1:10pm Friday 27th November 2009
By Gordon Sharrock
IF recent research turns out to be accurate, Hindsford Football Club will be celebrating its centenery the season after next.
It was previously believed the village club, located just down the road from Tyldesley town centre, was founded in 1926.
But the latest check of library archives discovered a team called Hindsford Church House was formed 15 years earlier.
If more digging confirms they later dropped Church House from the name, then the club is indeed, nearing its 100th birthday.
Chairman Paul Devlin and his committee are waiting anxiously for the findings.
“We’ve always thought the club dates back to 1926 and there were definitely two teams by the name of Hindsford that played in the Westhoughton League and the Walkden League in the 1926-27 season, but a friend of mine who is into history discovered a team called Hindsford Church House was formed on August 4, 1911,” he explained.
“It could well be that was the origin of our club.
“That club was still running in 1922 because we’ve found a report of a game against Tyldesley on New Year’s Day, which states that officials were disappointed with a crowd of just over 600.
“What we wouldn’t give today for a crowd of 600!”
Well known in local football circles having been a prominent member of the Leigh and District Amateur League for many years, Hindsford have established themselves in recent seasons as a well-run Manchester League club.
In time, they would hope to make the necessary improvements to their Squires Lane ground with a view to stepping up to the North West Counties League. But, for now, they are focused purely on pushing for success on the field.
“I would like to think that, at some point in the future, we could make the step up but, for me as chairman, I’d just like to see us be successful where we are at the moment.
“It’s no good thinking we can step up in two or three years if we can’t be successful at this level first.
“For the time being I’m quite happy competing at this level.”
To that end Hindsford have recently appointed a new manager, Colin Glendon, who was previously at Whalley Range in the Cheshire League. He is assisted by Pete Burns, who was with him at Whalley Range, and Andy Sheehan, who worked previously with former first team captain Simon Hampson who did sterling work managing the team as a stop-gap measure for a couple of years.
Glendon, pictured, whose aim is to steer Hindsford into the top half of the Premier Division, has a good crop of young talent to work with, including 19-year-old midfielder Michael Phoenix who was recruited this season and who has been the club’s stand-out performer.
“We’ve got a good crop of young lads who, collectively, have been playing well recently — better than results would suggest,” said Devlin, whose son Liam plays in the first team.
Whether the club is 98 years old or 83, Hindsford would not be around today if they did not have a loyal band of committee men down the years.
Darren Briggs is the current club treasurer, Danny Ryan has the duel role of secretary and second team manager, Alan Brown put together the grant applications that earned Football Foundation funding for the recent refurbishment of the Squires Lane changing rooms, while Phil Anders, Dan Toone and Sam Jolley play key roles in keeping things ticking over nicely.
A major overhaul of the pitch in the summer, which included 500ft of new drains, rotovation and re-seeding, has provided a much-improved playing surface for groundsman John Grundy to work with, although the famous sloping pitch is still a feature.
“People talk about our slope but it’s not as bad as some make out,” the chairman insists. “Atherton LR and Atherton Colls have slopes, it’s just that ours is in the last third and it’s quite pronounced.
“We did discuss getting rid of the slope with the contractors when we did the pitch but we’d have been looking at £20,000 to £30,000 and we couldn’t justify that.
“We’ve worked hard to improve facilities here and we’ll continue to do so. We have a committed team of people who all want the same thing — for the club to be successful on and off the field.
“Without a shadow of a doubt, if we didn’t have such a strong committee, we would struggle to carry on.”
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