LANCASHIRE AMATEUR LEAGUE (1893)

 

Introduction

• The league was proposed by Eccles FC in March 1893 and was intended as a district amateur league for Manchester
• At a meeting at the Crown Hotel on Booth Street, close to Fountain Street in Manchester, a number of clubs were present to hear the proposals - Manchester Wanderers (didn’t join), Eccles (proposed the idea and joined), Owens College of Fallowfield (joined the league), Warrington Cricket and Football Club (didn’t join), Blackburn Etrurians (joined the league), Preston Association (joined the league), Braeside of Stretford (didn’t join), Brooklands (joined the league), and Fallowfield (didn’t join). Below is the summary of ther meeting, as reported on 9 March 1893 in the Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser:

 

 

• Manchester Wanderers made it quite clear in the meeting notes, that while they agreed with an annual meeting of club secretaries to arrange fixtures, they were opposed to the formation of the new league - though they did end up joining a different league instead - the Manchester Alliance, which had formed the previous season
• Fallowfield also decided instead to join another league – the Manchester League, which had re-formed for 1893-94 after closing down at the end of its only previous season (1890-91)
• The rules for the new league, including its as yet un-announced name, were to be sent round to other amateur clubs to get their opinions and to see if they would join up. Two other clubs subsequently joined - Manchester Social and Old Hulmeians
• Brooklands publicly announced at their AGM on 21 June 1893 that they were joining the new league, now named as the Lancashire Amateur League
 

• The name of the league as "Lancashire Amateur League" was possibly influenced by the Lancashire FA's new Amateur Cup competition, the Lancashire Amateur Cup, that was also founded in 1893. Playing in the first season of the Amateur Cup as well Lancashire Amateur League were Eccles, Owens College and Blackburn Etrurians
• The league got underway on Sat 7 October 1893, and with 7 clubs in this first season, so there would be 12 league games played each throughout the season. Remaining dates would be filled with friendlies and county cup ties. The first game played was at Penwortham, as reported by the Preston Herald:

 

 

 

• Champions of 1893-94 were Blackburn Etrurians, as confirmed by a newspaper report in a game the following season:
 

 

• The 1894-95 champion is not yet confirmed but was either Blackburn Etrurians or Old Hulmeians, based on the known results so far
• After the first season, both Preston Association and Manchester Social left the league, with Chorlton-cum-Hardy joining. This meant that membership had dropped from 7 to 6 for the 1894-95 season
• After 2 seasons, this early version of the Lancashire Amateur League disbanded. Possibly coincidentally, the proposers Eccles had gone from challenging for the title in season 1 to struggling in the bottom 2 in season 2. Whether this downturn in Eccles's fortunes influenced the closure of the league is not clear
• Four years after the league closed, in June 1899, the Lancashire Amateur League was relaunched in Liverpool with Blackburn Etrurians and Owens College present at its launch. Other clubs from this 1893-95 league also later played in the relaunched LAL - Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Brooklands, Manchester Social and Old Hulmeians. Eccles did not join the new LAL despite being the team behind the original league

 

Sources

• The British Newspaper Archive is the only modern source for this league, as there are no known records elsewhere. The Manchester Courier, and the Blackburn local paper carried results regularly, sometimes with reports, but actual tables are very rare, and only produced by the Athletic News, along with the results they printed, many of which were inaccurate. So I have ignored these tables and I have put together all the results I have tracked down, sense-checked where possible - and are logged on the archives.football web site (free account needed) - Season 1 results are HERE and Season 2 results are HERE. More season info is on the individual season pages accessed from the Main Menu of this web site.