South Liverpool F.C.

South Liverpool F.C. is a football club from Liverpool, England. The club is currently in the West Cheshire Amateur Football League division three and plays its home matches at Jericho Lane. The club's colours are white shirts, black shorts and red socks.

History

First incarnation

It has long been accepted that the first South Liverpool FC was founded in the late-1890s when a club called African Royal (or, in some sources, Africa Royal) changed its name, under the influence of W.J. Sawyer, and relocated to Dingle, just south of the city centre.

The team played in The Combination and the Lancashire League before joining the Second Division of the Lancashire Combination in 1911. The club was promoted to the First Division in 1913, but the competition was suspended during the First World War.

By 1914, W.J. Sawyer was Secretary and Managing Director of a new company called South Liverpool Football & Athletic Club, with the team playing at Dingle Park in the Lancashire Combination Division 1 against the likes of Chester City, Tranmere Rovers, Barrow, and Accrington Stanley. Sawyer became Hon. Secretary of Everton in 1918 and remained on the club's board of directors for a decade. Latterly he was Secretary-Manager of New Brighton in the 1930s, while he also offered consultancy to Wigan Borough FC on its formation in 1920.

After the war, South Liverpool played for two more seasons before relocating to Wallasey in 1921 and changing its name to New Brighton. New Brighton assumed South Liverpool's official Lancashire FA registration, most of South Liverpool's staff, all of South Liverpool's debts (£200, reportedly), and South Liverpool's place in the Lancashire Combination for 1921-22. Therefore, New Brighton FC was a legal continuation of South Liverpool FC. The club was one and the same, although many sources claim, erroneously, that South Liverpool FC folded up in 1921 and that New Brighton FC was formed in 1921. (The connection between South Liverpool and New Brighton is similar to that of Wimbledon and Milton Keynes Dons).

In 1923, New Brighton secured election to the Football League Division Three (North). The club lost its League status in 1951 and folded up in 1983.

Second incarnation

The second South Liverpool FC was formed in 1935, playing at Holly Park, Garston. The club joined the Lancashire Combination with immediate impact, winning it three years running, in 1937, 1938 and 1939. Given that the original South Liverpool continued playing until 1983 under the name of New Brighton, the second South Liverpool had no connection other than the same name. Indeed, South Liverpool played New Brighton reserves on a number of occasions in the Lancashire Combination and New Brighton's first team in the Liverpool Senior Cup.

During 1930s, South Liverpool applied regularly for election to the Football League. The idea was to have another leading club in the Liverpool area. Even in 1939, however, after South Liverpool won four trophies, the club only attracted 5 votes at the Football League AGM election - way behind the two re-elected Third Division North clubs, Accrington Stanley (29) and Hartlepools (38). Incidentally, even farther behind South Liverpool in that election were Wigan Athletic, who garnered zero votes. In all, South Liverpool applied to join the Football League on ten occasions, always without success.

The club was more successful in the Welsh Cup, and they won it at their first attempt, in 1939, defeating Cardiff City 2-1 in the final. "Many thousands were in the ground when we went back to Holly Park at two o'clock in the morning," Jack Roscoe said in 1989 about the aftermath of the 1939 Welsh Cup final victory. "We couldn't believe it. We were expecting the streets to be deserted but in the end we couldn't even get into the ground ourselves."

After World War II started, the club joined the Western Section of the Cheshire County League and one season was played before war stopped the game. After the war, the club remained in the Cheshire County League until 1951, when they rejoined the Lancashire Combination, going into the Second Division. In September 1949, Holly Park hosted the first match in the UK to be played under "permanent" floodlights, a friendly against a Nigerian XI (the first Nigerian side to tour the UK). The final score was 2-2, with the official attendance 13,007. After a season in the second division of the Lancashire Combination, South Liverpool were promoted to the first division at the first attempt, but were relegated back to the second division in 1960 after finishing bottom. South Liverpool gained promotion in 1962 and won the Lancashire Combination first division championship in 1966.

The club had also been relatively successful in the FA Cup, reaching the first round eight times and the second round twice, though the only time they achieved a "giant-killing" feat was when they defeated Halifax Town in 1964-65.

In 1967, the 40-year-old Hungarian born football legend Ferenc Puskas guested for the club in a fundraising friendly match at Holly Park which attracted a sell-out crowd of 10,000.

As one of the more successful non-League clubs in northern England, South Liverpool were invited to join the newly formed Northern Premier League in 1968. Notable players during the club's first ten years in the NPL were Jimmy Case and later John Aldridge, who both went on to achieve fame with Liverpool, Joe Hinnigan who became a stalwart at Sunderland, and Peter Houghton who moved on to Wigan Athletic and Preston North End. John Aldridge wrote about his South Liverpool career in his autobiography: "It was autumn 1978 before I won a regular place in the South Liverpool first team and the turn of the year before I started to score regularly. At the beginning of the season, the club’s official pen-pictures described me as 'a local youngster who shows great potential with his flair for attack'. By the middle of the season, the pen-pictures described me as 'an exciting goalscorer'. It was exciting to be regarded as 'exciting'."

Before the 1987-88 season South Liverpool became the first non-league team to offer a Youth Training Scheme to players. Only professional clubs did this at that time. There were approximately 8 players who were involved with this.

At the end of the 1987-88 season the Reserve team and Youth team were scrapped due to financial reasons. The profitable club house was also burnt down and funds were very tight.

The club remained in the NPL until financial problems forced the limited company, South Liverpool Athletic & Association Football Club Co.Ltd., to fold after the 1990-91 season. A committee formed itself in the summer of 1991 and took over the name "South Liverpool A.F.C."

A limited-edition history of South Liverpool A&AFC, "Holly Park", was written by Hyder Jawad and published in hardback in 1991.

Jawad is working on a voluminous history of the various clubs that have carried the South Liverpool name. This 250,000-word book will be published as "Rest In Pieces: The Triumphs and Tragedies of South Liverpool Football Club" (ISBN: 978-0956377402) in 2012. The book is based entirely on primary source research - including more than 1,000 pages of original club documents from 1912-1994 - and interviews with more than 150 former South Liverpool players, managers, and directors. Jawad has also spoken to descendants of six of the original 12 directors who formed South Liverpool from African Royal.

Second incarnation (continued)

The club committee carried on the club from the defunct Limited Company in 1991/92 with only a junior team operating in the West Derby Junior league. For 1992/93 the senior side merged with local side Cheshire Lines whilst the Junior Team carried on under the clubs own name. The new team, Cheshire Lines South Liverpool, played in the Second Division of the Liverpool County Combination, gaining promotion in their first season. After a successful first season in the First Division, the clubs took the decision to split.

Back under its own sole name South Liverpool although having been the football club had to join the Second Division of the Liverpool County Combination in 1995 and gained promotion at the first attempt. Until the end of the 2005/6 season, the club remained in the County Combination. Winning the Liverpool Junior Cup in 1997 and the George Mahon league Cup in 2002. Their highest league placing being 4th in 2005. In the summer of 2006, the County Combination merged with the I Zingari League to create the Liverpool County Premier League due to their low finish in 2005/6 (11th out of 15), the club was placed in Division One.

In 2006, the site of Holly Park had been redeveloped and was opened as Liverpool South Parkway railway station.

The club play their home matches at the North Field, Jericho Lane, Otterspool, Liverpool L17 5AR.

During their time in amateur football the goalscoring record of Jack Roscoe (1935–39) was beaten by Keith Jones scoring 236 goals (1992–2006) and keeper Stephen Ward currently has 102 clean sheets beating the South legend Peter Eales 74 (1966–1989).

South also have a reserve team in the I Zingari Combination having won the third division in 2005 and the second division title in 2006. They produce programmes for all first, reserve and youth home games

As of 2007/08 South have a youth team also which are under 18-s who play in the West Cheshire League, finishing second in their first season. They play their home games at Holly Road, Halewood. They finished 3rd in the West Cheshire Youth Division in 2008-09. They also won the West Cheshire Youth Plate in this season with a 3-0 victory in the final. As of 2009/10 South's youth team finished first in the West Chesire League, Captain Ellis Jones lifting the cup on this occasion.

Honours

• Welsh Cup Winners: 1939
• Lancashire Combination Champions: 1937, 1938, 1939, 1966
• Lancashire Combination Division 2 Champions: 1913
• Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy Winners: 1937, 1938, 1939, 1984
• Northern Premier League Challenge Cup Winners: 1984
• Northern Premier League President's Cup Winners: 1988

References

• Official site
• Club's profile on League site
• South Liverpool at the Football Club History Database