The club became founder members of the Northern League in 1889–90 and moved to a new ground at Normanby Road. They left the Northern League after this inaugural season, returning for another season in 1891–92 before applying to join the Teesside League in 1892–93 becoming champions, . South Bank were included in the fixture list produced for the 1892-93 season of the Northern League and reports exit that they actually completed their first fixture against Middlesbrough on 03/09/1892 at their (Middlesbrough's) Linthorpe Road ground. They were soundly beaten 5-0. There are however other reports that suggest this was a "club match", "a friendly in today's terms", as opposed to a Northern League match. In any event it does not count within the Northern League statistics.