles ambitiously but unsuccessfully offered Southend £500 to switch the tie to Manchester, hoping to use

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

. Schofield gave Eccles a surprise early lead, but Southend hit back to win 5–1. Eccles took advantage of the trip south to lay a wreath at the

Cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty grave, tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere or have been lost. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although t ...

- ten of its players had served in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 1925, the club left the Lancashire Combination for the Cheshire Football League, but in 1928, after its second finish at the bottom of the table, the club withdrew. The club joined the Manchester League once more, but withdrew in September 1929, and was wound up, its ground and fittings being put up for sale that month. A new club was founded in 2020 to revive the old name; it joined the Manchester League in 2022.

Colours

The club wore white shirts, dark shorts, and black socks.

Ground

The club originally played at a ground near Springfield Mill, and moved to Bradburn Street in 1908.

References

{{reflist Defunct football clubs in England Eccles, Greater Manchester Defunct football clubs in Greater Manchester Cheshire County League clubs Association football clubs established in 1901 Association football clubs disestablished in 1929

History

Colours

Ground

See also

References