It is told, that some time during the period between September
to May 1875-6 a group of then future Stockport Lacrosse Club
Players, who were travelling on the London and North Western
Railway from Manchester's London Road station to Stockport Edgeley
station on their way home from playing a rugby game in which
a fellow team member had been seriously injured, saw from the
carriage window, whilst the train had stopped at a signal, the
spectacle of a running game with players waving strange sticks
around their heads and encircled by a large crowd. The seed
was sown at this moment and soon after Lacrosse was established
in Stockport.
A colourful and perhaps embellished description of the events
leading up to the forming of the Club, however the players were
members of Stockport Rugby Club which was to be, or had just
been disbanded due to a fatal accident, and whatever the size
or actual spectacle of the lacrosse game they saw, its impact
was such that it inspired the formation of a Club for a sport
that had hardly been seen before. The Lacrosse game being played
along side the railway line was between the teams of the Canadian
Montreal Club and Caughnawaga Indians.
Their tour to the British Isles took place during April 1876
and was part of a revival that was occurring in southern England.
The Montreal and Caughnawaga teams had received an invitation
from a Dr. T Archer, who had played in Montreal but In 1876
was in Wimbledon and having formed a Club there, wished to promote
the growth of lacrosse in England. Exhibition games were played
in Birmingham, Belfast, Dublin Edinburgh, Newcastle, and Sheffield
as well as Manchester. The Illustrated London News reported
that lacrosse was "received with the greatest favour" and recommended
ft as an 'antidote to football' which was considered too rough.
The Stockport Club was probably the sixth club to be formed,
those earlier being London, Manchester, Sheffield, Biackheath(London)
and Broughton(Salford). Manchester played at Old Trafford Cricket
Ground and Broughton at Broughton Cricket Ground. 411 these
Clubs have now ceased to exist, thus Stockport is the oldest
remaining club. The inaugural meeting of Stockport Lacrosse
Club took place at the house of Or. Massey in Greek Street,
Stockport. The first game was played on a field in Shaw Beath,
now built over by Beaconsfield Villas, Ahich continued to be
used for some games until the early 1880's, following which
the playing venue was moved to the Stockport Cricket Club Ground,
then at Charles Street, Billgate. The earliest game for which
records exist is against Broughton played at Stockport Cricket
Club on March 17th 1877, the result oeing five goals to nil
to the visitors. The early playing years were not by all accounts
very successful. Stockport was not able to beat any of the earlier
formed Clubs, and not very often against the later formed Clubs
of Cholton, Heaton Mersey, Cheetham and Cheadle either. The
Jubilee booklet records 'that in one season the only match won
was the very last one of the season, and the players returned
home very depressed. We are notinformed, however, whether it
was the reaction after the excitement of their unusual experience,
(in winning) or whether it was the breaking of their unique
record that caused the depression.' This, however seemed to
be the turning point and in the following season the Stockport
players began to win matches. There being one memorable occasion
on the 19th November 1881 when the three teams in existence
won their games with a total of 30 goals against 3. 1st beat
Widness 15-1; A beat Withington B 12-0; B beat Fairfield Wells
A 3-2.
Playing standards however, had not sufficiently risen in time
for the first season of the Senior Flags competition in 1883-4,
in which Stockport played against Heaton Mersey in the first
round and were beat two goals to one. Mersey did reach the final
but lost against South Manchester eight goals to five. It was
not until 1895-6 that a semi final place was reach and this
was against Cheetham on the Didsbury ground. At full time the
score was even and an extra thirty minutes was played in which
Stockport took and held a one goal lead to qualify for the final
for the first time. Their opponents in the final were the seven
time winners South Manchester but their hope for an eighth victory
was dashed by what was recorded as a 'magnificent exhibition'
to provide a nine goals to five victory for Stockport, and the
Flags for the first time.
The second of the 'all conquering' periods commenced in 1910
and spanned three seasons to 1913 during which the Iroquois
Cup and Flags were won each year and the League twice. A record
of success, albeit not for as long a period as from 1896 to
1903, but considered an excellent one at the time, given the
vast improvement in the standard of the games being played during
those and the preceding years. This was due to development that
had come about with the help of visiting teams from across the
Atlantic. Other notable visits were Toronto in 1902, and the
Capitals of Ottawa in 1907 and the participation of Lacrosse
in the 1908 Olympic Games in London. The playing skills learnt
were accurate and hard passing movements and judicious dodging,
and when used in a more direct line to goal proved to be an
effective style of play.
The 1912 Flags Final was won seven goals to three against
Albert Park, and the following season provided a rematch which
was won fifteen goals to two. The resulting Iroquois Cup match,
to become the Champions of England was won twenty two goals
to four against Lee for the third year in succession.
At the end of the following season other greater events were
to take place and those loyal to the Club, and the world of
sport in general proved themselves to be equally loyal to their
Country in her hour of need. Eighty seven of the Clubs total
membership of one hundred and sixty or so members gave their
services to King and Country in the 'Great War' of 1914-18.
The names of all these members are recorded on the Roll of Honour
Memorial Tablet erected to their memory, and it is still there
to be viewed today at the Club's Headquarters. The motto inscribed
reads,
'Patrla Cara Carlor Llbertas'
(One's Country is Beloved, Friendship is More Precious)
With the passing of the War years, Stockport, along with other
clubs struggled in the recomnencenent of the peace time lacrosse
through a lack of experienced players, and it was not until
1923 when Stockport commenced a run of four consecutive first
division league championship wins, that once again Honours were
attained. This success coincided with the celebration of the
Clubs Jubilee Anniversary for 50 years of lacrosse at Stockport,
celebrated by a dinner held at the Pendlebury Hall Memorial
Hall, on Saturday 13th March 1926. Guests included The Mayor,
Councillor J Greenhalgh J.P; and Mr A.E.Townend MP. This event
was recorded in an extensive article in the Cheshire Daily Echo,
dated Monday 15th March 1926, which quoted the dinner as being
'a re-union of stalwarts who had made Stockport the premier
Lacrosse club of the country'.
