Portsmouth Rovers F.C. was an English association football club based in the village of Portsmouth, which was then in Lancashire. The team spent four years in the second division of the Lancashire Combination between 1911 and 1915, but consistently finished near the foot of the table.[1] Portsmouth Rovers also entered the FA Cup, the foremost cup competition in England, on several occasions and reached the first qualifying round twice. For seven consecutive seasons from 1919–20 to 1925–26, they were knocked out in the preliminary round. Portsmouth Rovers participated in the Cup for the final time on 4 September 1926, but lost to Walsden United in the extra preliminary round by a single goal.[2]
Several notable footballers began their careers with Portsmouth Rovers; goalkeeper Jerry Dawson went on to become an England international,[3] while local full-back Clem Rigg played over 250 professional matches for Nelson.[4]
| Season | Round | Opponent | Date | H/A | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1909–10 | Extra preliminary round | Bacup | 11 September 1909 | Home | 0–3 |
| 1910–11 | Preliminary round | Burnley Casuals | 17 September 1910 | Away | 1–1 |
| 21 September 1910 | Home | 4–0 | |||
| First qualifying round | Barnoldswick United | 1 October 1910 | Away | 0–3 | |
| 1911–12 | Preliminary round | Rossendale United | 16 September 1911 | Away | 0–8 |
| 1912–13 | Preliminary round | Haslingden | 28 September 1912 | Away | 1–3 |
| 1913–14 | Preliminary round | Tottington | 27 September 1913 | Home | 4–2 |
| First qualifying round | Southport Central | 11 October 1913 | Home | 1–9 | |
| 1914–15 | Preliminary round | Barnoldswick United | 26 September 1914 | Away | 2–4 |
| 1919–20 | Preliminary round | Brightmet United | 27 September 1919 | Home | 0–3 |
| 1920–21 | Preliminary round | Lancaster Town | 25 September 1920 | Home | 2–3 |
| 1921–22 | Preliminary round | Skelmersdale United | 24 September 1921 | Away | 0–1 |
| 1923–24 | Preliminary round | Morecambe | 22 September 1923 | Away | 0–3 |
| 1924–25 | Preliminary round | Horwich RMI | 20 September 1924 | Away | 2–4 |
| 1925–26 | Preliminary round | Lancaster Town | 19 September 1925 | Away | 0–4 |
| 1926–27 | Extra preliminary round | Walsden United | 4 September 1926 | Away | 0–1 |
Billy Nesbit started life at Rattern Clough, he then had a spell at Hebden Bridge FC, before being sold to Burnley in 1912. Near the farm house on the hillside was a small stadium this was in one corner of the field, the changing rooms were open at one end and kept warm through the winter months by four cows. if you found there was not much room in the hut you simply moved a cow, the four cows made wonderful heating, during the landslide the ground unfortunately was not good enough to play on, so Portsmouth ended their last season at Cross Stone Todmorden in 1927-28. The team made it to the first round of the FA cup three times in their career, the last was played against Southport Central (Southport as known today), but Portsmouth lost 9-1.
F A CUP 1st round qualifying by Southport Central, a crowd of 200 people turned up at Raten Clough to watch Portsmouth go down 9-1 against Southport, 11 October 1913. The subscription for being a player was 2/- per week, if you missed one payment you were dropped from the side the following Saturday.