| Full name | Portrack Shamrock Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | the Rocks | |
| Founded | 1921 | |
| Dissolved | c. 1957 | |
| Ground | Portrack Grange | |
Portrack Shamrocks Football Club was an association football club from Portrack, near Stockton-on-Tees, England.
| Full name | Portrack Shamrock Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | the Rocks | |
| Founded | 1921 | |
| Dissolved | c. 1957 | |
| Ground | Portrack Grange | |
Portrack Shamrocks Football Club was an association football club from Portrack, near Stockton-on-Tees, England.
The club was founded in 1921, [1] originally under the name Stockton Shamrocks, changing to Portrack Shamrocks before the 1932–33 season. For much of its existence, the club's chief backer was comedian Jimmy James. [2] Many of the club's players came from the Stockton Malleable ironworks. [3]
Its greatest successes came in Teesside football, winning the Teesside Football League in 1949–50 and 1955–56, and the equivalent knockout competition - the Macmillan Bowl - in 1947–48, and three times in a row from 1954–55 to 1956–57. [4] The club also won the Ellis Cup, which had started out as the South Bank Amateur Challenge Cup, in 1952–53, having been runner-up in 1938–39 and 1944–45. It also won the wartime North Riding Senior Cup in 1940, beating South Bank East End at Ayresome Park. [5]
On a national scale, the club reached the 3rd qualifying round of the FA Cup three times between 1946 and 1950. [6] It entered the FA Amateur Cup from 1924–25 to 1953–54, [7] its best run being to the second round proper (last 32) in 1927–28 and 1933–34. Its 1–0 win over its larger neighbours Stockton in the 1933–34 edition was considered a major shock; [8] in the second round it lost 1–0 at Worcestershire side Badsey Rangers. [9]
The last recorded game for the club was in April 1957, [10] and it seems to have been dissolved before the 1957–58 season.
The club wore white shirts with a green shamrock badge [11] and black shorts. [12]
The club's ground was known as Portrack Grange, [13] and was known as Paddy's Field.
One Shamrocks player, Micky Fenton, who joined Middlesbrough in 1932, went on to play for England, gaining one cap in 1938. [14] Matt Busby guested for the Rocks in the 1945 Ellis Cup final. [15]
Players signing for League clubs from the Rocks include:
