Tyldesley FC

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, 1899-00 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

For the 1901–02 season there is no mention of the club, and so it must be assumed that they dropped down to the lower divisions. They do turn up again in 1911 when they become the first club to successfully return to the Rugby Union code after playing Northern Union. They cite as the reason that the "cost prove[d] too much of a burden in the "Professional" game".

In 1926, landowning Club President (Mr. William Hesketh Ramsden[4]) 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 :-[5]

Season Competition Pos Team Name Pl W D L PW PA Diff Pts % Pts No of teams in league Notes Ref
1895–96RL6Tyldesley4221813260164965022[6]
Only limited County League information is available for this season.
1896–97Lancs Sen Comp3Tyldesley26152915980793214
1897–98Lancs Sen Comp12Tyldesley268117111281-1701714
1898–99Lancs Sen Comp12Tyldesley26351882240-1581114
1899–00Lancs Sen Comp14Tyldesley26212366336-270520.8314

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 :- [6][7][8][9][10]

Season Date Competition Opponent Venue H/A Result Score Att Notes Ref
1895–96Sat 28 09 1895RlWiganFolly FieldADraw0-0" "1[6]
1895–96Sat 26 10 1895RLSt. HelensKnowsley RoadADraw3-3[9]
1895–9602 11 1895RlWidnesHomeHWon9-0[10]
1895–9630 11 1895RLWarringtonHomeHLost3-10[8]
1895–96Sat 28-12-1895RlHullBoulevardHWon3-0[7]
1895–9608-02-1896RLWidnesLowerhouse LaneALost0-112[10]
1895–9607 03 1896RlWarringtonWilderspoolHDraw3-3[8]
1895–96Sat 21 03 1896RLHullHomeHWon18-0[7]
1895–96Sat 28 03 1896RlSt HelensHomeHWon11-10[9]
1895–96Tue 21 04 1896RLWiganHomeHWon5-0[6]
1896–97-1 -1 1896Lanc Sen CompWidnesLowerhouse LaneAWon8-42[10]
1896–97Sat 26 09 1896Lanc Sen CompSt HelensKnowsley RoadALost0-3[9]
1896–97Sat 31 10 1896Lanc Sen CompWiganFolly FieldAWon3-01[6]
1896–9707 11 1896Lanc Sen CompWidnesHomeHWon|[10]
1896–97Sat 05 12 1896Lanc Sen CompWiganHomeHWon8-0[6]
1896–9719 12 1896Lanc Sen CompWarringtonHomeHWon3-0[8]
1896–97Sat 20 02 1897Lanc Sen CompSt HelensHomeHWon12-9[9]
1896–9727 02 1897Lanc Sen CompWarringtonWilderspoolHWon6-0[8]
1896–9727 03 1897CC R2LeedsHomeHWon9-3
1896–97Sat 10 04 1897CC R4St HelensKnowsley RoadALost0-12[9]
1897–98Sat 25 12 1897Lanc Sen CompWiganFolly FieldALost2-31[6]
1897–9804 09 1897Lanc Sen CompWarringtonHomeHWon19-0[8]
1897–98Sat 25 09 1897Lanc Sen CompSt HelensKnowsley RoadALost0-11[9]
1897–98Sat 09 10 1897Lanc Sen CompWiganHomeHWon3-0[6]
1897–9813 11 1897Lanc Sen CompWidnesHomeHLost2-27[10]
1897–9804 12 1897Lanc Sen CompWarringtonWilderspoolHLost0-9[8]
18 97-9818 12 1897Lanc Sen CompWidnesLowerhouse LaneALost0-32[10]
1897–98Sat 15 01 1898Lanc Sen CompSt HelensHomeHWon8-3[9]
1897–98Fri 08-04-1898FriendlyHullBoulevardHLost2-9[7]
1898–9901 10 1898Lanc Sen CompWidnesHomeHLost4-8[10]
1898–9929 10 1898Lanc Sen CompWarringtonWilderspoolHLost4-21[8]
1898–99Sat 24 12 1898Lanc Sen CompWiganHomeHDraw0-0[6]
1898–99Mon 26 12 1898Lanc Sen CompSt HelensKnowsley RoadALost5-9[9]
1898–9921 01 1899Lanc Sen CompWarringtonHomeHLost0-6[8]
1898–99Sat 11 02 1899Lanc Sen CompSt HelensHomeHLost3-6[9]
1898–99Sat 04 03 1899Lanc Sen CompWiganFolly FieldADraw0-01[6]
1898–9915 04 1899Lanc Sen CompWidnesLowerhouse LaneALost2-142[10]
1899–0026 10 1899Lanc Sen CompWarringtonWilderspoolHLost0-22[8]
1899–0011 11 1899Lanc Sen CompWidnesHomeHLost3-10[10]
1899–0025 11 1899Lanc Sen CompWidnesLowerhouse LaneALost0-112[10]
1899–00Sat 02 12 1899Lanc Sen CompSt HelensKnowsley RoadALost3-26[9]
1899–00Sat 23 12 1899Lanc Sen CompWiganFolly FieldALost6-151[6]
1899–00Sat 30 12 1899Lanc Sen CompSt HelensHomeHLost3-14[9]
1899–0007 01 1900Lanc Sen CompWarringtonHomeHLost0-11[8]
1899–00Sat 13 01 1900Lanc Sen CompWiganHomeHLost5-7[6]
1899–0017 04 1900SWL R1WidnesLowerhouse LaneALost6-232[10]

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 2009-08-20.
  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. London Gazette (PDF). 21 December 1900 http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/27258/pages/8649/page.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1975). John Player Rugby League Yearbook 1975–76. Queen Anne Press.
  6. "Cherry and White".
  7. "Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results". Archived from the original on 2014-02-01.
  8. "Warrington Wolves results and archives". Archived from the original on 2011-12-21.
  9. "Saints Heritage Society".
  10. "Widnes Seasons in Review".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.