Audio Notes:
Guide Notes:
So, there we have all 3 of the towns big sporting institutions and their stories from their formation up to their current guises.
Southport Football Club was formed as Southport Central in 1888.
Football had been played in the town by amateur clubs since 1881.
Southport Rugby Club goes back to Southport Olympic in 1906, who changed their name to what we know today in 1913.
Rugby however has been played in the town since 1872 with the original Southport Football Club, then many variations of Southport, Olympic and even Birkdale Rugby Club filling in the intervening years.
Southport & Birkdale Cricket Club formed from a merger in 1902 between Birkdale Cricket club which had been formed in 1874, and the Alexandra Cricket Club which had been formed in 1863, and which had changed its name to Southport Cricket Club in 1890.
Cricket has been played in the town since 1859