The season also saw the formation of the Manchester & District Football Association, the organisation that was to become the present-day Manchester FA, and Gorton A.F.C. swiftly applied to join. Although no league football was entertained by the Gorton club – and indeed, they wouldn't enter a league system for another six seasons – the club did get its first taste of competitive football at Pink Bank Lane, with entry into the Manchester & District Challenge Cup, later to be known as the Manchester Senior Cup, and a competition in which Manchester City's reserve team continues to compete in with a history of lifting the trophy every few years. In 1884, however, Gorton's taste of cup football ended swiftly with a 1–0 loss in the First Round to Dalton Hall (Owens College) F.C. For the next several seasons, cup football would prove a tough nut to crack for the Gorton club.
