Stalybridge Rovers Football Club was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

football club from

Stalybridge Stalybridge () is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 23,731 at the 2011 Census. Historically divided between Cheshire and Lancashire, it is east of Manchester city centre and north-west of Glossop. When ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's coun ...

at the end of the 19th century and early 20th century.

History

Stalybridge Rovers joined

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 the Northern England and the Midlands, and was wound up before completion. The secon ...

in 1894, staying for one season, finishing fifth. In 1895 they joined the Lancashire League and played there for eight seasons; they were League champions in 1900–01. They left the League in 1903 to join the Second Division of 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 it ...

, winning promotion to the First Division in their inaugural season. However they finished bottom of the division in

1906–07 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

and left the Combination soon after. Stalybridge first entered the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

in 1894, enjoying their best run in 1899-1900, beating South Liverpool,

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

and then

Burslem Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley of ...

1–0 in the Fifth Qualifying Round before losing to

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

2–1 in the First Round proper. The club made two attempts at entry to

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

, in 1900 and 1901. The first attempt only gained one vote. The second attempt saw them gaining the same number of votes as rejected League members

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is t ...

, seven, but they lost out to first time applicants

, who gained election with 23 votes. Rovers folded in April 1908, when the club became unable to pay its players. Failure to fulfil a fixture at Clitheroe Central led to expulsion from the Lancashire Combination second division.

Players

Famous players for Stalybridge Rovers include

Herbert Chapman Herbert Chapman (19 January 1878 – 6 January 1934) was an English association football, football player and manager. Though he had an undistinguished playing career, he went on to become one of the most influential and successful manag ...

, who later led

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. ...

and

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

to the First Division title as manager, who played for the club ''circa'' 1897; and

Arthur Wharton Arthur Wharton (28 October 1865 – 12 December 1930) is widely considered to be the first black professional footballer in the world. Though not the first black player outright – the amateurs Robert Walker, of Queen's Park, and Scotland inte ...

, Britain's first

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

professional footballer, who played for Stalybridge Rovers from 1896 to 1897, and again from 1899 to 1900. It is not clear if the two ever played together. Other players included former

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

and Woolwich Arsenal star Tommy Briercliffe, and John Johnston and

Frank Thorpe Frank Thorpe (13 November 1879 – 17 April 1928) was an English footballer who played as a centre-half for various clubs in the 1900s, including Southampton and Bury, with whom he won the FA Cup in 1903. Playing career Thorpe was born in Ha ...

, who both went on to play for

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–1 ...

, where they won the

1903 Events January * January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India. * January 19 – The first west–east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east–west broadcast having been ...

, and later for

Southampton Southampton () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire, S ...

References

* * Defunct football clubs in England Football clubs in Tameside The Combination Lancashire League (football) Lancashire Combination Stalybridge Defunct football clubs in Cheshire Association football clubs disestablished in 1908 {{GreaterManchester-stub

History

Players

See also

References