At a meeting held in March 1882, at the Sandon Hotel, a pitch was offered to the club by a wealthy cattle importer, Mr. William Cruitt. The ground was situated in a field off Priory Road and was to be no more than short stop before the club found a more permanent home. The playing area was marked out in a rectangle two hundred yards long and on hundred yards wide (football pitches as we know today with penalty areas, centre circle, etc were not standardized until 1892) and it had railings round the playing area. A shed was erected so that the players had somewhere to get changed and a crude stand erected for club officials and a few seats for the more wealthy spectators.
The first match held at the new ground took place in October 1883 and was between Liverpool and District and Walsall District, the game ended in a 3-3 draw but the attendance was poor and only raised a disappointing 14 shillings in gate receipts. The honour of the first club side to visit the Priory Road ground went to a small team from Northwich called Hartford St. Johns, Everton were victorious with a 3-1 win and fittingly the inspirational Jack McGill scored the first goal at the club’s new home.
Two weeks later Everton played hosts to a powerful North Midlands side, Burslam Port Vale, the 50 miles Burslam had to travel was the furthest any team had ventured to play a game against Everton. The game was a tight affair with the visitors going home with a 1-0 victory. Everton played a return fixture against Burslam in December and, despite making the longest journey in the club’s history so far, they came home with a creditable 2-2 draw from a highly entertaining game.
In between their two games against Burslam Port Vale, Everton had started their Liverpool Cup campaign with an impressive 10-0 victory over old rivals St. Peter’s, followed by a 4-1 victory over Liverpool Ramblers. After the away game against the Midland’s side they returned home to continue their assault on the Cup competition and entertained Bootle Wanderers at Priory Road. Despite being awarded a home draw, Wanderers elected to play the game at Everton’s ground and were beaten 5-2, so Everton were their first Cup semi-final.
Only three teams had qualified for the semi-finals, Everton received a bye and so quietly reached their first ever Final, in the semi-final that did take place Earlestown defeated Liverpool Stanley 2-1. The final was played at Bootle’s new home at Hawthorne Road on 29th March 1884, following the amalgamation with the local cricket club, and attracted a gate of 2,500. The game kicked off at 3.30pm and at half time the score was still 0-0, but 20 minutes into the second half the dead-lock was broken. Edwin Berry broke down the Everton left side and crossed into the Earlestown goalmouth and after some confusion W.H. Parry rushed in to score, what turned out to be, the winning goal.
The euphoria surrounding the club’s first major trophy was short lived when their landlord, William Cruitt, refused to allow them to continue to use Priory Road as their home ground. No official reason was given but it was widely presumed that the large amount of people attending home games, and the noise that this generated, disturbed the tranquil, leafy suburbs. So despite having their most successful season so far Everton were, once again, looking for a new home.
