Southport

Southport FC from the seaside town sixteen miles north of Liverpool were formed in 1881. After a joining together of local clubs, Southport FC took up their name in 1886 following a meeting at Mather's saleroom of which players from Southport Wanderers were prominent. The club moved to a new ground in Scarisbrook New Road.

The Football League was formed in 1888 and the people of the town wanted a side to represent them. Meetings were held at the Scarlett's Rooms, Chapel Street and then the Railway Hotel when a decision was made to name the club Southport Central FC. The club became members of the Lancashire League.

The club moved to the Lancashire Combination in 1903 and moved to a new ground at Haig Avenue, which was called Ash Lane at the time, two years later. In 1911 the club joined the Central League and seven years later renamed themselves Southport Vulcan FC. This was the first ever case of a club being named after a sponsor as the Vulcan Motor Company bought the club.

In 1921 'The Sandgrounders' became founder members of Division Three South of the Football League. Southport had few highlights and when league re-organisation came about in 1958, they were placed in the fourth division. Billy Bingham, who later managed Everton and Northern Ireland, took the club to their first ever promotion in 1967. They lasted just three seasons in their higher status but they went back up as fourth division champions in 1973.

Unfortunately relegation came after just one season and it begin a sorry period in the clubs history. Crowds dropped badly, the ground decayed and the team struggled. After three consecutive twenty third placed finishes, disaster struck in 1978. Southport were the last ever club to be voted out of the League by the re-election process to be replaced by Wigan Athletic. It would be a further nine years before automatic promotion and relegation was introduced.

Southport played in the Northern Premier League until a resurgence kicked in, which saw them promoted to the Football Conference in 1993 after finishing as champions. They reached Wembley in 1998 where they went down to Cheltenham Town in the FA Trophy final.

Relegation followed in 2003 before Southport became founder members of the Conference North in 2004 and going on to lift the title and rejoin the Conference National. In an ambitious move they decided to revert to full time status in 2006. The scheme backfired as relegation followed. They remained full time in the lower division until 2008 when it was decided to go back to being part time professionals.

The change of status worked as some good players in the area preferred part time football and they were promoted once again in 2010. Their spell in the top flight of non league football would have lasted just one season, but Rushden & Diamonds were expelled from the league for financial irregularities so The Soundgrounders were reprieved from relegation.

Southport FC will compete in the Football Conference in the 2011-12 season.

My visits

Southport 2 Gainsborough Trinity 1 Northern Premier League

My first ever visit to Haig Avenue was one of my first experiences of going to a game on my own. I was fourteen at the time and was on a family weekend break staying at Pontins at Ainsdale, which was between Southport and Liverpool. The trip was by coach with the Scarborians Social Club and was designed so those who wanted to go to the Grand National at Aintree could do so.

We had taken the train into Liverpool for the day and then gone on to the National. Aintree at the time was a real mess and we were charged a small fortune to get in (or at least my Dad was). We were on the inside of the track and it was impossible to see much. Men had climbed onto building roofs around the place but there was little hope for my Mum, Dad and three kids.

It was a blustery day to add to our woes and just after the big race my youngest brother Nick was complaining that one of his eyes hurt and he had something stuck. I forget how but my Mum got some advice and we had to set off for St Paul's Eye Clinic in the city. Fortunately the experts managed to get some rust out of his eye which could have come from a multitude of places at the decaying course. As my Mum lamented, "All that travelling and money and all I we saw was the winning jockeys cap bobbing by"! For the record Ben Nevis, ridden by Charlie Fenwick won the National.




How Haig Avenue was at the time of my first visit



Anyway, we went for something to eat and I'd been dropping some unsubtle hints to my Dad about that evenings match up the coast. As was normal practice, whichever of Liverpool or Everton were at home on National day had played at lunchtime, with Tranmere Rovers playing on the Friday evening. Southport had put their kick off back to try and attract a bigger crowd.

I was given some money and sent on my way, with my Mum naturally a bit worried. I assured her all was going to be OK before promptly getting lost on the way to Moorfields Merseyrail station. In the end my stubbornness relented and I asked for directions and found myself entering the previously unknown to me Central station. I was extremely embarrassed when my parents and brothers got on the train at the next stop!

I eventually got out at Southport station and asked for directions. I was told that Haig Avenue was quite a distance and I'd be better catching a bus. I eventually arrived half way into the first half.

Haig Avenue was well past its best. Hardly any turnstiles looked to have been used for some time. The paintwork was peeling and the stands rapidly decaying. The Main Stand was impressive if untidy as it filled a good part of one side, with open terracing flanking it. There was a covered terrace behind the Scarisbrick End which continued and gave shelter to the Popular Side. The Blowick End behind the other end was open standing.

Trinity went one up in the game before The Sandgrounders, who played in amber and blue in those days, slowly fought their way back into it and won with two second half goals. The crowd was pretty poor and at the end of the game the exit gates weren't opened so we had to exit through a door under the Main Stand.

I caught a bus back and then a train to Ainsdale where my Dad was waiting for me to walk back down to the camp.

Sunday 17th October 2010

I was out and about on my first of three days visiting grounds, sights and pubs around Merseyside. My daily travelcard allowed me to catch the Merseyrail service from Crosby, where I'd tried and failed to get into Rossett Park, the home of Marine and Southport. My advance homework had proved to be good as I was soon on a bus travelling towards Haig Avenue.

I was not having much luck. My second ground of the day was also locked. I manged to get a sneak look through the gaps in the brightly painted gates, but nothing substantial. I did know that the Main Stand had been improved and updated. The old terrace cover had been demolished many years previously following the stricter guidelines following Bradford and Hillsborough.

The Scarisbrick End had a new cover and terrace. Both the Blowick End and Popular Side had new terracing but remained uncovered. The whole place was neat and tidy and had signs of its previous standing.

Try as I might, I couldn't get a better view inside the stadium. I went on my slightly unmerry way to catch a train to Meols Cop towards Burscough.

The photos as viewed from inside Haig Avenue have been taken from the internet owing to the ground being locked on my latest visit and sadly not having a camera with me in 1980.