The 1892–93 season was the eighth since the foundation of St. Mary's F.C. based in Southampton in southern England. It was the second year that the club competed in the qualifying rounds of the FA Cup and the first season that the club embraced professionalism with several players being signed on professional terms. This policy was not to prove a great success initially as the club were not only defeated in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup but also suffered their first-ever defeat in a final of a Hampshire F.A. cup competition.

At the start of the season, the club's administration was in disarray as the secretary, Mr. J. Hendin was seriously ill and was convalescing in Brighton. As a result, by the end of August no fixture list had been printed and rumours were circulating in the local press that the club was £50 in debt. Several of the club's best players were unavailable with F. A. Delamotte's work as a surveyor taking him to Derby and Ernie Nicholls also leaving the area; Arthur Farwell's employment with Edwin Jones made him unavailable to play on Saturday afternoons.

To bolster the side, the committee attempted to recruit George Ridges on professional terms from local rivals, Freemantle, but Ridges refused the offer and remained with the "Magpies" as an amateur. The "Saints" then turned their attentions to another Freemantle player, Jack Dollin, who was paid £1 a week and found a job, thus becoming the club's first professional player, although the club kept his professional status a secret for many years, for fear of being ostracised by other clubs.

The club's opening match was a friendly played at The County Ground against a team from the South Staffordshire Regiment on 17 September 1892. The appearance of the players was described as "shambolic" with the players turning out in a variety of shirts, with two players in white, three in various coloured shirts and only half the side wearing the correct strip of alternate cherry red squares. The players' appearance was reflected in their performance, with the team suffering a 4–0 defeat. The next three matches were also lost and there was a "palpable sense of relief" in the town when the Saints defeated Newbury in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup on 15 October. Two weeks later, however, the side were easily defeated in the next round of the cup, going down 4–0 to Maidenhead; this was the Saints first defeat in a major cup match.

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