Skerton Football Club was an

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

Lancaster, Lancashire Lancaster (, ) is a city in Lancashire, England, and the main cultural hub, economic and commercial centre of City of Lancaster district. The city is on the River Lune, directly inland from Morecambe Bay. Lancaster is the county town, although ...

, active in the 19th century.

History

The earliest references to the club are from the 1888–89 season. It took a more serious turn in 1891, when it decided to appoint a trainer for the first time, Councillor Smith agreeing to defray the expense. After a successful 1896–97 season, in which the club won more matches than ever before (27 out of 35), 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 ...

for the 1897–98 season, and, to raise money for the extra expenses, was floated as a limited company. The club then enjoyed two mid-table finishes, and won the Lancashire Junior Cup in both of those seasons. The Skertonians had twice been runner-up before reaching the 1897–98 final, and the Skertonians had trained especially at

Lytham St Annes Lytham St Annes () is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the The Fylde, Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population of the built-up area at the 2021 United Kingdom census, ...

for the match, against

St Helens Recs St Helens Recreation Rugby League Football Club, often known as St Helens Recs or just the Recs, is a former professional rugby league club from St. Helens, Lancashire, that played in the Rugby Football League during the inter-war years. The club ...

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England that is the home ground of Preston North End. Built in 1875 and in use since 1878, Deepdale is recognised as being one of the oldest continuously used football stadium ...

; goals from Blatchford and Fryers in the first half, and Blatchford scoring his second with a shot in-off the crossbar in the second, saw the club lift the trophy for the first time. The same two clubs contested the final at the same venue in 1898–99, Skerton winning 2–0, and it proved more attractive than 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 ...

final the following week - fewer than 4,000 turned up to

Burnden Park Burnden Park was the home of England, English association football, football club Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bolton Wanderers, who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup final replay, in 1946 it was the sc ...

for the latter, but there was a 50% higher gate for the Junior. However, the club's fortunes took a turn for the worse in 1899; the cost of erection of a new grandstand proved crippling. In March 1900, having only registered 1 win in 22 Combination games, and with debts of £150 (a third of which was due to the grandstand), it resigned from the Combination, its record was expunged, and the club dissolved.

Colours

The club wore red and black. This caused an incident with

Lytham Lytham St Annes () is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the The Fylde, Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population of the built-up area at the 2021 United Kingdom census, ...

in 1892, in which both clubs wore the same coloured kits.

Ground

The club's ground was on Morecambe Lane.

References

{{reflist Defunct football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in Lancashire Association football clubs established in 1888 Association football clubs disestablished in 1900 1900 disestablishments in England Lancaster, Lancashire 1888 establishments in England Lancashire Combination