An Ellesmere Port Town FC (EPTFC) has existed in various guises dating back to 1924, when it joined the Cheshire County League, locking horns with familiar names of today like Chester FC, Altrincham, Stalybridge Celtic and the reserve sides of Tranmere Rovers and Crewe Alexandra. It was this early incarnation of the club that gave future England international Joe Mercer his break in the game. Mercer would go on to enjoy an illustrious career as a player at Everton and Arsenal, win the Football League as a manager with Manchester City in 1968 and receive an OBE in 1976.
In 1948, as football was returning to normality after World War II, a new club of the same name was formed, playing home games initially on York Road, and later the Ellesmere Port Stadium on Thornton Road, which was also used for speedway and greyhound racing. This team competed for over two decades in the Cheshire County League, winning it for three consecutive seasons between 1958 and 1960, and for a fourth time in 1962. The early 1970s saw the club play at its highest ever level, featuring in the Northern Premier League from 1971 to 1973, and reaching the FA Cup First Round Proper for the only time in its history in 1972.
This second guise of EPTFC folded sometime after 1978, although the town was represented in the North West Counties League by the newly formed Ellesmere Port & Neston FC for much of the 1980s. A third Ellesmere Port Town entered this league in 1992, but folded just two years later, despite respectable top-half finishes in its Second Division.
From the ashes of these earlier clubs, the Ellesmere Port Town FC of today traces its roots back to 1994, when it had just an under-6s team. It now has 25 teams, from under-6s through to veterans, along with a ladies’ team. Its senior men’s team plays in the West Cheshire League First Division, with home games played at the Whitby Sports and Social Club on Dunkirk Lane. Having won the Wirral District FA Senior Cup in 2021, it looks forward to many more decades of representing the town in the football pyramid.
