Liverpool Stanley

[Eddie]

Did any of the older forum members ever see Liverpool Stanley or Liverpool City at the Knotty Ash Stadium? If so what was it like? 

[Gooleboy]

55 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Did any of the older forum members ever see Liverpool Stanley or Liverpool City at the Knotty Ash Stadium? If so what was it like? 

I saw Liverpool City play at Featherstone, but I didn't go to the away game. If you want to know about the club and its history, this book is an excellent read.

Liverpool City RLFC

Rugby League in a football City by

Mike Brocken.

[Eddie]

51 minutes ago, Gooleboy said:

I saw Liverpool City play at Featherstone, but I didn't go to the away game. If you want to know about the club and its history, this book is an excellent read.

Liverpool City RLFC

Rugby League in a football City by

Mike Brocken.

Thanks, I have read that book, it’s quite a sad read really. 

[Gerrumonside ref]

3 hours ago, Eddie said:

Did any of the older forum members ever see Liverpool Stanley or Liverpool City at the Knotty Ash Stadium? If so what was it like? 

My father is from Liverpool and he saw Liverpool City as he had a friend who lived near where they played and we did have a programme at one point at his house.

He said he once cracked a joke there about the famous A Trialist brothers starring in the game that didn’t go down too well!

He is a football fan though and it’s fair to say Liverpool were starting a meteoric rise at the same time which would see them eclipse Everton et al which probably didn’t help the fortunes of Liverpool City in the battle for fans.

[Agbrigg]

https://greyhoundracingtimes.co.uk/2018/12/16/liverpool-stanley/

 

Have a look at this, Stanley greyhound track and I believe that must be an image of Liverpool Stanley playing. You will have to scroll down to get the match photo

Edited September 9 by Agbrigg

[Viking Ste]

I must frequently pass where this ground was located, i had no idea it was there.  Thanks for sharing

[Taffy Tiger]

I never went to Knotty Ash , and don't remember Liverpool City , but do remember Huyton

[Fevrover]

I went to Alt Park Huyton and the players and ground staff walked across the pitch looking for glass stuck in the pitch. The main stand had school chairs if i remember rightly or they may have been the dug outs. Locked the gates at ko.

[Eddie]

4 hours ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

My father is from Liverpool and he saw Liverpool City as he had a friend who lived near where they played and we did have a programme at one point at his house.

He said he once cracked a joke there about the famous A Trialist brothers starring in the game that didn’t go down too well!

He is a football fan though and it’s fair to say Liverpool were starting a meteoric rise at the same time which would see them eclipse Everton et al which probably didn’t help the fortunes of Liverpool City in the battle for fans.

Yes South Liverpool FC also suffered from the rise of Liverpool FC, as well as people getting all of Saturday off instead of just the afternoon so they had time to travel further to watch sport. 

[Gooleboy]

1 hour ago, Taffy Tiger said:

I never went to Knotty Ash , and don't remember Liverpool City , but do remember Huyton

A couple of Liverpool City images for you.

[redjonn]

5 hours ago, Agbrigg said:

https://greyhoundracingtimes.co.uk/2018/12/16/liverpool-stanley/

 

Have a look at this, Stanley greyhound track and I believe that must be an image of Liverpool Stanley playing. You will have to scroll down to get the match photo

Interesting...

From the greyhound race track they moved to the knotty ash stadium... the race track being in Stanley just down from knotty ash  where of course knotty ash stadium is, close to Dovecot where me grandma lived...hence aware of stadium but didn't go to any games.

I lived in huyton and did attend alt park games when liverpool City moved and changed names. Alt Park was a dump of ground on first day of opening... named after the river Alt which ran near by...

 

[Eddie]

7 hours ago, redjonn said:

Interesting...

From the greyhound race track they moved to the knotty ash stadium... the race track being in Stanley just down from knotty ash  where of course knotty ash stadium is, close to Dovecot where me grandma lived...hence aware of stadium but didn't go to any games.

I lived in huyton and did attend alt park games when liverpool City moved and changed names. Alt Park was a dump of ground on first day of opening... named after the river Alt which ran near by...

 

Knowsley United also played there for a while, they were in the Northern Premier League with the likes of South Liverpool, Chorley, Burton Albion and Marine - when it was the level below the Conference. Not sure what happened to them, probably folded. That must have been after the rugby league team left actually. 

[Sandy]

Went to this match with my Dad, who used to play for BOCM, British Oil and Cake Mills, in the 50's, one of the many works teams in those days. It was played on rugby and football fields on the northern edge of Hull, now built on.

[Griff]

3 hours ago, Sandy said:

Went to this match with my Dad, who used to play for BOCM, British Oil and Cake Mills, in the 50's, one of the many works teams in those days. It was played on rugby and football fields on the northern edge of Hull, now built on.

Outrageous price for a programme. They were 6d at Cas at that time.

[doc]

Watched Knowsley Utd at Alt Park in the nineties. Didn't think it was that bad, though do remember the tiny crowd. Also remember kids chucking stones at the parked cars. 

Never went back.

[Pete Grady]

I went there just the once with Salford my club, it was an ok ground to visit but the game wasn't very exciting and perhaps that clouds my opinon of the day.

I think Jim Challoner was their star player in the centre, having signed from Barrow, I may be wrong there, but certainly Ken Dodd wasn't playing though, not a tickling stick in sight.

Edited September 10 by Pete Grady
Better inglish

[JonM]

23 minutes ago, doc said:

Watched Knowsley Utd at Alt Park in the nineties. Didn't think it was that bad, though do remember the tiny crowd. Also remember kids chucking stones at the parked cars. 

Never went back.

Knowsley Utd did it up quite well - new clubhouse, floodlights, upgrades to the stand. Still had the same problems of vandalism, damage to cars etc that Huyton RLFC had.

[Anita Bath]

Went to my first rochdale hornets away game at knotty ash Easter 1967. As much as I remember it was OK, and not out of line with other ‘bottom half’ clubs. 

Far better than Alt Park which was a dump.

[Taffy Tiger]

6 hours ago, Sandy said:

Went to this match with my Dad, who used to play for BOCM, British Oil and Cake Mills, in the 50's, one of the many works teams in those days. It was played on rugby and football fields on the northern edge of Hull, now built on.

Bit of a colour clash 

[fieldofclothofgold]

Early sixties I saw Liverpool city play Bramley at The Barley Mow ground Bramley won 40 I think Liverpool 16.i remember there was a coach Liverpool fans .

[Wilderspoolmemories]

I have programmes for Warrington V Huyton matches. I remember Geoff "piggy" Fletcher used to point at his players and verbally abuse them for missing a tackle! 

[redjonn]

14 hours ago, Eddie said:

Knowsley United also played there for a while, they were in the Northern Premier League with the likes of South Liverpool, Chorley, Burton Albion and Marine - when it was the level below the Conference. Not sure what happened to them, probably folded. That must have been after the rugby league team left actually. 

Formerly Kirkby Town, they moved and renamed to Knowsley utd. Played against them when Kirkby Town... well before they moved

[Ed Wish.]

Liverpool Stanley moved to Knotty Ash in the early 50's I think. It boasted an extremely small stand, a glorified garden shed behind one goal and very primitive cinder terracing.  Gates of 1,000 were about average.  The highlight of the year was the visit of St. Helens when the area was swamped by ancient St. Helens Corporation buses brought in to ferry the supporters from ten miles away - the locals were probably 'gobsmacked', that day saw the gate at least quintuple.  The club was eternally in financial trouble and these 'big' games doubtlessly ensured its survival- even though the results were never in doubt.

Competition with soccer was of course the problem. My Father ( and his father before him) were head groundsmen at Anfield for most of the last century so of course I was brought up on the game ( and RU at school), R.L. was a complete unknown.  Although I do recall in about 1954 that Liverpool City were due to play the Kiwis and approached  the football club for use of Anfield ( the City Chaiman Dr. Roebuck worked with my Mother), the final decision was left up to my father because of the pitch.  As he regarded the playing surface as almost 'holy ground' he refused to allow it - I believe the game was played as a combined Widnes/City event at Naughton Park. My introduction to RL was in 1957 when I was taken to watch St. Helens playing Leigh - a Damascene conversion! what I sport I had discovered. I even ended up playng a couple of seasons for Bootle Borough in Liverpool such was my enthusiasm. The B.B. pitch was engulfed in a sea of soccer pitches and both teams bgan the afternoon scouring the surface for deliberatley placed broken glass - the soccer pitches did not receive similar persecution!  Happy days.

[RS]

Thanks for those memories 

The combined team with Widnes was 1961.

[Fly-By-TheWire]

Pardon my ignorance, but what does the word 'Stanley' represent?   As in Accrington / Liverpool / AN Other Stanley.

 

EDIT: So having had a closer look at the posts it would seem Stanley is a nearby village?

Edited September 13 by Fly-By-TheWire