Formby Rewrite The History Books
Thu 8th December 2011 | Formby | By Ian Templeman
Formby FC have literally rewritten their club history this week, adding four cup honours and two league honours to their list.
This is not due to some implausible flurry of victories in dozens of unscheduled matches, but instead correcting the records of the earliest days of the club, thanks to some invaluable input from a well known local historian.
The story began at the Squirrels' recent match against Northwich Villa, where among the spectators was Liverpool non-league historian Tommy Barnes, who came and had chat with Formby officials. Formby press officer Merrick Cork takes up the story.
Tommy has been spending a lot of time trawling through old archives to piece together the history of many local clubs. In fact, when we went to Bootle for the Liverpool Senior Cup quarter final the other week, we noticed the programme had an article by him.
We've been fortunate in that he has now been turning his attentions to the Squirrels' history. We haven't had much detail on what went on between our formation in 1919 and joining the Liverpool County Combination in the late 1930s. Firstly, Tommy corrected us on the most basic thing, the club's name. We were founded as Formby United, but Tommy confirms that we played under the name until the summer of 1923, three years longer than previously thought.
It's the honours that we're really pleased with unearthing though. In the Liverpool and District League's First Division we were runners-up in 1923/24, and the following season we were champions. Moving up to the Liverpool League, in 1927/28 we had honours in two of that league's cups, winning the Barnes Benevolent Cup and being finalists in the league's knockout trophy, the RP Houston Cup.
In 1929/30 we achieved an extraordinary double, winning the RP Houston Cup on May 2nd 1930, and then on May 5th we won the Liverpool County FA Amateur Cup.
Tommy's also rewritten two of our record performances. We previously thought our record win was in 1952/53, the season that our legendary striker Tommy Cain scored 52 goals. On 18th October 1952 Earle were ploughed into the Brows Lane pitch with an 11-1 victory. Yet Tommy Barnes has uncovered a match from twenty years earlier that trounces it.
Playing in the I Zingari League Division Two, we were visited by Birkenhead side Britannia and gave them a merciless 12-0 hiding. It's not all positive history though. It was previously thought that Formby's record defeat was in their NWCFL years, an infamous game on 18thJanuary 1986 when Irlam Town went to Merseyside and bulldozed theSquirrels 10-0.
It turns out that is nowhere near as bad as it's ever been. South Liverpool were a strong side – Tommy Barnes has compiled a complete history of the club, so he should know – and were so good that their reserves team played in the Liverpool County Combination with Formby.
On December 18th 1938 Formby travelled to South Liverpool for a second round tie in the George Mahon Cup, the league's knockout trophy. Tommy describes a South Liverpool squad whose first team hadn't had a game in a while, so they fielded many of their top drawer players rather than the usual reservists. And it showed. Final score, 15-0.
It's been fascinating talking to him and we owe him a huge debt for the meticulous labour he's put in. The guy's a legend. He says there's more that he's unearthing from our formative years including Football League players who started their careers with us. It really helps to give us a sense of the club's history and a pride in being the present day bearers of that legacy.”
Formby Rewrite The History Books
Thu 8th December 2011 | Formby
By Ian Templeman
Formby FC have literally rewritten their club history this week, adding four cup honours and two league honours to their list.
This is not due to some implausible flurry of victories in dozens of unscheduled matches, but instead correcting the records of the earliest days of the club, thanks to some invaluable input from a well known local historian.
The story began at the Squirrels' recent match against Northwich Villa, where among the spectators was Liverpool non-league historian Tommy Barnes, who came and had chat with Formby officials. Formby press officer Merrick Cork takes up the story.
Tommy has been spending a lot of time trawling through old archives to piece together the history of many local clubs. In fact, when we went to Bootle for the Liverpool Senior Cup quarter final the other week, we noticed the programme had an article by him.
We've been fortunate in that he has now been turning his attentions to the Squirrels' history. We haven't had much detail on what went on between our formation in 1919 and joining the Liverpool County Combination in the late 1930s. Firstly, Tommy corrected us on the most basic thing, the club's name. We were founded as Formby United, but Tommy confirms that we played under the name until the summer of 1923, three years longer than previously thought.
It's the honours that we're really pleased with unearthing though. In the Liverpool and District League's First Division we were runners-up in 1923/24, and the following season we were champions. Moving up to the Liverpool League, in 1927/28 we had honours in two of that league's cups, winning the Barnes Benevolent Cup and being finalists in the league's knockout trophy, the RP Houston Cup.
In 1929/30 we achieved an extraordinary double, winning the RP Houston Cup on May 2nd 1930, and then on May 5th we won the Liverpool County FA Amateur Cup.
Tommy's also rewritten two of our record performances. We previously thought our record win was in 1952/53, the season that our legendary striker Tommy Cain scored 52 goals. On 18th October 1952 Earle were ploughed into the Brows Lane pitch with an 11-1 victory. Yet Tommy Barnes has uncovered a match from twenty years earlier that trounces it.
Playing in the I Zingari League Division Two, we were visited by Birkenhead side Britannia and gave them a merciless 12-0 hiding. It's not all positive history though. It was previously thought that Formby's record defeat was in their NWCFL years, an infamous game on 18thJanuary 1986 when Irlam Town went to Merseyside and bulldozed theSquirrels 10-0.
It turns out that is nowhere near as bad as it's ever been. South Liverpool were a strong side – Tommy Barnes has compiled a complete history of the club, so he should know – and were so good that their reserves team played in the Liverpool County Combination with Formby.
On December 18th 1938 Formby travelled to South Liverpool for a second round tie in the George Mahon Cup, the league's knockout trophy. Tommy describes a South Liverpool squad whose first team hadn't had a game in a while, so they fielded many of their top drawer players rather than the usual reservists. And it showed. Final score, 15-0.
It's been fascinating talking to him and we owe him a huge debt for the meticulous labour he's put in. The guy's a legend. He says there's more that he's unearthing from our formative years including Football League players who started their careers with us. It really helps to give us a sense of the club's history and a pride in being the present day bearers of that legacy.”
