This post was written to celebrate the 135th anniversary of the founding of the original football club in Prescot. It was published in the Prescot Cables matchday programme.
In today’s feature, we mark the 135th anniversary of the founding of the football club which formed the root of the Prescot Cables club that we have today.
Organised football came relatively late into the lives of the people of our famous old town and, even then, it was only then as an offshoot of the already well-established Prescot Cricket Club.
"That the town should have been so long unrepresented in this now popular winter game has been a matter for surprise; but now that action has been taken and a club established, it is hoped that it will be well supported."
So wrote the Prescot Reporter at the time. Having played several practice matches in the previous weeks, the Prescot football club made their debut at the Cricket Ground, on Warrington Road in Prescot, on Saturday November 29th 1884. The occasion was duly reported in the local press.
PRESCOT v. St. THOMAS'S (2nd. Team) - These two teams met on Saturday on the ground of the former to play the opening match or the newly established club. Prescot has been for some weeks practicing the Association game, and on Saturday made its debut. The play was watched with much interest by a good sprinkling of spectators. The home captain having won the toss, chose to play uphill with the wind. The ball was set in motion by Twist and about five minutes from the start, the leather was taken down the right wing and nicely passed towards the goal, when the centre (Twist) put it between the uprights. This caused the spectators to shew their appreciation of the game by cheering.
Leadbeater kicked off and again the ball was quickly in the home team’s territory, from which a "corner" was obtained, but nothing was registered from this. Cookson kicked out and for a few minutes the leather travelled quickly from one end of the field to the other; but eventually Ellison secured the ball and, after taking it some distance down the ground, made a "shot" for the goal, but it hit one of the backs, and rebounded into the field again, when Cousins managed to evade the home custodian by “heading” the leather past him, thus scoring the second goal.
Again Leadbeater set the sphere rolling, and after some desultory play, one of the home backs sent the ball well up the field and Prescot put the ball between the uprights. Before the leather had reached the goal, however, the whistles were blown for “offside" and so nothing resulted. Soon after this Half Time was called, without any further score having been made.
On changing ends the home team played a much better game although the "Saints" were in every way their superiors. Nothing daunted the Prescotians played a very plucky uphill game. Within 15 minutes of the leather being restarted, Cousins, received the ball and carried it past the backs and custodian, thus scoring the third goal for the visitors. This made some of the players rather careless, and through that the home team secured their first and only goal, which caused much cheering from the onlookers. When the whistle blew for time the St. Helens team were left victorious by 3 goals to 1.
The most prominent amongst the newly formed club were Wilkinson, Mercer, Baxter, Leadbeater, and Welsby. The following were the players;
Prescot: W. Cookson, goal; C. Wilkinson (captain) and J.H. Sephton, backs; P. G. Twist, J. Case and N. Mercer , half-backs; J.A. Bixter, J. Hunter (right-wing), J. Leadbeater (centre), J. Welsby, and R. Woods (left wing), forwards.
St. Thomas’s: R. Fairbrother, goal; H. Roberts (captain) and W. Wright, backs; G. Moss and W. Slocombe, half-backs; R. Ellison, S. Askin (right-wing), J. Twist, G. Waizbon (centre), P. Matthews and C. Cousins (left-wing), forwards.
There has been some confusion about the scorer of the first goal in this game, caused by there being a player named Twist on both sides. I have seen some suggestions that Prescot had conceded an own goal. Had this been so, I believe that the match report would have noted such an event more prominently - especially as the culprit would have been the eminent Pearson Gill Twist. The match report specifically mentions “the centre, Twist, put it between the uprights”, and, therefore, it appears certain that it was J. Twist of St. Thomas’s who was the scorer. Sadly, the report does not record the name of the scorer of Prescot’s first ever goal.
So, not a particularly auspicious start for the new Prescot club, and not helped by a 2 - 0 home defeat the following week against Peasley Cross Y.M.C.A. Their next match, however, brought a change in fortunes with the Prescot team running out easy winners 3 - 1 against Windle Schools, after the teams agreed on a game of a half hour each way. (It was a feature of these early matches that the duration of the two halves was mutually decided by the two captains before kick off). In this game, Prescot appear to have been the victims of a quite remarkable goal scored from the half way line, euphemistically described in the Prescot Reporter as due to "a mistake by the home team." No doubt there was much merriment enjoyed in the football club’s unofficial clubhouse, the Eagle and Child Hotel on Warrington Road, run by landlord Mark Kellett.
Following this first victory, the Prescot team notched up further wins during the rest of their first season against Peasley Cross Y.M.C.A. (4 - 1), St. Thomas's 2nd Team (2 - 1), Windle Schools, again, (2 - 1) and St. Helen's Amateurs (1 - 0).
Several members of that early Prescot team were destined to remain connected to the club for many years to come. Charles Wilkinson served, variously, as Secretary, Treasurer and Vice-Chairman until 1892. Joseph Case, too, also served behind the scenes for many years after his playing days were over.
Pearson Gill Twist was an especially interesting character, and went on to become a valued Committee member for several years, including a spell as President of the club, and often refereed home games in later years. Like several others in that pioneering team, he would be considered to be relatively old, by today’s standards, to be starting a football career!
Prescot's goalkeeper, Cookson, regularly turned out wearing his Cricket trousers in these early games!
The season of 1884/85 was Prescot's first, and it was almost their last, as the Prescot Cricket Club, who had allowed the use of their Warrington Road field for the matches, declined to allow the footballers the same privilege the following season, claiming, not unreasonably, that football was damaging the square. Surprisingly, given the number of teams springing up in the town, the footballers were unable to find an alternative venue and were in danger of folding until the Cricket Club relented and allowed them the use of the Warrington Road ground, provided that they moved the football pitch off the cricket square and closer to a colliery spoil tip, known locally as Slacky Brow.
And the rest, as they say, is history…!
Prescot FC fixtures
Season 1884-85
29 November 1884 St Thomas’s 2nds (h) lost 1 - 3
6 December 1884 Peasley Cross YMCA (h) lost 0 - 2
20 December 1884 Windle Schools (h) won 3 – 1
17 January 1885 St Thomas’s 2nds (a) won 2 - 1
31 January 1885 Peasley Cross YMCA (a) won 4 – 1
14 February 1885 Warrington (h) lost 1 – 3
21 February 1885 Liverpool Press (a)
28 February 1885 Liverpool Gymnasium (h)
7 March 1885 Warrington (a)
14 March 1885 Windle Schools (a) won 2 – 1
21 March 1885 St Helens Amateurs (h) won 1 -0
28 March 1885 Liverpool Gymnasium (a) lost 0 -3
Comments