Town Take A Look Back
Fri 20th August 2010 | St Helens Town | By Ian Templeman
With the demise of football clubs up and down the country becoming a fairly regular occurrence, St Helens Town have been looking back at the original 'Town' club and reflecting on the fragility of clubs, highlighted by the loss of Vodkat League members Nelson FC during the summer.
St Helens Town Chairman John McKiernan said, "It's sad to see clubs like Nelson fall by the wayside and in the current economic climate it's difficult for many clubs to make ends meet. It's apparent that the problems encountered by clubs now are the same problems our predecessors tackled almost 100 years ago; sometimes successfully, sometime not!'
He added, 'Whether it is getting supporters through the turnstiles, generating sufficient income to support the club's day-to-day activities, encouraging volunteers to get involved or accessing local press coverage it is obvious that all these problems go hand in hand with running a club."
Following some excellent investigation work by Town committee member Glyn Jones last season it became apparent that the original St. Helens Town club was formed in 1901 not 1903 as previously believed. What was less clear is how long the club survived. Some accounts state that Town folded in 1923, but research over the summer break in the local press shows the club struggled on until at least 1928.Â
Glyn said, "St. Helens had two newspapers, the St. Helens Reporter and the St. Helens Newspaper, both of which published twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Fridays, until the mid-1950s. Between the wars, local sport was dominated by the town's two professional Rugby League clubs, St. Helens and St. Helens Recs. There was also a thriving local football competition in the St. Helens Combination.Â
All three entities commanded most of the space on the sports pages in the 1920s and, as a consequence, very few column inches were devoted to "Town Notes". Town's position was further squeezed from 1927 onwards, after rivals Prescot Cables were promoted mid-way through the season to replace Fleetwood in the Lancashire Combination and from that point onwards, the Cables were the principal local football club, Town appearing only occasionally in the local press."
"At this time League tables featuring St. Helens Town appeared only once every few weeks in the local press for 1927/28 and 1928/29. Indeed, very few match reports appeared at all, so it is impossible to say definitively what matches were played and when the club finally ceased to function," Glyn added.
"Town Notes" for 4th May 1928, under the heading "Will the Club continue?" provide interesting reading:
"The future of the Town club is very problematical. Some of the officials, feeling that the public have refrained from giving the club their necessary support during the last three seasons, have decided to retire. It is now a question whether or not there can be found a few enthusiasts with sufficient interest in Association Football to take their places."
"Thanks to the generosity of a few friends, the club is less embarrassed financially than at any stage of its career so that, should anyone offer to come along and help run the club, they will have the benefit their predecessors have not enjoyed. Mr. T. Wall, 217 Derbyshire Hill Road, Parr, will be pleased to hear from anyone willing to take up office."
According to Glyn's investigation of materials found in the St Helens Library archive the 1927/28 season saw the transfers of five star players:Â Fairhurst and Thomas had signed for Liverpool, although Thomas was placed with Runcorn to gain experience; Tunstall went to Aston Villa, via Prescot, Peachey signed for Bradford City and Bromilow joined Bolton Wanderers via Atherton.Â
Nevertheless, it appeared the club's finances were under pressure, as it was stated that in one home game that season, although four of these stars played, the gate was insufficient to cover the referee's fee.
The beginning of the 1928/29 season saw two trial games take place at Park Road and players were asked to meet at the club's headquarters at the Black Horse. The opening game of the season in the Senior Division on 1st September, produced a draw against Bryn Celtic (no match report could be found).  Manchester North End visited Park Road in the FA Cup on 15th September and, in a goalless game, Town were represented by: Milligan, Taylor, Gutteridge, Smith, Flaherty, Anders, Fairclough, Pilkington, Whitley, Aspinwall and Middlehurst.Â
The replay, at Blackley, four days later was described as a "scrappy game" which Town lost 3-4, goals coming from Middlehurst and Anders (2). That appears to be the last Town match report in the local press. Another league game was played that month, which was won, then there was a gap of several weeks until early November, when a game was lost and this appears to have been the last before the club folded. That sad event does not appear to have been worthy of even a mention in either of the local papers.
The above is reproduced from an article in the St Helens Town AFC match programme on 17th August 2010 - FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round v Nostell Miners Welfare which is available on line at http://tinyurl.com/StHelensvNostell.
Town Take A Look Back
Fri 20th August 2010 | St Helens Town
By Ian Templeman
With the demise of football clubs up and down the country becoming a fairly regular occurrence, St Helens Town have been looking back at the original 'Town' club and reflecting on the fragility of clubs, highlighted by the loss of Vodkat League members Nelson FC during the summer.
St Helens Town Chairman John McKiernan said, "It's sad to see clubs like Nelson fall by the wayside and in the current economic climate it's difficult for many clubs to make ends meet. It's apparent that the problems encountered by clubs now are the same problems our predecessors tackled almost 100 years ago; sometimes successfully, sometime not!'
He added, 'Whether it is getting supporters through the turnstiles, generating sufficient income to support the club's day-to-day activities, encouraging volunteers to get involved or accessing local press coverage it is obvious that all these problems go hand in hand with running a club."
Following some excellent investigation work by Town committee member Glyn Jones last season it became apparent that the original St. Helens Town club was formed in 1901 not 1903 as previously believed. What was less clear is how long the club survived. Some accounts state that Town folded in 1923, but research over the summer break in the local press shows the club struggled on until at least 1928.Â
Glyn said, "St. Helens had two newspapers, the St. Helens Reporter and the St. Helens Newspaper, both of which published twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Fridays, until the mid-1950s. Between the wars, local sport was dominated by the town's two professional Rugby League clubs, St. Helens and St. Helens Recs. There was also a thriving local football competition in the St. Helens Combination.Â
All three entities commanded most of the space on the sports pages in the 1920s and, as a consequence, very few column inches were devoted to "Town Notes". Town's position was further squeezed from 1927 onwards, after rivals Prescot Cables were promoted mid-way through the season to replace Fleetwood in the Lancashire Combination and from that point onwards, the Cables were the principal local football club, Town appearing only occasionally in the local press."
"At this time League tables featuring St. Helens Town appeared only once every few weeks in the local press for 1927/28 and 1928/29. Indeed, very few match reports appeared at all, so it is impossible to say definitively what matches were played and when the club finally ceased to function," Glyn added.
"Town Notes" for 4th May 1928, under the heading "Will the Club continue?" provide interesting reading:
"The future of the Town club is very problematical. Some of the officials, feeling that the public have refrained from giving the club their necessary support during the last three seasons, have decided to retire. It is now a question whether or not there can be found a few enthusiasts with sufficient interest in Association Football to take their places."
"Thanks to the generosity of a few friends, the club is less embarrassed financially than at any stage of its career so that, should anyone offer to come along and help run the club, they will have the benefit their predecessors have not enjoyed. Mr. T. Wall, 217 Derbyshire Hill Road, Parr, will be pleased to hear from anyone willing to take up office."
According to Glyn's investigation of materials found in the St Helens Library archive the 1927/28 season saw the transfers of five star players:Â Fairhurst and Thomas had signed for Liverpool, although Thomas was placed with Runcorn to gain experience; Tunstall went to Aston Villa, via Prescot, Peachey signed for Bradford City and Bromilow joined Bolton Wanderers via Atherton.Â
Nevertheless, it appeared the club's finances were under pressure, as it was stated that in one home game that season, although four of these stars played, the gate was insufficient to cover the referee's fee.
The beginning of the 1928/29 season saw two trial games take place at Park Road and players were asked to meet at the club's headquarters at the Black Horse. The opening game of the season in the Senior Division on 1st September, produced a draw against Bryn Celtic (no match report could be found).  Manchester North End visited Park Road in the FA Cup on 15th September and, in a goalless game, Town were represented by: Milligan, Taylor, Gutteridge, Smith, Flaherty, Anders, Fairclough, Pilkington, Whitley, Aspinwall and Middlehurst.Â
The replay, at Blackley, four days later was described as a "scrappy game" which Town lost 3-4, goals coming from Middlehurst and Anders (2). That appears to be the last Town match report in the local press. Another league game was played that month, which was won, then there was a gap of several weeks until early November, when a game was lost and this appears to have been the last before the club folded. That sad event does not appear to have been worthy of even a mention in either of the local papers.
The above is reproduced from an article in the St Helens Town AFC match programme on 17th August 2010 - FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round v Nostell Miners Welfare which is available on line at http://tinyurl.com/StHelensvNostell.
