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In the 1950s, the only organised
football for boys was that provided by the schools and as a result, only the
best players were being catered for. |
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Tom Lee |
It became apparent to Tom Lee, a local football
enthusiast that there were many hundreds of players, not school team
standards, who were being denied a regular game of football. These youngsters
had to organise their own impromptu games in local parks with coats as
goalposts, but with no adequate supervision or structure It was with this in
mind that Tom approached two acquaintances Horace Freear and Harry Calvert,
with the idea of making some provision for these youngsters. After much deliberation and many meetings the Accrington & District Boys Football League was formed with 11 teams competing at under 14's level. |
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THE FIRST SEASONS The Boys football league kicked off in November 1958, and that
season saw Ormerod Street United emerging as League Champions and All Whites
as runners up. The first finals night was held at Back Lane, Baxenden and the
presentation evening at Christchurch hall. For the next seven years the final nights were held at Peel park,
the home of
Accrington Stanley FC, then members of the Football League.
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In order to ensure that as many boys as
possible were provided with a regular game of football the schools list was
devised and introduced. This entailed each school selecting a squad of
players who would represent their schools throughout the season; these
players were then ineligible to play in the Boys league. This gave the clubs
the opportunity of providing a regular game of football for non-school team
players. One of the Boys league's main aims was to foster and encourage
good sportsmanship amongst it's members. In order to achieve this the
Sportsmanship and consolation cups were introduced. The league thrived and many representative squads were selected
to play against other leagues, these games included visits to Preston,
Doncaster and Belfast, the visit to Belfast took place in 1961 to play
against Crecagh Boys who included in their team a young player named George
Best.
One of the first representative teams. |
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In 1971, the League made the then courageous step, at the time of
then introducing an under 13's section which included such names as
Oswaldtwistle nippers and Tinker Juniors, a team called Rishton United entered
this new section and as such are the leagues longest serving club.
The next extension to the league took place in 1989 with the
introduction of an under 11's section. Although predominantly set up for the players of Accrington, the stature of the league as grown in as much as it now draws teams from the surrounding areas of Blackburn, Darwen, Rossendale, Burnley and Colne. The 2001/2002 season sees a record number of 96 teams competing in six age groups. |
The first Rishton United team in 1971, which started the clubs continuing involvement with the League (click photo to Expand) |
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