Southampton F.C. is an English football club . They started in 1885 and play their home games at a stadium called St Mary 's Stadium . In 2001 the move from The Dell to the new Friends Provident St Mary 's Stadium was a homecoming for Southampton F.C. , because of the new stadium 's proximity to St Mary 's , the church where the club was founded on 21 November 1885 by members of the St Mary 's Church of England Young Men 's Association .