God and games helped form Manchester City
Like Everton,
Manchester City owes its origins to a Church, in this case St Mark’s Church of West
Gorton, an increasingly densely populated suburb that had been constructed on
rural land from 1800 onwards. From the moment it was consecrated in 1865 Church
organisers set out to develop a community spirit amongst local residents, many
of whom were recent work seeking immigrants from rural England, Scotland, Ireland
and the Continent, especially Italy and Germany.
With little to do or
places to meet after finishing work local youth were drawn to the thrill of
bare knuckle fighting and Scuttling involving mass battles with rival gangs
from Bradford or Miles Platting in which belts, slings, sticks and stones would
be employed as weapons. Both sides would scatter if the police came on the
scene only to reemerge at a later date.
With West Gorton also
beset with problems caused by alcohol the Church sought to develop alternative
activities and Rector Arthur Connell encouraged his parishioners to establish
community activities. This led to the construction of a new school, a gymnasium
plus a library.
By the late 1860s there
was formed locally a cricket club, but as this was never going to attract lads
involved in Scuttling, who wanted quick thrills, then in 1880, a year after a
Working Men’s Club was opened by Anna Connell, there was the setting up of the
St Mark’s (association) Football team. Captained by William Sumner, this played
its first game on 13 November 1880 – the same date as Sunderland AFC played
their inaugural game on Wearside – against the Baptist Church from
Macclesfield, who won 2-1. Whilst the majority of the home side had been born
in Manchester their parents were imports. Seven days later Newton Heath played
their inaugural match.
As to exactly who
formed the football club then historian Gary James believes that ‘as with so
many football clubs it seems unlikely that the specific person who introduced
football to St Mark’s will ever be properly identified’ but rather ‘that the
Club was borne out of actions by a variety of individuals during these
formative years. ‘
By 1883 the
football club had dropped references to the church from its name and later that
year it merged with Belle Vue Rangers to become known as Gorton AFC and in 1887
the club name was again changed, this time to Ardwick Association F.C and
turned professional by beginning to pay players their expenses.
With the world’s first
industrial city continuing to expand the official opening of the Manchester
Ship Canal by Queen Victoria in May 1894 seems to have provided, at least, some
of the inspiration for Ardwick committee to switch names to the much more grandiose
title of Manchester City Football Club around the same time. By becoming a
Limited Company the new club raised considerable funds through issuing shares.
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