Any organisation that survives one hundred years is to be complimented on the strength and foresight of its members but any group of individuals who gave freely their own personal time for the benefit of others will in the estimation of most people be special. In 1909 a small group of men including H.W. Rhodes, A.H. Downes, R.W. Lambert and E. Roscoe met and in their own words decided to:-

 

“Promote an Amateur League of high quality for players who pay to play the genuine sport; also, to encourage competition against outside Leagues of similar outlook and standing to the mutual benefit of the amateur game”.

 

The game was association football, and the organisation was to be called the Lancashire and Cheshire Amateur Football League.

 

Why would this group of gentlemen wish to compete against twenty-three other established football leagues in the immediate Manchester area?

 

Wasn’t there enough competition to satisfy the needs of the youth of the great Manchester conurbation? In the eyes of this august group of gentlemen, the obvious answer was a resounding, ” No”.

 

The new League attracted the interest of eleven teams who embarked on a road that has seen many twists and turns over the years but at no time has the dream of these men ever been questioned.

 

There may only be two other leagues still surviving in the Manchester area with a longer history, but the League now boasts a greater number of teams in open-age grass roots football than any of its competitors not only in Manchester but in the north west region.

 

Organised football was being played in the North of England from the 1870s but the laws which governed the game, known as Association Rules were varied and not standardized until 1877. The Lancashire and Cheshire County Football Associations were both formed in 1878 followed by Manchester in 1884.

 

There have been changes in interpretation of the Laws of the Game even in recent years as the authorities are engaged in a constant battle to retain control of the decisions that affect not only the professional game but the game of football as a whole. Significant changes in law since the League’s formation include the restriction of a goalkeeper to only handle the ball in the penalty area. Prior to 1912 a goalkeeper could handle the ball anywhere in the field of play. A player could be off side from a throw in until 1920 and was offside unless three defenders were between him and his opponent’s goal line until 1925. We still have an almost annual adjustment to the offside law so you can see that changes made eighty years ago are still subject to continual inspection and revision to keep pace with the changes in the game.

 

The locations of the clubs who were the initial members of the League included Werneth Amateurs, Stalybridge Celtic, Lymm Amateurs, Walkden Amateurs and Bolton Wyresdale giving some idea of the distance players would have to travel to their games and some credence for the choice of the League’s name.

 

One can only speculate how players travelled to and from games with the more basic forms of transport available in those long off days and especially when Saturday morning working was still a normal way of life.

 

The foundation for the future strength of the League had to be down to the founding fathers, whose personal interest in the game of football and their own business experiences influenced the development of the League from those early days. No greater example could be found than the extraordinary life of William Herbert Rhodes.

 

The son of a mill owner, whose premises were in Hadfield William Herbert was born in Hollingworth in 1886. After a public school education, he succeeded to the directorship of Rhodes’s Top Mills in Stalybridge. He developed a keen interest in sport and in 1906 founded and financed the Stalybridge Celtic Football Club. It is reported that Herbert was an excellent outside left and through his football contacts introduced many promising players to the Celtic.

 

In season 1909-10 the club joined the Lancashire and Cheshire League and spent two seasons gaining valuable experience before moving into the professional game. The club are still competing in the semi-professional game and continue to play their games at Bower Fold.

 

Herbert, as he was known, became one of the founder members of the League and was appointed the first President, a position he held until 1934. In addition to his passion for football, Herbert was a lover of horses, owning several racehorses and was well respected on the turf at the Northern racecourses and beyond and one of his horses finished second in the Steward’s Cup at Goodwood. 

 

His sporting interests also included cricket where the East Cheshire Wanderers received his support, as did the league in which the club competed.

 

Civic duty did not escape Herbert, who was a member of the Stalybridge Town Council from 1911 to 1921.

 

The eulogies at Herbert’s funeral in 1934 were many but none more touching than those of friends who spoke of him as having a big heart that went out to those who suffered, using his wealth largely to make others happy.

 

Herbert’s memory will be everlasting in the League following his presentation of the First Division Trophy in 1909 and in 1912 the Rhodes Cup which competitions are still competed for to the present day.

 

The founding members would have found plenty of work to occupy their time, as the only committee members were the Chairman A.H. Downs, the Secretary R.W. Lambert, Treasurer E. Roscoe, supported by President, Herbert.

 

During this pre-war period the above-mentioned officials remained in post though changes in office did occur. Whilst R.W. Lambert was the Secretary in the inaugural season, he made way for Jimmie Rennie, who held the position until 1913 then becoming Chairman until 1925. Jimmie was known as an amateur of the true sort and it was mainly due to his drive and ambition that the League was revived so soon after the First World War. Jimmie became a referee following the path of so many of our committee members, though his claim to fame was to appear as a linesman in a Notts County v Aston Villa F.A. Cup tie in 1922.

 

Following Jimmie’s move to the Chairman’s role, the League were fortunate to recruit C.W. Hellawell known affectionately as “Clarrie” to be the new Secretary, a position he held until 1923. In addition to his secretarial work, Clarrie took a great interest in the Junior Division formed in the early 1920s and was the Secretary of a member club, Old Trafford St Johns as well as being a scoutmaster at the Church.

 

The club membership in 1909 consisted of the following eleven teams:-

 

Walkden Amateurs

Stalybridge Celtic

Bolton Wyresdale

Droylsden Corinthians

Lymm Amateurs

Denton Corinthians

Xaverian College

Werneth

Dukinfield Astley

Brooklands

Westinghouse

 

Stalybridge Celtic and Bolton Wyresdale are the only two clubs still in existence though not in membership of the League.

 

The inaugural winners of the division were Walkden Amateurs with Stalybridge Celtic runners-up.

 

1910 saw the introduction of S.E. Woollam to the Committee taking on the position of Treasurer, and he went on to give more than fifty years of continual service to the League, having the Aggregate Trophy named after him as recognition.

 

In season 1910-11 a Second Division including reserve teams was formed, but in the next two years the size of the First Division was lower at first with seven and then nine teams as clubs found the travelling costs too great or the competition too strong. In 1914 just as it seemed the struggle had been overcome, with both divisions having eleven teams, the First World War stopped the League’s activities until 1919 when, as ten years previously, a start was made with one division of eleven teams.

 

Preparations for the new season would have been well advanced by the beginning of August 1914, but all expectations soon evaporated following the announcement that war had been declared on the 4th August.

 

It would have been appropriate for the League to have been able to have their own Roll of Honour for players and officials who lost their lives in the war. Unfortunately, this has not been possible, but Lancashire Football Association quoted a circular received from the F.A. in 1914 appealing: -

 

“To the patriotism of all who are interested in the game to support the Nation in the present serious emergency….players and spectators who are physically fit and otherwise able are urged to join the army at once”.

 

The Lancashire F.A. kept a record of enlisted men before conscription was introduced and it showed there were 100 recruits from clubs affiliated with the League.
 

An entry has been found in the Manchester Guardian, which reported that Private Sydney M. Smith, a well-known player in the Lancashire and Cheshire Amateur Football League, was wounded whilst rescuing a wounded comrade.

 

How many of our players’ lives were lost in that conflict is not known, though the heaviest casualties suffered by one club was understood to be Cranford, who lost eight of their team killed in France. As a result, this highly successful Club were unable to re-form after the war and were lost to football for ever.

 

Those that survived were able to return to their clubs and carry on with their football, which no doubt helped in their recovery and return to normal life after the atrocities of war.