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Long lost amateur clubs


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Depends how far back you want to go. Burtons Sports ran amateur RL sides in the sixties (Burtons the Tailors) As did John Barran (also mass tailors) Both in Leeds. I suppose Pilkington Recs are the classic works RL side.

There seemed to be a transition from works teams from the late 70s onwards. Large companies stopped running sports and social clubs and smaller firms stopped subsidising individual sports teams, being replaced by pubs and workingmens/social clubs who were happy to put some money up in return for teams spending money at the bar.

Looks like it wer' organised by't Pennine League

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Have started to collect material on the Bury ARLFC side of 1981-83/84 and then became Prestwich ARLFC lasting into the early 1990s. A bit of the material is here: http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/burybroncos/news/once-upon-a-time-486320.html

interested in anything anyone remembers,

I've got a copy of that program !! It has been lent to me so I can put some stuff onto the Kirkholt WMC facebook page.

One small thing; Hornets ground was called the Athletic Ground, not Recreation ground.

Keep up the good work.

Looks like it wer' organised by't Pennine League

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I think that if you look back far enough, you can find a team who competed in the Challenge Cup under the magnificent moniker of "Twelve Apostles." I believe they were from the Leigh area, maybe a church/parish team - do any of the Lobbygobblers in here know for certain?

There is still a Twelve Apostles catholic church/school at the end of Nel Pan Lane in the Westleigh area of Leigh. My dad went to that school and me mad/dad were married in the church there. Will ask him if they did play in't challenge cup.

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I used to like Brassmoulders. It had a real south leeds artisan name about it. Although it was in fact a pub. The pub was next to the sun in near Beza bridge. The sun in still exists(last time I looked), and where the brass moulders arms was is still a patch of wasteland.

Didn't Jeff Stevenson aslo have a pub very near to those two pubs called THE ANCHOR

Didn't Ellery Hanley start out at a club called Corpus Christi? What was that all about?

Going back one of most famous amateur clubs was Brookland Rovers from Maryport. They qualified for the CC on many occasions up to the fifties. Sadly, the club folded in the early 60s.

I played against Basingstoke Beasts in the mid-90s. They were a two season wonder!

SOUTHSTAND LOINER EXPLAINED THAT ONE

kelvin skerret also ran a pub , THE GOODMAN in hunslet a fav drinking hole for one , garry schofield , when he was with HULL FC , didnt MICK SHOEBOTTOM also have a pub in the hunslet area after his career was brought to an end , with a bit of thuggery on the field of play quote

We used to call in the RED LION in Hunslet on our way to away games and The late great Mick Shoebottom used to be in there very quiet.I think Mick had a spell coaching the Brassmoulders

 Soon we will be dancing the fandango
FROM 2004,TO DO WHAT THIS CLUB HAS DONE,IF THATS NOT GREATNESSTHEN i DONT KNOW WHAT IS.

JAMIE PEACOCK

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There seemed to be a transition from works teams from the late 70s onwards. Large companies stopped running sports and social clubs and smaller firms stopped subsidising individual sports teams, being replaced by pubs and workingmens/social clubs who were happy to put some money up in return for teams spending money at the bar.

I think Burtons Sports might have disappeared with the demise of mass tailoring and men wearing suits everyday. What was the huge Hudson Road complex of Burtons is long gone and now a series of industrial units.

Locally there was also BRK - based at a Gildersome (Leeds) foundry - and also Bisons Sports - I believe both the Skerretts played for Bisons at some point in their carreers. I wonder if Yorkshire Imperial Metals had a side - Peter Fox worked there as did I believe Ikram Butt. Did the Raine twins also work there?

I recall the receptionist at Hewden Crane Hire in Cas complaining that one of the Beardmores and Chris Bibb, who both worked there, had been allowed leave of absence to go on the 1990 tour to PNG and NZ.

“Few thought him even a starter.There were many who thought themselves smarter. But he ended PM, CH and OM. An Earl and a Knight of the Garter.”

Clement Attlee.

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There was also BOCM from Hull I think. I remember going to watch one of the Hull teams knock out Batley at Mount Pleasant in the eighties I think. But I'm not sure which Hull team it was. I remember the referee appearing very biased towards the amateurs.

Batley were knocked out by Mysons in the John Player Trophy on 16/11/86 and the referee was your enemy and mine Fred Lindop - I've not got a good memory, just a shelf with all the Rothmans on it behind me!

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There was also BOCM from Hull I think. I remember going to watch one of the Hull teams knock out Batley at Mount Pleasant in the eighties I think. But I'm not sure which Hull team it was. I remember the referee appearing very biased towards the amateurs.

I think Ace evolved into Ideal Isberg. There certainly was a BOCM (my old man used to work there) team and I remember them playing Liverpool City in the sixties. There was also Jesmond in Hull

rldfsignature.jpg

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Hunslet Blooming Rose

Todmorden

Black Lion (Luddenden foot)

Ovenden Cross

Salem Hornets

BBA/Cleckheaton

Kirkholt

Brighouse Celtic

Yew Tree (Leeds?)

I Was the first civilian to sign/play for Halifax Terriers, they were a territorial army side prior to that.

"Freedom without socialism is privilege and injustice, socialism without freedom is slavery and brutality" - Mikhail Bakunin

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Triangle Valve (Wigan) were the first ever opponents of the newly formed Leigh Miners Welfare club in the Warrington & District League in 1966 and Miners won 37-6 with loose forward Harry Westhead scoring a hat trick. Bootle were never in the NWCL but Kirkby Rangers and Huyton Hornets were in through th 80's. Biddulph and South london joined the NWCL in 1986-87 but Biddulph only lasted a a few games. I played for Staff of Life who later became Swinton Bulldogs. After a very unsuccessful season as Bulldogs the name changed to Swinton IP which stood for Irate Puppies! I always foung the Hull side Humber Manure amusing and I recently discovered in the Hull league of 1986 Thorngumbald! Amateur RL is my passion. I have tons of info, club histories, league tables, results etc etc. A few more strange ones from the 80's - Norfolk Bridge Plumpers (Barnsley league), Idle (Bradford), Platform One (Carlisle)and Corkickle (Whitehaven). Healy Street Adults and XII Apostles both have appeared and Manchester & District League Valentine cup finals many, many years ago.

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In the first season of BARLA (1973-74) only the following playing leagues:

Leeds (Saturday and Sunday, the latter 11-a-side)

York (Saturday and Sunday, though only 2 clubs in the Saturday league!)

Castleford and Wakefield (Sunday)

Halifax & Huddersfield

Hull

Manchester

Barrow

Cumberland

Southern (3 clubs!)

There was a Bradford League:

Queensbury

Thornton (my team)

Shipley (played one season as Watson's Wallboards :) )

Victoria Rangers

West Bowling

Clayton

Wyke

Dudley Hill

International Harvesters (fantastic facilities, nowadays Bradford City's training ground)

Shortly before that season Keighley Albion and Worth Village had defected to the Halifax League.

Under Scrutiny by the Right-On Thought Police

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Didn't Ellery Hanley start out at a club called Corpus Christi? What was that all about?

Corpus Christi were a team based in the Halton Moor area of Leeds,the Club still exists but they don't run an RL team anymore.

The club is located next to Corpus Christi RC High School.

Thank you for your valuable contribution.

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Triangle Valve (Wigan) were the first ever opponents of the newly formed Leigh Miners Welfare club in the Warrington & District League in 1966 and Miners won 37-6 with loose forward Harry Westhead scoring a hat trick. Bootle were never in the NWCL but Kirkby Rangers and Huyton Hornets were in through th 80's. Biddulph and South london joined the NWCL in 1986-87 but Biddulph only lasted a a few games. I played for Staff of Life who later became Swinton Bulldogs. After a very unsuccessful season as Bulldogs the name changed to Swinton IP which stood for Irate Puppies! I always foung the Hull side Humber Manure amusing and I recently discovered in the Hull league of 1986 Thorngumbald! Amateur RL is my passion. I have tons of info, club histories, league tables, results etc etc. A few more strange ones from the 80's - Norfolk Bridge Plumpers (Barnsley league), Idle (Bradford), Platform One (Carlisle)and Corkickle (Whitehaven). Healy Street Adults and XII Apostles both have appeared and Manchester & District League Valentine cup finals many, many years ago.

Biddulph switched to the Midlands and South West League which they won in 1986-87. Not sure if they entered in 87-88 but they definitely weren't in 88-89. They did play in the Staffordshire League (presumably had reserves in it when they played elsewhere) though that only had 4 clubs (Biddulph, Newcastle, Kidsgrove Crusaders and North Staffordshire Polytechnic) and the last year or two was down to 3 teams after Kidsgrove folded. They basically entered a combined Stoke team into the 1990-91 MASWARLA who won division 1 (the lower division), I don't know if they played a second season but they were definitely gone by the 1992-93 season. They actually claimed they were joining the pro leagues!

I'd heard of South London in NWCL, though still bizarre. Telford All Blacks were the other expansion team in it though ended up switching to East Midlands League and moving juniors to the Shropshire League.

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There was a Bradford League:

Queensbury

Thornton (my team)

Shipley (played one season as Watson's Wallboards :) )

Victoria Rangers

West Bowling

Clayton

Wyke

Dudley Hill

International Harvesters (fantastic facilities, nowadays Bradford City's training ground)

Shortly before that season Keighley Albion and Worth Village had defected to the Halifax League.

Yeah the list also missed the Warrington League off for some reason. The Halifax and Huddersfield League (which included Oldham and Rochdale sides) merged with the Bradford League to form the Pennine League.

Quite a lot of out of town sides in leagues, Heworth and Dewsbury Celtic both played in the Leeds League for example.

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Pub is still there I think

I think they joined with Bisons and maybe Brassmoulders to form Hunslet Warriors.

Most went to play for East Leeds when the conference was formed.At the time East Leeds didn't have an open age team.

The pub is still there (or was last time I looked), East Leeds had a thriving junior section formed in 1979, Yew Tree an older open age pub team. I thought Easts had an open age side too, but not strong enough to cope with the NCL, and old rivalries were put aside for mutual benefit.

Didn't NDLB become Hull Dockers? (National Docks Labour Board or something)

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Although dying out, works teams were still important in the 80s/90s.

I remember playing against :-

BBA (Bradford) - later to become Cleckheaton

British Aerospace (Oldham)

Seddon Atkinson (Oldham) - who merged with Salem Hornets

Not long before that there were Ferranti at Oldham, David Brown Gears at Huddersfield and I'm sure there were more.

I also remember a team in St Helens called UGB (Glass !).

British Aerospace played in the BARLA National League in the 1989/90 and 1990/91 seasons.

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Telford All Blacks didn't play in the NWCL at open age level Bowes. I have the league tables of every division of the NWCL since it was formed. I have all the results from most of them! UGB were United Glass Blowers who became Eccleston Lions. Somebody mentioned TBM earlier. They were Thames Board Mills who became Laporte before folding. I think Andy Coley started with them. Anybody remember Wymott Prison having one season in the NWCL? They are the only team ever to play in that league and play all their games at home!!!!!

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North Wales Coasters and Wrexham joined it. Must have been a dodgy source saying Telford All Blacks played NWCL although maybe was just juniors before they had the Shropshire Junior League (where Birmingham played their juniors). Do you know if Crewe played NWCL after the Mercian League folded or if that was the end of them? Or in fact if they played in it before they joined the Midlands and South West League (either 1989 or 1990)?

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I've got a copy of that program !! It has been lent to me so I can put some stuff onto the Kirkholt WMC facebook page.

One small thing; Hornets ground was called the Athletic Ground, not Recreation ground.

Keep up the good work.

Wasn't it the Athletic Grounds? Athletic Ground doesn't look quite right.

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