# 1916–17 Stoke F.C. season

The 1916–17 season was Stoke's second season in the non-competitive War League.
With the start of World War I, all Football League football was cancelled. In its place were formed War Leagues, based on geographical lines rather than based on previous league placement. Stoke contested the Lancashire Section in the Principal Tournament, and the Lancashire Section Secondary Competition Group D. However, none of these were considered to be competitive football, and thus their records are not recognised by the Football League.

## Season review

In the Primary Competition of the Lancashire League Stoke finished in 3rd place with 39 points whilst in the Secondary Competition they finished 2nd with 6 points. During this season the lowest ever attendance was recorded for a Stoke first team match when 394 people saw Stoke play Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park in October 1916. Stoke's best victory in the 1916–17 season was a 7–0 over Bolton Wanderers which was sweet revenge after they had beaten Stoke 9–2 earlier in the season.

## Final league table
### Lancashire Section Primary Competition

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts |
| 1 | Liverpool | 30 | 19 | 8 | 3 | 62 | 26 | 2.385 | 46 |
| 2 | Stockport County | 30 | 18 | 7 | 5 | 61 | 31 | 1.968 | 43 |
| 3 | Stoke | 30 | 16 | 7 | 7 | 64 | 36 | 1.778 | 39 |
| 4 | Manchester City | 30 | 14 | 9 | 7 | 49 | 29 | 1.690 | 37 |
| 5 | Everton | 30 | 15 | 7 | 8 | 62 | 41 | 1.512 | 37 |
| 6 | Burnley | 30 | 15 | 4 | 11 | 73 | 56 | 1.304 | 34 |
| 7 | Manchester United | 30 | 13 | 6 | 11 | 48 | 54 | 0.889 | 32 |
| 8 | Rochdale | 30 | 12 | 5 | 13 | 47 | 54 | 0.870 | 29 |
| 9 | Southport Central | 30 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 40 | 43 | 0.930 | 28 |
| 10 | Bolton Wanderers | 30 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 59 | 65 | 0.908 | 24 |
| 11 | Blackburn Rovers | 30 | 10 | 4 | 16 | 52 | 66 | 0.788 | 24 |
| 12 | Preston North End | 30 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 47 | 65 | 0.723 | 23 |
| 13 | Bury | 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 40 | 63 | 0.635 | 22 |
| 14 | Oldham Athletic | 30 | 8 | 6 | 16 | 36 | 65 | 0.554 | 22 |
| 15 | Port Vale | 30 | 7 | 7 | 16 | 50 | 60 | 0.833 | 21 |
| 16 | Blackpool | 30 | 6 | 7 | 17 | 44 | 80 | 0.550 | 19 |

### Lancashire Section Secondary Competition Group D

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts |
| 1 | Manchester United | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 9 | 1.667 | 8 |
| 2 | Stoke | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 6 | 1.833 | 6 |
| 3 | Port Vale | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 0.750 | 5 |
| 4 | Manchester City | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 0.273 | 5 |

## Results

Stoke's score comes first

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |

### Lancashire Section Primary Competition

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 1 | 2 September 1916 | Manchester City | H | 1–0 | 6,000 | Ellis |
| 2 | 9 September 1916 | Everton | A | 1–1 | 14,000 | Bridgett |
| 3 | 16 September 1916 | Rochdale | H | 1–1 | 5,000 | Turner |
| 4 | 23 September 1916 | Bolton Wanderers | A | 2–9 | 10,000 | Bridgett (2) |
| 5 | 30 September 1916 | Port Vale | H | 0–0 | 10,000 | |
| 6 | 7 October 1916 | Oldham Athletic | A | 1–1 | 394 | Herbert |
| 7 | 14 October 1916 | Preston North End | H | 2–0 | 3,000 | Herbert (2) |
| 8 | 21 October 1916 | Burnley | A | 1–4 | 3,00 | Herbert |
| 9 | 28 October 1916 | Manchester United | H | 3–0 | 5,000 | Herbert, Bridgett, Jones |
| 10 | 4 November 1916 | Liverpool | A | 1–3 | 12,000 | Turner |
| 11 | 11 November 1916 | Stockport County | H | 2–0 | 3,000 | Bridgett, Humphries |
| 12 | 18 November 1916 | Bury | A | 3–0 | 2,000 | Jones, Herbert, Howell |
| 13 | 25 November 1916 | Blackpool | A | 1–1 | 3,000 | Humphries |
| 14 | 2 December 1916 | Southport Central | H | 2–1 | 2,000 | Herbert, Bridgett |
| 15 | 9 December 1916 | Blackburn Rovers | A | 1–1 | 3,000 | Howell |
| 16 | 23 December 1916 | Everton | H | 0–2 | 5,000 | |
| 17 | 25 December 1916 | Manchester City | A | 0–1 | 12,000 | |
| 18 | 30 December 1916 | Rochdale | A | 1–0 | 2,000 | Bridgett |
| 19 | 6 January 1917 | Bolton Wanderers | H | 7–0 | 2,500 | Whittingham (2), Howell (2), Herbert (2), Parker |
| 20 | 13 January 1917 | Port Vale | A | 2–1 | 10,000 | Whittingham, Harrison |
| 21 | 20 January 1917 | Oldham Athletic | H | 4–0 | 2,000 | Whittingham (2), Bridgett, Own Goal |
| 22 | 27 January 1917 | Preston North End | A | 1–1 | 3,000 | Limer |
| 23 | 3 February 1917 | Burnley | H | 6–0 | 5,000 | Whittingham (4), Herbert, Harrison |
| 24 | 10 February 1917 | Manchester United | A | 2–4 | 7,000 | Howell (2) |
| 25 | 17 February 1917 | Liverpool | H | 1–0 | 12,000 | Whittingham |
| 26 | 24 February 1917 | Stockport County | A | 1–2 | 4,500 | Own Goal |
| 27 | 3 March 1917 | Bury | H | 5–2 | 5,000 | Whittingham (2), Bridgett (2), Howell |
| 28 | 10 March 1917 | Blackpool | H | 6–0 | 6,000 | Whittingham (2), Howell (2), Herbert, Harrison |
| 29 | 17 March 1917 | Southport Central | A | 2–0 | 2,500 | Whittingham (2) |
| 30 | 24 March 1917 | Blackburn Rovers | H | 4–1 | 4,000 | Whittingham (2), Harrison (2) |

### Lancashire Section Secondary Competition Group D

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 1 | 31 March 1917 | Manchester United | H | 2–1 | 7,000 | Whittingham, Howell |
| 2 | 6 April 1917 | Manchester City | A | 0–1 | 12,000 | |
| 3 | 7 April 1917 | Port Vale | A | 2–3 | 12,000 | Whittingham (2) |
| 4 | 9 April 1917 | Manchester City | H | 5–0 | 8,000 | Whittingham, Bridgett, Howell (3) |
| 5 | 14 April 1917 | Manchester United | A | 0–1 | 9,000 | |
| 6 | 21 April 1917 | Port Vale | H | 2–0 | 14,000 | Herbert, Howell |

## Squad statistics

| Pos. | Name | Matches | Matches |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals |
| GK | Richard Herron | 36 | 0 |
| DF | Arthur Allman | 25 | 0 |
| DF | Alec Milne | 5 | 0 |
| DF | Jack Maddock | 3 | 0 |
| DF | George Turner | 35 | 2 |
| DF | Billy Twemlow | 6 | 0 |
| MF | Sammy Brooks | 3 | 0 |
| MF | George Dobson | 23 | 0 |
| MF | Joe Jones | 34 | 2 |
| MF | Tom Kinson | 2 | 0 |
| MF | George Limer | 17 | 1 |
| MF | R. McCarthy | 4 | 0 |
| MF | A. Morris | 1 | 0 |
| MF | Charlie Parker | 32 | 1 |
| FW | J. Bridgett | 25 | 11 |
| FW | Albert Ellis | 6 | 1 |
| FW | Thomas Greaves | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Billy Harrison | 31 | 5 |
| FW | Billy Herbert | 25 | 12 |
| FW | Harry Howell | 26 | 14 |
| FW | Howard Humphries | 6 | 2 |
| FW | Dick Smith | 5 | 0 |
| FW | Billy Tempest | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Eli Turner | 6 | 0 |
| FW | Arthur Watkin | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Bob Whittingham | 18 | 22 |