Tyldesley FC
Club information
Full nameTyldesley FC
Founded1881; 143 years ago (1881)
Exited1901; 123 years ago (1901)
Re-joined the RFU

Tyldesley was a rugby league club in Tyldesley, Lancashire, England.

The club took part in the meeting at the George Hotel, Huddersfield in 1895 and, after the schism, became founder members of the Northern Rugby Football Union (now Rugby Football League), playing for five seasons from 1895–96 to 1899–1900

History

Early Days

The first rugby club in Tyldesley was formed in 1881 when, after a meeting of local businessmen and rugby players from other clubs, they decided to move from Garrett Hall to Tyldesley and become Tyldesley Football Club.[1]

In 1891, Tyldesley signed future England International Half-back John "Buff" Berry from Kendal Hornets. He went on to win caps for England (RU) while at Tyldesley in 1891 against Wales, Ireland, and Scotland.[2]

He continued playing for Tyldesley under the Northern Union rules as a stand-off half. Tyldesley beat Widnes to win the 1895 Lancashire (Rugby Union) Cup at Wilderspool Stadium, Warrington, in front of around 15,000 spectators.

Northern Union

Prior to the Schism, Tyldesley, like many other clubs from Lancashire (and Yorkshire), had suffered punishment by the RFU for "broken time" payments. And so Tyldesley, represented by a Mr. G Taylor, attended a meeting at The George Hotel, Huddersfield, together with representatives of 21 other clubs, and agreed to form the Northern Rugby Football Union.

After the Great Schism[3] in 1895, Tyldesley were one of the founder members of the new league. In the first season 1895-96 the league consisted of 22 clubs and Tyldesley finished in a very creditable 6th position.

In season 1896-97 the league was divided into Yorkshire and Lancashire, Tyldesley playing in the latter section, where they would stay for the remainder of their (semi) professional existence. They again had a quite successful season finishing in 3rd position out of 14 teams

In the two following seasons, still in the Lancashire section, season 1897-98 & 1898-99 they could only manage a lowly 12th position (out of 14 teams).

In the final season, 1899–1900 they won the wooden spoon, finishing 14th out of 14 teams, with only five points thanks to two wins and one draw.

Revert to Rugby Union

At the end of the 1901–02 season the club, which had played in the Lancashire second competition, disbanded as the club had amassed substantial liabilities.[4] A reformed Tyldesley club was admitted to the Rugby Football Union in 1911.[5]

In 1926, landowning Club President (Mr. William Hesketh Ramsden[6]) gave the Well Street ground in trust to the Club.

Club League Record

The League positions for Tyldesley for the 5 years in which they played (semi) professional Rugby League are given in the following table :-[7]

Season Competition Pos Team Name Pl W D L PW PA Diff Pts % Pts No of teams in league Notes Ref
1895–96 RL 6 Tyldesley 42 21 8 13 260 164 96 50 22 [8]
Only limited County League information is available for this season.
1896–97 Lancs Sen Comp 3 Tyldesley 26 15 2 9 159 80 79 32 14
1897–98 Lancs Sen Comp 12 Tyldesley 26 8 1 17 111 281 -170 17 14
1898–99 Lancs Sen Comp 12 Tyldesley 26 3 5 18 82 240 -158 11 14
1899–1900 Lancs Sen Comp 14 Tyldesley 26 2 1 23 66 336 -270 5 20.83 14

Heading Abbreviations
RL = Single Division; Pl = Games played; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lose; PF = Points for; PA = Points against; Diff = Points difference (+ or -); Pts = League points
% Pts = A percentage system was used to determine league positions due to clubs playing varying number of fixtures and against different opponents
League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.

Several fixtures & results

The following are just a few of Tyldesley's fixtures during the five seasons (and other times) in which they played (semi) professional Rugby League :- [8][9][10][11][12]

Season Date Competition Opponent Venue H/A Result Score Att Notes Ref
1895–96 Sat 28 September 1895 Rl Wigan Folly Field A Draw 0-0 " " 1 [8]
1895–96 Sat 26 October 1895 RL St. Helens Knowsley Road A Draw 3-3 [11]
1895–96 2 November 1895 Rl Widnes Home H Won 9-0 [12]
1895–96 30 November 1895 RL Warrington Home H Lost 3-10 [10]
1895–96 Sat 28 December 1895 Rl Hull Boulevard H Won 3-0 [9]
1895–96 8 February 1896 RL Widnes Lowerhouse Lane A Lost 0-11 2 [12]
1895–96 7 March 1896 Rl Warrington Wilderspool H Draw 3-3 [10]
1895–96 Sat 21 March 1896 RL Hull Home H Won 18-0 [9]
1895–96 Sat 28 March 1896 Rl St Helens Home H Won 11-10 [11]
1895–96 Tue 21 April 1896 RL Wigan Home H Won 5-0 [8]
1896–97 -1 -1 1896 Lanc Sen Comp Widnes Lowerhouse Lane A Won 8-4 2 [12]
1896–97 Sat 26 September 1896 Lanc Sen Comp St Helens Knowsley Road A Lost 0-3 [11]
1896–97 Sat 31 October 1896 Lanc Sen Comp Wigan Folly Field A Won 3-0 1 [8]
1896–97 7 November 1896 Lanc Sen Comp Widnes Home H Won | [12]
1896–97 Sat 5 December 1896 Lanc Sen Comp Wigan Home H Won 8-0 [8]
1896–97 19 December 1896 Lanc Sen Comp Warrington Home H Won 3-0 [10]
1896–97 Sat 20 February 1897 Lanc Sen Comp St Helens Home H Won 12-9 [11]
1896–97 27 February 1897 Lanc Sen Comp Warrington Wilderspool H Won 6-0 [10]
1896–97 27 March 1897 CC R2 Leeds Home H Won 9-3
1896–97 Sat 10 April 1897 CC R4 St Helens Knowsley Road A Lost 0-12 [11]
1897–98 Sat 25 December 1897 Lanc Sen Comp Wigan Folly Field A Lost 2-3 1 [8]
1897–98 4 September 1897 Lanc Sen Comp Warrington Home H Won 19-0 [10]
1897–98 Sat 25 September 1897 Lanc Sen Comp St Helens Knowsley Road A Lost 0-11 [11]
1897–98 Sat 9 October 1897 Lanc Sen Comp Wigan Home H Won 3-0 [8]
1897–98 13 November 1897 Lanc Sen Comp Widnes Home H Lost 2-27 [12]
1897–98 4 December 1897 Lanc Sen Comp Warrington Wilderspool H Lost 0-9 [10]
18 97-98 18 December 1897 Lanc Sen Comp Widnes Lowerhouse Lane A Lost 0-3 2 [12]
1897–98 Sat 15 January 1898 Lanc Sen Comp St Helens Home H Won 8-3 [11]
1897–98 Fri 8 April 1898 Friendly Hull Boulevard H Lost 2-9 [9]
1898–99 1 October 1898 Lanc Sen Comp Widnes Home H Lost 4-8 [12]
1898–99 29 October 1898 Lanc Sen Comp Warrington Wilderspool H Lost 4-21 [10]
1898–99 Sat 24 December 1898 Lanc Sen Comp Wigan Home H Draw 0-0 [8]
1898–99 Mon 26 December 1898 Lanc Sen Comp St Helens Knowsley Road A Lost 5-9 [11]
1898–99 21 January 1899 Lanc Sen Comp Warrington Home H Lost 0-6 [10]
1898–99 Sat 11 February 1899 Lanc Sen Comp St Helens Home H Lost 3-6 [11]
1898–99 Sat 4 March 1899 Lanc Sen Comp Wigan Folly Field A Draw 0-0 1 [8]
1898–99 15 April 1899 Lanc Sen Comp Widnes Lowerhouse Lane A Lost 2-14 2 [12]
1899–1900 26 October 1899 Lanc Sen Comp Warrington Wilderspool H Lost 0-22 [10]
1899–1900 11 November 1899 Lanc Sen Comp Widnes Home H Lost 3-10 [12]
1899–1900 25 November 1899 Lanc Sen Comp Widnes Lowerhouse Lane A Lost 0-11 2 [12]
1899–1900 Sat 2 December 1899 Lanc Sen Comp St Helens Knowsley Road A Lost 3-26 [11]
1899–1900 Sat 23 December 1899 Lanc Sen Comp Wigan Folly Field A Lost 6-15 1 [8]
1899–1900 Sat 30 December 1899 Lanc Sen Comp St Helens Home H Lost 3-14 [11]
1899–1900 7 January 1900 Lanc Sen Comp Warrington Home H Lost 0-11 [10]
1899–1900 Sat 13 January 1900 Lanc Sen Comp Wigan Home H Lost 5-7 [8]
1899–1900 17 April 1900 SWL R1 Widnes Lowerhouse Lane A Lost 6-23 2 [12]

Notes and Comments

  1. Folly Fields is the stadium used by Wigan at the time until 1901. They then became sub-tenants of Springfield Park See below - Note 3.
  2. Lowerhouse Lane is the original site of the current ground used by Widnes. It was renamed Naughton Park in 1932 in honour of club secretary, Tom Naughton - and later renamed Halton Stadium after being completely rebuilt in 1997.
  3. Wigan became sub-tenants of Springfield Park, which they shared with Wigan United AFC, playing their first game there on 14 September 1901 at which a crowd of 4,000 saw them beat Morecambe 12–0, and the last game on 28 April 1902 when Wigan beat the Rest of Lancashire Senior Competition. A temporary ground was necessary to span the period between moving from Folly Fields and the new ground at Central Park being constructed.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Tyldesley RUFC - Club History". Archived from the original on 20 August 2009.
  2. ^ "International Statistics at scrum.com". scrum.com. 31 December 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
  3. ^ J C Lindley with personal recollections by D W Armitage (1973). 100 Years of Rugby - The History of Wakefield Trinity Football Club. The Wakefield Trinity Centenary Committee. pp. 34 and 35.
  4. ^ "Sport and Play". Lancashire Evening Post. No. 4512. 13 April 1901. p. 5 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ^ "Historic sports club pleads for fundraiser support". Leigh Journal. 20 March 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  6. ^ "Archived" (PDF). London Gazette. 21 December 1900. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2023.[dead link]
  7. ^ Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1975). John Player Rugby League Yearbook 1975–76. Queen Anne Press.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Cherry and White".
  9. ^ a b c d "Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results". Archived from the original on 2 March 2012.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Warrington Wolves results and archives". Archived from the original on 21 December 2011.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Saints Heritage Society".
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Widnes Seasons in Review".

External links

Rugby Football League
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