Burnley Sunday League Football

[FactualFrank]

Just wondering if I can work out who you are

What team(s) and positions did you play for? I'm 39, are we the same age?

[cricketfieldclarets]

Some belting rivalries

Woodman and bwood
George and prinny
Healeywood and bayhorse/prinny

Then i went and played for the george in my final outings and won league and cup

Two good teams there.

The one for woodman is after we had just won that game against healeywood in the quarters. This is from the towneley cup final. Against bottom of league burnley boys club. We were too cocksure. Thought we had won it before we turned up after beating healeywood, george 4th and then smashing pendle forest who were a good side in semi final. Scott and Craig Robinson had the boys club well organised and they turned us over by one goal.

[dales_claret]

I remember Brendan Flood being a regular in a good Brunshaw Celtic side

[Bfc]

I played in same team as poster Redwasp and FCBurnley was our manager.
Seeing the team photos reminded me of era probably early 90s when the Burnley Express published a local league team picture, showing one of the players on the back row with his old man on the shoulder of a team mate who was knelt on the front row.
It caused quite a stir and I think it led the player to banned by the league and red faces at the Burnley Express offices

[Goody1975]

As was mentioned on page one it was Briggsy in the infamous photo.

It was taken before the inter division end of season match in the Sunday League, where a select team from division one took on a team selected from players who played in division two and three.

Always a very competitive game which usually saw the lower division XI come out on top or certainly was the case in the 1990's.

[1fatclaret]

FB_IMG_1549230488803.jpg (127.81 KiB) Viewed 1851 times

One of my old team mates has just posted this on Facebook. Our team of cup winners, somewhere around 1996 at a guess. Good few pints and pounds been put on since then!

[Goody1975]

FB_IMG_1549230488803.jpg

One of my old team mates has just posted this on Facebook. Our team of cup winners, somewhere around 1996 at a guess. Good few pints and pounds been put on since then!

Still have the trophy in my house.

[JimMcDonald]

Two good teams there.

The one for woodman is after we had just won that game against healeywood in the quarters. This is from the towneley cup final. Against bottom of league burnley boys club. We were too cocksure. Thought we had won it before we turned up after beating healeywood, george 4th and then smashing pendle forest who were a good side in semi final. Scott and Craig Robinson had the boys club well organised and they turned us over by one goal.

Sorry but the 2nd picture team looks awful Although Willy Kerr is prolific lollll

[California Colner]

Burnley Sunday league was a good standard and some fantastic players including ex-pros as mentioned by CFC. Les Latcham, Leighton James, Andy Wharton were players from my generation. Best team I played against was Royal SC from Waterfoot who fielded a team of semi-pros if it was an important cup match. Andy Grimshaw was excellent and his team mates included Steve Parry, Paul Guest, Neil Rowbotham, Andy Hornsby and Liver supported by the durable Jackie Barnes in his grey mack (who do you play for? What colour do you play in? He's offside ref?) Ventura, Queens Park, Holden & Hartley were top teams from Burnley in my early days plus Joiners from Clitheroe and North Star from Accrington who had David Lloyd (Bumble from Sky TV Cricket) giving us the runaround on the left wing! As mentioned above St Teds OB's, Brunshaw Celtic, Angels NS and Butterfly also fielded competitive teams with players such as Paul and Dave Bennett, Adrian and Sean Crorken, Gary Watson and Richard Howarth. The Lowerhouse Teams including the Canteen and Cricketers had the likes of Mick Cowan, Roy Smith, Mick Thompson and Mick Chapman. Excellent sportsman who always played it hard but fair. Black Bull lads such as McDevitts, Noony and Tex Grogan were tough to play against. Favourite opponents besides Grimshaw were Mick Moffit and Steve Catlow from Parkside and Richard Kelly from Rose & Crown and his team mate Peter Clare who I was later fortunate enough to play alongside in the Sunday league. Too many to remember and list them all! With regards to administrators I always held Ray Ryland in high esteem. He wasn't everybody's cup of tea but he gave some semblance of order and discipline in a league which featured some very feisty and difficult characters to deal with from time to time. John Pilling also did a fantastic job for many years. Talk about commitment, time and effort - remarkable really. Great characters and happy times from my younger days (sigh!) . As for the Pike Bombers (what can I say?). They shouldve been locked up for printing "Down the Miggle". I've still got 3 copies and according to the poster above that means I could cash in for the best part of a fiver. I'll be up in the loft later this morning! Regards to all ex Sunday leaguers.

I played with Mick Moffet with Colne Legion Les Latcham was the manager, mick was proberbly the best amateur footballer around at that time

[Herts Clarets]

I played with Mick Moffet with Colne Legion Les Latcham was the manager, mick was proberbly the best amateur footballer around at that time

Depending on the era you may have played with my step dad Terry Speeding at Colne Legion. Big goalkeeper.

[ClaretTony]

Playing Sunday league football (and cricket in the summer), and the associated social side of being in a team, gave me some of the happiest times of my life. My team, Redrose, were formed in the mid 70's by a group of like minded Clarets supporters and continued in the league for 30 consecutive until 4th February 2007, before old age and creaking bones forced us to call it a day. By then, several of our team had been playing for 25 years or more. Unfortunately, like others have said, we were finding it increasingly difficult to attract new, younger players.
We were never going to be competing for the league's top prizes, ( though we had modest success with the occasional trophy), but just enjoyed being part of a team, playing against like minded sides such as Coal Clough Casuals, with whom we had a friendly rivalry.
12 years on I miss Sunday league football so much and cannot believe the younger generation would rather be sat inside playing virtual football when they could be up Towneley doing the real thing!

That makes me feel old. Redrose was formed in 1974 as a cricket team initially and played two full seasons in the Burnley Midweek League and Sunday School League before adding the football team for the 1975/76 season in the Burnley Sunday League. I was pretty crap at football but did score the odd goal. I sort of managed to get through at cricket by donning the wicket keepers gloves. But, above all that, as BigRedrose posted, the social side of it was probably more important than the playing. I was at the Redrose reunion do for the 15th anniversary in 1999 but that was my last involvement. I wonder if they'll have one for 50 years in five years time? Still 9 or 10 of us sit together on the Turf.

[FCBurnley]

That makes me feel old. Redrose was formed in 1974 as a cricket team initially and played two full seasons in the Burnley Midweek League and Sunday School League before adding the football team for the 1975/76 season in the Burnley Sunday League. I was pretty crap at football but did score the odd goal. I sort of managed to get through at cricket by donning the wicket keepers gloves. But, above all that, as BigRedrose posted, the social side of it was probably more important than the playing. I was at the Redrose reunion do for the 15th anniversary in 1999 but that was my last involvement. I wonder if they'll have one for 50 years in five years time? Still 9 or 10 of us sit together on the Turf.

Very happy to say that I was involved in the formation of Redrose CC .As Tony says we were initially a bunch of Clarets fans who decided to form a cricket team. Think the main reason we formed our own team was because none of us were good enough to play for established teams !!! . Fundraising to buy equipment( bought from Cockers Sports shop ) was the first challenge. I would never have thought it would develop into an ok Cricket and Football club. I remember our friendly games v a village team from the Hull area ( Tony will remember the name) ( was it Long Wriston ? or similar)and we also played them at St Andrews which for us was like playing at Lords. Very happy days and all cemented by our love of Burnley FC

[ClaretTony]

Very happy to say that I was involved in the formation of Redrose CC .As Tony says we were initially a bunch of Clarets fans who decided to form a cricket team. Think the main reason we formed our own team was because none of us were good enough to play for established teams !!! . Fundraising to buy equipment( bought from Cockers Sports shop ) was the first challenge. I would never have thought it would develop into an ok Cricket and Football club. I remember our friendly games v a village team from the Hull area ( Tony will remember the name) ( was it Long Wriston ? or similar)and we also played them at St Andrews which for us was like playing at Lords. Very happy days and all cemented by our love of Burnley FC

Nearly - it was Long Riston. We did play them at St. Andrews but the best wicket we played them on was the old Lucas Sports Ground.

[TVC15]

Lucas Sports Ground also had the best local football pitch. I played there in a few finals and after playing on Turf Moor half a dozen times i`d still say Lucas was better....such a shame when it was shut down.

Some of the facilities at the big employers are excellent. Rolls Royce was probably the best surface I ever played on in 30 years of playing. They even had one of the large communal baths in the changing rooms. We (St Teds Old Boys) once beat them in the Hospital Cup...7-3 I think....and remember the communal bath well. They had one at Turf Moor also as we got to the final that year and after the game the club put a crate of Carling in the changing room for us to all have in the communal bath....I can see why they don't have them now though as not the most hygienic way of trying to get clean !!

[basil6345789]

Loved playing in the team with you guys in it's last few years, like you said we were struggling to get lads to turn up on a consistent basis and was a massive shame when Redrose pulled down the net for the final time.

Loved playing for Bombers against Redrose cos we licked em every time.
Nice lads though!

[FCBurnley]

Loved playing for Bombers against Redrose cos we licked em every time.
Nice lads though!

We used to let you win cos some of our team enjoyed the licking after the game

[California Colner]

Depending on the era you may have played with my step dad Terry Speeding at Colne Legion. Big goalkeeper.

Yes I played with Terry

[Richardsbfc]

There have been some legendary fights on the pitches of Towneley and Prairie over the years

theroyaldyche Vs cricketfieldclarets is up there with Hagler Vs Hearns

Both would run off. Cowards.

[Clarets4me]

Lucas Sports Ground also had the best local football pitch. I played there in a few finals and after playing on Turf Moor half a dozen times i`d still say Lucas was better....such a shame when it was shut down.

Some of the facilities at the big employers are excellent. Rolls Royce was probably the best surface I ever played on in 30 years of playing. They even had one of the large communal baths in the changing rooms. We (St Teds Old Boys) once beat them in the Hospital Cup...7-3 I think....and remember the communal bath well. They had one at Turf Moor also as we got to the final that year and after the game the club put a crate of Carling in the changing room for us to all have in the communal bath....I can see why they don't have them now though as not the most hygienic way of trying to get clean !!

Most communal baths were filled in at sports clubs in the early nineties, when concerns about AIDS were at their height, being replaced by showers ...

[tim_noone]

Most communal baths were filled in at sports clubs in the early nineties, when concerns about AIDS were at their height, being replaced by showers ...

More chance of catching it in the showers surely? Thank god for shower gel!!

[Longsider 70’s]

Scott Park had some good players , most were from Borough who were the best Saturday team in their time . Taddy , Briggsy .Andy Clarke some of the best .

[cricketfieldclarets]

Both would run off. Cowards.

The only reason you wouldnt is because you cant run. And its not because of that ankle

[cricketfieldclarets]

Sorry but the 2nd picture team looks awful Although Willy Kerr is prolific lollll

Second picture probably has some better individuals actually than first.

And even Richardsbfc could run in those days. Think he was 36 in that pic.

Willy Kerr actually always seemed to score no matter what.