The Birth of Football and the Origins of Manchester City

Part Twelve: The End of St Mark's

Sep 15, 2024

Fielding a full eleven was proving a problem for St Mark's during the 1882-83 season.

They were a man short for the 2-0 home defeat to Bentfield 28 October, and on 4 November could only muster eight players for the game at Ashton against Hurst Clarence. On 2 December they only fielded ten men for an away game at Marple, and were soon reduced to nine after captain William Sumner suffering a 'nasty fall' early in the game and was unable to continue (the second serious injury recorded to a player in a St Mark's match in just over nine months).

There's no record of Sumner, who had captained St Mark's since its formation, playing for the side again. And at this point a disappointing the season went rapidly downhill. On 6 January they lost 4-2 to Marple at Belle Vue, a side they had drawn away to a month earlier with only nine fit men. The season's record now stood at P7 W0 D3 L4 F5 A16.

That same day a side called “West Gorton (a team)” are recorded as playing away to recently-formed club Greenheys at Maine Road. Unfortuately there are no published line-ups for either of the 6 January games. But it’s possible that this is the moment that St Mark’s regulars broke away from the church’s oversight.

St Mark's were due to play Manchester Association at Greenheys the following Saturday, but there is no record of the match being played. This was the second time in just over a month that a scheduled fixture was not recorded as taking place.

On 3 February the name of St Mark's featured for the last time in a footballing context in a 2-0 defeat away to Broadbottom. But whether this was an official church team is unclear, with the ten-man side featuring four Belle Vue Rangers regulars and four new players.

Two weeks later a side called “West Gorton” played away to Bentfield, in a benefit match for a Hurst player who had broken his leg during a game. Walter Chew captained the nine-men side, which included his brother William and Edward Kitchen, a St Mark's veteran who had played for Belle Vue three weeks earlier. But there is no record of any of the remaining six players appearing for any other Gorton club, and the fact that West Gorton lost 7-0 that day suggests they were new to the game.

The following week the Gorton Reporter records a side called “West Gorton Association” playing recently-created opponents Middleton at Gorton. Also captained by Walter Chew, the nine-man side contained three players from the team that played in Bentfield a week earlier, two who had probably started the season for St Mark's, a Belle Vue player and two new faces.

St Mark's had been referred to by various names during the 1882-83 season. For instance, the Manchester Courier recorded the side as “St Mark's” for the match against Manchester Association on 25 November, while the Manchester Guardian listed them as “West Gorton”. The club had also been referred to as “St Mark's, West Gorton”, “St Mark's (Longsight)” and “West Gorton (St Mark's)”. The parentheses were probably used, in part, to avoid being confused with a more established association club called St Mark's in Blackburn. But they might also have denoted a continuity in the line-ups. However, the appearance of the name “West Gorton Association” appears to mark a significant change.

During this period, match details published in newspapers were supplied by the secretary of the home club. If this was the Church side it's unlikely that Rev. Connell would have allowed them to cast off the name of his parish, indicating that this was a different club.

There’s no record of West Gorton playing after 24 February, while Belle Vue played three further games in March, though without their captain Chew. And at this point the picture becomes even more confusing.

On 8 October 1883 the Manchester Courier’s football correspondant, “Dribbler”, wrote,

‘I am informed that Sumner who played for West Gorton last season, and which club has broken up, will play for Manchester Association next Saturday.’

A week later, the Courier’s Football Notes published this response:

‘I noticed in your last issue a paragraph to the effect that the West Gorton Association F.C. was no more. Permit me to contradict that report as being untrue. Besides, such a statement tends to mislead clubs with whom we have engagements.’
P. Howarth, Hon. Secretary, West Gorton AFC

But on 22 October “Dribbler” stood by his original announcement.

‘It appears I was right about the West Gorton club being abolished. The Belle Vue Rangers, the secretary of which wrote on the subject that the statement was misleading, have taken on the name of the deceased West Gorton, hence the misunderstanding.’

That prompted an angry response from Howarth, published on 30 October:

'From what source “Dribbler” gets his information I can’t tell, but it is “quite wrong.” At the beginning of the present season several of the older members of the West Gorton club notified their intention of giving up the game, while others left the club to join another. The Belle Vue Rangers then cast off their name, and joined with the remaining members of the West Gorton club, thus keeping the club from breaking up, so there is no hankering about it. With this I hope “Dribbler” will be satisfied.’
P. Howarth, Hon. Sec. 201, Yew Tree-terrace, Gorton-lane, Gorton.

Unfortuately, that was the end of the correspondance. However, the line-up for West Gorton’s first recorded home game of the 1883-84 season, against Furness Vale at Clemington Park on 13 October, indicates that this was indeed Belle Vue under a different name. Seven of the players had featured in the last recorded Belle Vue line-up of the previous season, while two others had previously played for the club, including Walter Chew who was no longer captain.

The footballing pioneers of St Mark’s no longer had a club to call their own. However, these young men were not ones to give up lightly. Before long they would create another club, one that would have an unbroken lineage to the club now known as Manchester City.

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