Skerton F.C.
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{short description|Association football club active in the late 19th century}}
{{Infobox football club |
| clubname=Skerton F.C.
| image=
| fullname=Skerton Football Club
| nickname=the Skertonians, the Red and Blacks{{cite journal |title=Athletic notes |journal=Barrow Herald |date=26 March 1892 |page=3}}
| founded= 1888
| dissolved=1900
| ground=Morecambe Road
| capacity=
|chrtitle = President
| chairman= Councillor Turney (1889–94),{{cite journal |title=Notice |journal=Lancaster Gazette |date=31 August 1889 |page=4}}{{cite journal |title=Skerton Football Club |journal=Lancaster Gazette |date=2 June 1894 |page=5}} Councillor Gladstone (1897){{cite journal |title=Another Lancashire club to be floated |journal=Liverpool Echo |date=20 July 1897 |page=3}}
| mgrtitle=Secretary
| manager=J. Pye (1889),{{cite journal |title=Notice |journal=Lancaster Gazette |date=31 August 1889 |page=4}} A. Ireland (1894){{cite journal |title=Skerton Football Club |journal=Lancaster Gazette |date=2 June 1894 |page=5}}
| league=
| season=
| position=
| website =
|pattern_name1=
|pattern_la1=_black_stripes|pattern_b1=_blackstripes|pattern_ra1=_black_stripes|pattern_so1=_hoops_black|leftarm1=FF0000|body1=FF0000|rightarm1=FF0000|shorts1=000000|socks1=FF0000
}}
Skerton Football Club was an association football club from Lancaster, Lancashire, active in the 19th century.
History
The earliest references to the club are from the 1888–89 season.{{cite journal |title=Under Association rules |journal=Lancaster Gazette |date=26 January 1889 |page=7}} 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.{{cite journal |title=Local intelligence |journal=Lancaster Gazette |date=20 May 1891 |page=2}}
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 for the 1897–98 season, and, to raise money for the extra expenses, was floated as a limited company.{{cite journal |title=Another Lancashire club to be floated |journal=Liverpool Echo |date=20 July 1897 |page=3}} The club then enjoyed two mid-table finishes,{{cite web |title=Skerton |url=https://fchd.info/SKERTON.HTM |website=Football Club History Database |access-date=23 April 2025}} 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 for the match, against St Helens Recs at Deepdale; 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.{{cite journal |title=Lancashire Junior Cup - Final |journal=Liverpool Mercury |date=21 March 1898 |page=9}} The same two clubs contested the final at the same venue in 1898–99, Skerton winning 2–0,{{cite journal |title=Presentation of the Cup |journal=Lancashire Evening Post |date=18 March 1899 |page=3}} and it proved more attractive than the Lancashire Senior Cup final the following week - fewer than 4,000 turned up to Burnden Park for the latter,{{cite journal |title=Notes on out-door sports |journal=Derby Evening Telegraph |date=29 March 1899 |page=4}} but there was a 50% higher gate for the Junior.{{cite journal |title=Sporting notes |journal=Ramsbottom Observer |date=24 March 1899 |page=2}}
However, the club's fortunes took a turn for the worse in 1899; the cost of erection of a new grandstand proved crippling.{{cite journal |title=Registration of football clubs |journal=The Citizen |date=16 March 1901 |page=4}} In March 1900, having only registered 1 win in 22 Combination games,{{cite journal |title=Lancashire Combination |journal=Manchester Courier |date=12 March 1900 |page=9}} and with debts of £150 (a third of which was due to the grandstand),{{cite journal |title=Another club in financial straits |journal=Manchester Evening News |date=2 March 1900 |page=4}} it resigned from the Combination, its record was expunged,{{cite journal |title=Lancashire Combination |journal=Manchester Courier |date=17 March 1900 |page=11}} and the club dissolved.
Colours
The club wore red and black.{{cite journal |title=Athletic notes |journal=Barrow Herald |date=26 March 1892 |page=3}} This caused an incident with Lytham in 1892, in which both clubs wore the same coloured kits.{{cite journal |title=Lancashire Association |journal=Lancaster Gazette |date=12 November 1892 |page=7}}
Ground
The club's ground was on Morecambe Lane.{{cite journal |title=Open handicap foot race |journal=Lancaster Gazette |date=10 September 1890 |page=2}}
References
{{reflist}}
Category:Defunct football clubs in England
Category:Defunct football clubs in Lancashire
Category:Association football clubs established in 1888
Category:Association football clubs disestablished in 1900
Category:1900 disestablishments in England
Category:Lancaster, Lancashire