The club first played on a field behind their HQ - The Plough Inn, Shaw Heath and the first gate was 3sh 9d.
Before the break with Rugby Union, Stockport, like many other clubs from Lancashire and Yorkshire, had suffered punishment by the RFU for "broken time" payments.
In the second season 1896–97 the league was divided into Yorkshire and Lancashire, Stockport playing in the latter section, where they would stay for all but one of the remainder of their semi-professional existence.
This was also their most successful season in the Challenge Cup, they defeated Hunslet 2-0, Tyldesley 5-2 and Radcliffe 24-3 before bowing out in the Quarter-Finals losing 0-3 to Widnes.
At the end of the 1901–02 season, the County Leagues elected 18 teams to join the new Division 2 (7 from Lancashire and 10 from Yorkshire and new member South Shields) with the existing second competition scrapped.
Nothing was decided but the debate lingered and the Yorkshire Post of 16 July 1903 reported: “Certain conditions have been drawn up in connection with the proposed transfer of the ground to the Association club and it is understood they will be in all probability accepted.
The opinion prevails that the Rugby Club will shortly disband.” At a meeting on Saturday 15 August 1903, the end was confirmed and Stockport County F.C took over liabilities that amounted to around £350 owing to a well-known gentleman [Mr Sykes] in the town.
The rugby club, it was reported, had been sorely tried by the rapid strides made by the association game in Stockport and had fallen deeper into debt.
"(Stockport) County gained admission to the Second Division of the Football League in 1900, and following this elevation - and consequent requirement for a larger ground - the club moved to its current home of Edgeley Park in 1902, which was then the home of Stockport Rugby League Club.