0rganised cricket seems to have started in
Barnoldswick in the 1860's and by the 1870's there were several clubs
playing regular fixtures, called United, Albion, Perseverance and St.
James. It is Barnoldswick United which had two teams and beat such sides
as Colne, Settle and Earby which became Barnoldswick C.C., founder member
of the Ribblesdale League in 1892.
Before the league was joined, friendly
matches were played against local sides but not always in friendly
fashion. Reports exist of a match against Burnley St. Peters in 1875 when
Barnoldswick refused to finish the match because a Burnley bowler who had
a large wager on the result was getting too much assistance with the
appeals from the Burnley appointed umpire.
Runners‑up in the first league championship
in 1893, Barnoldswick were the fourth champions in 1896 with Fleetwood as
professional (see photo on page 9). It was to be sixty years before the
second championship was achieved. The season of' 1902 was missed when the
league refused to allow them to play teams like Whalley and Clitheroe who
had withdrawn. Then after the 1905 season, they left the league because of
ground difficulties and disbanded altogether in 1912 when the ground was
lost. Starting at Syke House Cricket Field, the club had moved to
Grimestopes, possibly via Letcliffe Park. In 1921 Victoria Park, the
present ground, was acquired and a team was entered in the Ribblesdale
Junior League with a view to getting back in the Senior League eventually.
This was achieved in 1932 with T. Nutter as professional and the club has
been in the Senior League ever since.
Apart from some reasonable league positions
in the war years, the club did not make its mark until the 1950's. There
were some individual performances of note, though. Maurice Maroney, later
to turn professional, took 8‑7 to dismiss Cherry Tree for 32 in 1943 and
8‑6 against Whalley in 1945. In between in 1944, skipper Norman Petty who
later served the league for thirty years as honorary auditor, had three
hat tricks in successive matches, a unique feat.
The second championship came in 1956 and
then, after being runners-up in 1958, the club lapsed back to a regular
position in the bottom half of the table until in 1974 came an unexpected
double of league and cup which heralded twelve years of continuous
success. There was another double in 1985 and in between two other
championships in 1977 and 1983 and five other Ramsbottom Cups in 1976,
1978, 1981, 1982 and 1984. Eleven major trophies in all in twelve seasons!
The sequence started in 1974 against all
expectations. Graham Whipp was the new skipper, Bernard Reidy the rookie
21 year old professional (replacing the original choice who was unable to
fulfil his contract) and Martin Greenhalgh had joined the professional
ranks. But Read were beaten in a low‑scoring Cup Final and Blackburn
Northern were beaten to the league title by eight points. The following
season produced no trophies but was memorable for a narrow defeat at the
hands of Blackpool in the Harp Lager Lancashire Knock‑Out Final at Old
Trafford. A last‑minute dash by the loyal Reidy to the semi‑final against
Kearsley when he was not selected for Lancashire's Sunday League match had
inspired an unexpected win. In the final Barnoldswick's 123‑9 did not look
nearly enough but with seven balls left, Blackpool were still 4 runs short
of the target with two wickets left, having scored at less than 2.5 per
over from the previous 20 overs. Robin Hood's six robbed the poor people
of Barnoldswick.
For the next eight years there was a sequence
of mainly overseas professionals: Camacho, Tirone Williams and Timor
Mohammed from the West Indies, Shaulchat Dudha from India and in 1983
three Test players from different countries, surely a unique occurrence.
Trevor Franklin was called up to join the New Zealand tourists to be
replaced temporarily by Ian Callen of Australia and Barry Wood of
Lancashire and England. Bernard Reidy was back for 1984‑1986 to help lift
the second double.
Bearing in mind that five of the seven
Ramsbottom Cup wins came before the professionals were allowed to play in
competition, mention should be made of the amateurs who gave such support
to the professionals and to skipper Graham Whipp: Martin Greenhalgh, Keith
Wilson, R. Bedford, Graham Harker, Eric Plant, Barry Grave, Jim Roberts,
Peter Pickup, David Sharples and the Scothern's, Trevor and his sons
Michael, Ian and David.
In more recent years one can add Paul Beech
who made the league's list of outstanding all-round performances in 1988
with 5‑25 (including a hat trick) and 84 (off 34 deliveries) versus
Clitheroe. In 1991 he was joined by the explosive Australian professional
Chris Killen, who had 115 and 7‑34 versus Ribblesdale Wanderers and 132
not out and 7‑99 against Read in a match which set a new match aggregate
record of 534 runs. Graham Whipp has a unique place in the league handbook
for having won every league trophy as captain ‑ the senior double in 1974,
the Lawrenson Cup in 1984 and later in successive seasons the
championships of Division One and Division Two. He is now the League's
Press Secretary and the Youth representative team manager.
Barnoldswick embarks on its 73rd season in
the Ribblesdale Senior League in 1992 confident of its future.
