# Middleton F.C.

Middleton Association Football Club was a football club from Middleton, Greater Manchester, active in the late 19th century.

## History

The first Middleton Football Club was formed in 1878, and played in the first Lancashire Senior Cup in 1879–80, losing 6–1 to Edgeworth in the first round, but the club disbanded in the mid-1880s and the footballing role in the district was taken up by Tonge.
The club was revived in the summer of 1890, by the Middleton Cricket Club, after an attempt by the cricket club to take over Tonge was rebuffed. Nevertheless, the club reached the final of the Manchester Junior Cup in its first season.
However, the club was suspended at the end of the 1890–91 season after a complaint by Tonge about Middleton poaching two of its players (Brooks and Powell). The club also found itself homeless, after 15 members of the cricket club moved and passed a motion to stop the club from playing on the cricket pitch over the winter and split the football section from the cricket, on the basis that "it was not safe to play football after a man was 24 years of age", caused lung and heart diseases, and "brought a lot of rabble together".
That led to a suggestion of merging the Middleton and Tonge clubs but the club found a new ground at Boarshaw instead. The club suffered a further tragedy a few months later, as one of its founders, the 23-year-old Harry Johnson Horsman, died of a seizure at his home, ten years after his brother had been killed playing football.
Middleton first entered the FA Cup in 1894–95, and caused a shock in its first match at Northwich Victoria in the first qualifying round, Hall scoring the only goal of the game from a break with 20 minutes to go, from a Vics corner; the Vics had been a Football League side the previous season, and Middleton also had the luxury of missing a penalty. The club reached the third qualifying round in 1895–96 and 1896–97, in the latter year taking Fairfield to a replay at that stage. The club's best performance in the competition came in 1898–99, when it reached the fourth qualifying round (the penultimate stage), but lost at Stockport County to three second-half goals. Its last entry came in 1899–1900.
The club was turned down for membership of the Lancashire Combination in 1896–97, so joined The Combination instead, finishing mid-table in its only season. In 1897–98 it joined the Lancashire League. It spent three seasons in the competition, finishing bottom in 1899–1900, whereupon the club left for the Manchester League. However the club's debts were too great to continue at a lower level, and in January 1902, with the club £150 in the red and its landlord threatening Middleton with eviction for non-payment of rent, the club disbanded.

## Colours

The first club originally wore all dark blue, with a white star on the jerseys, and changed the knickers to white for its second season. The revived club originally wore white jerseys and blue knickers, and as a Lancashire League club wore olive green shirts.

## Ground

The original club's first ground was a field at Tonge Springs, using the Church Inn for facilities. By 1884 it had moved to Woodsides. The revived club originally played at the cricket ground on Rochdale Road. After its severing by the cricket club, the football club played at Boarshaw.