Lower Towneley Playing Fields

[Steve1956]

Every single playing field mentioned above was Like Wembley...compared to Shadlock Cote in Whitewell Bottom...and old door for a stretcher and a shippon to change in ...no running water,and that's before you get on the cow pat riddled paddy field.

[Burnley1989]

I once played over at a pitch near Todmorden and when I asked where the showers were in this old shed/garage changing room I was directed to a tap about 1m off the ground.

I managed to have a cold wash of sorts with being a short arse but the lads over 6ft (90% of the team) had a nightmare. I’ve never understood how lads can go back to the pub covered in mud without having a shower first but realised at prairie most sides did. Very odd.

[claret4blue]

We used to play on Rakehead cinder track till it got dark.... or on the grass...... coats down for posts.... nothing serious ...well Mick kilbride apart!!

Rakehead was my old stomping ground, practically lived on there. Older lads Ian Lyndsey,Scott brothers, Clark brothers , Happy times.

[tim_noone]

Rakehead was my old stomping ground, practically lived on there. Older lads Ian Lyndsey,Scott brothers, Clark brothers , Happy times.

Yes Ian Lindsay... Bob scott.. David and Alan Clark.. chris Routh...moi.P.&J McDonough. Lawlors and others from Lanehead. Happy Days ........and Bonfire nights.

[Stanbill05]

LOl. Good thread. I was brought up with "cropping football" on Holy Trinity playing fields in the summer and every st all weather pitch the rest of the year. You wouldn't dare go down for fear of dog **** or broken glass (or both) which made us very resilient.

My lad plays with Southampton at Bath Uni, I think he is getting a decent schooling but he wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes back in the day. Whilst he'll never be Maradona, he'll probably be well prepared for the Modern Game..

[COBBLE]

Now the domain of Canada geese who do love a flood plain.

All the stuff about the pitches and changing rooms rings true from my time starting at St Teds in 1964 to pub teams in about 1980 as I slowly moved back down the team and onto the invisible bench. When I saw the team in the paper said, subs: AN other, AN other, Cobble I realised it was over.

Anybody remember the penny loaf shop?

[Bfc]

Cobble, I presume you are referring to the one on Thursfield Rd. On the same block lived well known post war Burnley player Reg Attwell.
Also a popular shop for kids was old Ma Halsteads corner shop on Mittella St, especially for Towneley pupils. It’s the wedge shape building opp the kids park. You could go (squeeze) in there and buy glasses of all types of pop, poured out in front of, from big bottles. It was also popular with kids who smoked, as she would sell them single cigarettes and even give them a match, if they needed one.

[rayzer]

Me and my two brothers used to go in the penny loaf shop on the way to St Mary's. Always seemed to be foggy.

[basil6345789]

Love this. Playing on crap surfaces, in crap weather, with older, bigger lads, sometimes using a tennis ball cos you couldn’t afford a ‘casey’. Best footy education you can get

Drinking sulphuric acid at half time.

[FactualFrank]

I remember us using the door for target practice (blue doors I think), and playing a game called World Cup (think we called it that). It basically involved 3-4 for us taking it in turns to pass/cross the ball around and shooting and if we scored, the home team got a goal. We then did the same for the away team until one of them went through to the next round - basically... passing and shooting!

I remember we bought a net for the goals and one day it was absolutely freezing, so by the time it came to go home, we could hardly feel our fingers. We couldn't get the tape back off the posts/crossbar to get the net down, so we ended up leaving it there.

[exilecanada]

Now the domain of Canada geese who do love a flood plain.



Anybody remember the penny loaf shop?

Canada geese like leaving their mess on a golf course as well

Yes, I remember that sandwich shop on Thursfield Rd. I'd totally forgotten the name though, thanks for the reminder.

[exilecanada]

Cobble, I presume you are referring to the one on Thursfield Rd. On the same block lived well known post war Burnley player Reg Attwell.
Also a popular shop for kids was old Ma Halsteads corner shop on Mittella St, especially for Towneley pupils. It’s the wedge shape building opp the kids park. You could go (squeeze) in there and buy glasses of all types of pop, poured out in front of, from big bottles. It was also popular with kids who smoked, as she would sell them single cigarettes and even give them a match, if they needed one.

I was a Towneley student and popped into Ma's shop for a single woodbine on occasion.