November 2021 Rearch Update

Whilst the majority of our focus over the past few months has been in arranging our 2021 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and former player reunion event, we have still been quietly researching in the background.

Mark Iddon has continued to delve into the first world war period and, in the week following Remembrance Sunday, he has unearthed another 4 former players known to have passed away during the conflict. Look out for articles on this over the coming weeks and months. We’re very grateful to the club for including details of each of our fallen war heroes in the programme every year and we will make sure our newly discovered 4 are included in future years.

My own research has been looking even further back still and I have uncovered information which has transformed my view on the formation of the club. I’m very excited about the discoveries and I’m continuing to work on the book which will trace the lineage of both Southport Rugby Union Football Club and Southport Football Club from the humble beginnings of the town’s first club in 1872 through to the establishment of Southport Olympic (Rugby) and Southport Central (Association). It will be a detailed account of the birth of football in Southport, the likes of which has never been published before.

In the past week we have also been provided with a large collection of old photographs, predominantly from the 1920s, which we are in the process of digitising. We will make them available to view in the fanzone and on the website over the coming months.

This is all done to promote the history and heritage of Southport Football Club and, as we did for the first time on 13th November, we will be setting up historical displays and memorabilia in the Fan Zone at Haig Avenue for fans to view at Saturday home games. On 13th November items included Archie Waterston’s original player contract, and winners medals from the 2004/05 and 2009/10 seasons. We will also bring a large number of programmes for supporters to peruse and take-away with donations being collected towards the work of the FPA. We are a volunteer organisation and fund raising helps support our work for future generations of football fans to enjoy.

We would very much like to hear from anyone with a keen interest in Southport’s history and heritage, especially if you have a rare and interesting item to tell us about, memories to share, skills to offer or simply time to spare. Why not pop along to the Fan Zone for a chat on a match day?

If you have any Port memorabilia, playing kit, documents or other historic items that you would like to tell us about or donate to the archive for display or safe keeping then please get in contact with us.

Do you have a significant item you’d like to donate or a significant item to tell us about? Are you interested in donating financially to the FPA, either as on a one-off or on a regular basis? Would you like to get actively involved? Do you have specific skills that might be useful or would you like to write articles for the website?

We’d love to hear from you!

DJH