1887–88 St. Mary's Y.M.A. season
| 1887–88 season | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Honorary President | Canon Basil Wilberforce | ||
| Secretary | George Muir | ||
| Ground | Southampton Common | ||
| Hampshire Junior Cup | Winners | ||
| Top goalscorer |
League: N/A All: Ned Bromley (7) |
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1887–88 was the third season for St. Mary's Young Men's Association Football Club (St. Mary's Y.M.A.) based in Southampton in southern England. The club entered, and won, the Hampshire Junior Cup in its inaugural year, thus laying the foundation for success over the next two decades.
The 1887–88 season saw the St. Mary's club start to evolve from a church youth club side playing friendly matches on the local common into the dominant team in Southampton, who would play in front of paying crowds. Two years after being founded, the club began to embrace professionalism and move away from its roots, gradually severing its connection to St. Mary's Church to become a more secular organisation, eventually dropping references to the Young Men's Association becoming simply St. Mary's Football Club and, at the same time, acquiring the nickname, "the Saints" which would remain with it until the present day.
The most significant new arrival was George Carter: Carter was employed as an engraver by the Ordnance Survey and in 1887 he was posted to their offices in Southampton. Speaking in 1999, Carter's daughter-in-law, Nellie Carter, said that Carter was "not at all happy" about being posted to Southampton and that Carter maintained that the move was arranged by Dr. Russell Bencraft who was medical officer at the Ordnance Survey and was later to become the president of Southampton St. Mary's F.C. As secretary of the Hampshire County Cricket Club, Bencraft was also a colleague of Col. James Fellowes, who was an assistant to the Director-General of the Ordnance Survey. It would seem, therefore, that Carter was transferred to Southampton as a quasi-professional footballer.
Canon Basil Wilberforce continued as the president of the club, although this was an honorary position, with Dr. Bencraft, a "highly-active" member of the committee, acting as "de facto" president. Wilberforce left the parish of St. Mary's in 1894, after which Bencraft became the official club president.George Muir, a schoolteacher, also continued to act as the club secretary as well as being "ever-present" on the pitch.
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