the club's founding date on 10 March 1928 and 24 August 1931, despite reporting on the jubilee celebrations in January 1926. Another theory on the club's origins is that Port Vale was formed from a merger of Wolstanton, Middleport and Burslem St. Paul's, but there is little evidence to support it. A further theory is that Port Vale were originally a brickworks team, mainly based on the existence of bricks with "Burslem Port Vale" and "Port Vale" marked upon them. However, these names appear to be indicative of their place of manufacture (in Port Vale, the valley of ports) and often have a company name upon them, so there is no hard evidence to link them to the football club. The unique name of Port Vale has attracted interest and debate. The players lived near such places as: Port Vale Wharf, Port Vale Street, Port Vale Corn Mills and Port Vale House. Also, with nearby Porthill Victoria having played upon a hill, the team of the valley below meant that the name Port Vale was "a rather natural choice." Another theory was that the name came from a shortening of 'Longport Vale'. 1879–1907: Early years The club played their football at Limekiln Lane, Longport and from 1880 at Westport, paying £1 for the use of Westport Meadows. The 1851 Ordnance Survey Map of Longport clearly shows the Port Vale Wharf and the adjacent Longport Lime Kilns, including the eponymous lane. Under its founder Enoch Hood, the club rose rapidly above the dozen or so other local Burslem clubs to become the strongest club in the town within a few years. Already in 1880 the club had a Reserve side and managed to attract the best players from their local rivals. They began to charge admission to their games and joined the Staffordshire Football Association on 6 September 1882. The first recorded line-up was on 9 December 1882 in a Staffordshire Senior Cup second round replay at Stoke, the match finished 5–1 to Stoke, Enoch Hood scoring Vale's goal. On 2 February 1884, the club annihilated Middlewich 16–0 in a friendly. Later in the month Billy Poulson and Charlie Simpson were selected to represent Staffordshire. The Sentinel wrote of "our two local champions – Stoke and Port Vale". From that point on it was these two clubs that defined football in the Potteries. The club moved to Burslem in 1884, they