Manchester Association F.C (England)
Manchester, one
of the worlds most footballing cities, one of the few that has not one but two
clubs from its city to have won the European Cup. Everybody knows who
Manchester United and Manchester City are, but what about those earlier clubs
from the city? The pioneers of football in a city that has continued to produce
some of footballs most brilliant talent. This next club is one of those clubs,
one that is proclaimed to have revived football in the city of Manchester.
Manchester Association F.C are a club that, while they never won many honours,
are seen as the reason as to why football is such a popular sport in the
northern city of England. Here is their story.
Founded in
1875, Manchester Association FC played their first game in January 1876,
against a group of students from Liverpool University. The clubs original kit
colours were scarlet and black hoops but that changed to blue and grey pattern
quartered shirts. They played their home matches at Hullard Hall.
In 1879, a club
named Birch FC, who mainly played rugby at the time, split away and renamed
themselves Manchester Wanderers. A year later, in 1879, Manchester Wanderers
and Manchester Association decided to merge, taking on the Manchester Wanderers
name originally until 1882 when they reverted to Manchester Association.
But before all
of that, the club had entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1877-78, coming
up against Darwen. The game ended 3-0 officially, however there were two goals
disputed, one for each side in the game, so it was reported in local newspapers
as a 4-1 win to Darwen. In the report it was also noted that Manchester
Association had started the game with just nine men.
After the
merger and having settled on the name Manchester Association, the club entered
the FA Cup once again in 1883-84. The met Stoke City in the first round, and
away from home, they won the game, 2-1 on November 10th, 1883.
However, the second round turned out to be a disaster, as they were hammered,
15-0, by Scottish side, Queens Park. (They would go on to reach the final, only
to be beaten by Blackburn Rovers, 2-1). Match reports in the local newspapers
said the Queens Park goalkeeper never touched the ball with his hands for the
entire game and that seven of the goals came in the first thirty minutes. It
would prove to be Manchester Associations last ever appearance in the FA Cup,
due to the fact they wished to stay amateur and couldn’t compete against the
now professional set-ups of other clubs.
The club
continued to play in local leagues and became founding members of the
Manchester Football Association. The club reached the Manchester Cup final, but
lost to Newton Heath LYR F.C, 2-1. The next season, Newton Heath would change
their name to Manchester United. The club entered the Lancashire Cup in 1887,
but lost to Blackburn Rovers, 11-0, in the first round.
With an ever
growing number of clubs in the area, and most becoming professional, it meant
Manchester Association found it hard to attract players and to stay
competitive. When they did manage to get a team together, they would lose
heavily. The last recorded game for the club was a 7-3 defeat to Blackburn
Bohemians in April 1888 and so the name and club Manchester Association was
gone from the footballing world. A similar club, named Manchester Wanderers did
reappear in 1900 but it didn’t last long.