Hyde St George's F.C.

Hyde St George's F.C.
Full nameHyde St George's Football Club
Founded1897
Dissolved1906
GroundEwen Fields
Secretary1897: H. Middleton[1]
1901: H. Houghton[2]

Hyde St George's Football Club was an association football club from Hyde, Greater Manchester (at the time within the county of Cheshire), active in the early 20th century.

History

The earliest record for a club of the name is from 1887,[3] but the club seems to have given up before the end of the following year.[4] The next reference to a Hyde St George's F.C. is from 1894,[5] and it had a season in the Denton Junior League, but struggled at the bottom of the table.[6]

The instant club appears to date from 1897,[7] first playing in the Hyde Junior League.[8] In 1899 it joined the North Cheshire League,[9] and also had an XI playing in the Hooley Hill & District League in 1901.[10]

The Saints beat the older Hyde Football Club, which was most notable for its 26–0 defeat to Preston North End 15 years before, in the final of the 1902–03 Hyde Cup,[11] and applied to join the Manchester Football League at the end of the 1902–03 season but was rebuffed.[12]

Instead the club joined the Manchester Federation, and finished the season as champion.[13] This encouraged the team to step up, and, in June 1903, it was elected as a member of the Lancashire Combination, in its new second division, finishing 3rd in the balloting for the 5 vacancies.[14] The club finished the 1903–04 season by winning the Ashton Charity Cup, beating Oldham Athletic 4–0 on the Ashton Athletic Grounds.[15]

The club had two mid-table Combination seasons (and won the Hyde Cup in 1904–05, putting seven past Hooley Hill in the final)[16] before a disastrous 1905–06 season which precipitated merger talks with Hyde F.C. in the Manchester League. Hyde had approached the Saints in 1905, and was rebuffed;[17] however, when only 50 people turned up to a Combination match to see the Saints host Oswaldtwisle Rovers, while Hyde having a much larger attendance for a friendly, the Saints had a re-think.[18]

The merger duly took place in February 1906. The Saints continued to the end of the season under the same name, and secured re-election to the competition for 1906–07,[19] but from then the combine used the Hyde name, albeit at the Saints' ground. Hyde F.C.'s first match post-takeover saw an XI made up of 8 former Saints.[20]

Colours

The club wore Oxford and Cambridge blue halved shirts,[21] although there is a reference from 1903 suggesting the club had an alternate outfit of khaki shirts.[22]

Ground

The club played at Ewen Fields, to which the Hyde F.C. moved post-takeover.[23] The quality of the ground was questionable, it being "noticeable for the entire absence of grass from its surface, a deficiency which is made up by an elegant sufficiency of cinders".[24]

Notable players

References

  1. ↑ "Football club notices". Hyde & Glossop Weekly News: 3. 4 September 1897.
  2. ↑ "An amateur league". Lancashire Evening Post: 2. 19 October 1901.
  3. ↑ "Hyde Villa v Hyde St George". North Cheshire Herald: 6. 22 October 1887.
  4. ↑ "Football correspondence". North Cheshire Herald: 6. 8 December 1888.
  5. ↑ "Hyde St George's v Hadfield Reserve". Glossop-dale Chronicle: 3. 12 October 1894.
  6. ↑ "Denton and District Junior League". Stalybridge Reporter: 7. 16 March 1895.
  7. ↑ "Miscellaneous". Middleton Guardian: 7. 30 October 1897.
  8. ↑ "Werneth Albion Football Club". Evening Chronicle: 3. 8 June 1899.
  9. ↑ "North Cheshire League". Manchester Courier: 7. 21 April 1902.
  10. ↑ "The association game". Stalybridge Reporter: 7. 11 January 1902.
  11. ↑ "Hyde Challenge Cup (Final)". Guardian: 3. 20 April 1903.
  12. ↑ "Manchester League". Manchester Evening News: 2. 11 July 1902.
  13. ↑ "Manchester Federation". Manchester Courier: 9. 25 May 1903.
  14. ↑ "Workington fail to be elected". Lancashire Evening Post: 5. 19 June 1903.
  15. ↑ "Ashton Charity Cup - Final Tie". Cricket & Football Field: 6. 30 April 1904.
  16. ↑ "Hyde Cup". Manchester Courier: 3. 28 April 1905.
  17. ↑ "Hyde clubs not to amalgamate". Manchester Courier: 9. 8 April 1905.
  18. ↑ "Proposed amalgamation of Hyde clubs". Manchester Evening News: 2. 22 January 1906.
  19. ↑ "Lancashire Combination". Manchester Courier: 10. 18 May 1906.
  20. ↑ "Blackpool draw at Hyde". Lancashire Evening Post: 5. 5 March 1906.
  21. ↑ "Answers to correspondents". Athletic News: 4. 21 March 1904.
  22. ↑ "Southport Central v Hyde St George's". Formby Times: 3. 26 December 1903.
  23. ↑ "History". Hyde United. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  24. ↑ "Southport Central v Hyde St George's". Formby Times: 3. 26 December 1903.
  25. ↑ "Frank Booth". England Players Online. Retrieved 24 March 2026.
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