Tyldesley FC

Tyldesley was a (semi) professional rugby league club, with the nickname of 'The Mighty Bongers'.

The club was based in Tyldesley (pronounced 'tɪlzli'), a town (population approx. 35,000) within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester,^[1] England. Historically it is part of Lancashire. The club took their place around the table at the momentous meeting at the George Hotel, Huddersfield in 1895. And after the schism, the club became founder members of the Northern Rugby Football Union (now Rugby Football League) and played for five seasons from 1895–96 to 1899–1900

History

Early Days

The first rugby club in Tyldesley was formed in 1881 when, after a meeting of local businessmen and rugby players from other Clubs, they decide to move from Garrett Hall to Tyldesley and become Tyldesley Football Club.^[2]

There are two items of interest to note during this first period of playing under RFU rules, In 1891 Tyldesley signed future England International Half-back John "Buff" Berry from Kendal Hornets. He went on to win caps for England (RU) while at Tyldesley in 1891 against Wales, Ireland, and Scotland.^[3]

He continued playing for Tyldesley under the Northern Union rules as a stand-off half. Tyldesley beat Widnes to win the 1895 Lancashire (Rugby Union) Cup at Wilderspool Stadium, Warrington in front of around 15,000 spectators.

Northern Union

Prior to the Schism, Tyldesley, like many other clubs from Lancashire (and Yorkshire), had suffered punishment by the RFU for "broken time" payments. And so Tyldesley, represented by a Mr. G Taylor, attended a meeting at The George Hotel, Huddersfield, together with representatives of 21 other clubs, and agreed to form a Northern Rugby Football Union

After the Great Schism^[4] in 1895, Tyldesley were one of the founder members of the new league. In the first season 1895-96 the league consisted of 22 clubs and Tyldesley finished in a very creditable 6th position.

In season 1896-97 the league was divided into Yorkshire and Lancashire, Tyldesley playing in the latter section, where they would stay for the remainder of their (semi) professional existence. They again had a quite successful season finishing in 3rd position out of 14 teams

In the two following seasons, still in the Lancashire section, season 1897-98 & 1898-99 they could only manage a lowly 12th position (out of 14 teams).

In the final season, 1899-00 they won the wooden spoon, finishing 14th out of 14 teams, with only five points thanks to two wins and one draw.

Revert to Rugby Union

For the 1901–02 season there is no mention of the club, and so assume that they dropped down to the lower divisions. They do turn up again in 1911 when they become the first club to successfully return to the Rugby Union code after playing Northern Union. They cite as the reason that the "cost prove too much of a burden in the "Professional" game".

In 1926, Landowning Club President (Mr. William Hesketh Ramsden^[5]) gave the Well Street ground in trust to the Club.

Club League Record

The League positions for Tyldesley for the 5 years in which they played (semi) professional Rugby League are given in the following table :-^[6]

Season	Competition	Pos	Team Name	Pl	W	D	L	PW	PA	Diff	Pts	% Pts	No of teams in league	Notes	Ref
1895–96	RL	6	Tyldesley	42	21	8	13	260	164	96	50		22		[7]
			Only limited County League information is available for this season.
1896–97	Lancs Sen Comp	3	Tyldesley	26	15	2	9	159	80	79	32		14
1897–98	Lancs Sen Comp	12	Tyldesley	26	8	1	17	111	281	-170	17		14
1898–99	Lancs Sen Comp	12	Tyldesley	26	3	5	18	82	240	-158	11		14
1899–00	Lancs Sen Comp	14	Tyldesley	26	2	1	23	66	336	-270	5	20.83	14
a founder members) in 1911 successfully re-apply to the RFU after cost prove too much a burden in the "Professional" game

Heading Abbreviations
RL = Single Division; Pl = Games Played: W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lose; PF = Points For; PA = Points Against; Diff = Points Difference (+ or -); Pts = League Points
% Pts = A percentage system was used to determine league positions due to clubs playing varying number of fixtures and against different opponents
League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.

Several fixtures & results

The following are just a few of Tyldesley's fixtures during the five seasons (and other times) in which they played (semi) professional Rugby League :- ^{[7][8][9][10][11]}

Season	Date	Competition	Opponent	Venue	H/A	Result	Score	Att	Notes	Ref
1895–96	Sat 28 09 1895	Rl	Wigan	Folly Field	A	Draw	0-0	" "	1	[7]
1895–96	Sat 26 10 1895	RL	St Helens	Knowsley Road	A	Draw	3-3			[10]
1895–96	02 11 1895	Rl	Widnes	Home	H	Won	9-0			[11]
1895–96	30 11 1895	RL	Warrington	Home	H	Lost	3-10			[9]
1895–96	Sat 28-12-1895	Rl	Hull	Boulevard	H	Won	3-0			[8]
1895–96	08-02-1896	RL	Widnes	Lowerhouse Lane	A	Lost	0-11		2	[11]
1895–96	07 03 1896	Rl	Warrington	Wilderspool	H	Draw	3-3			[9]
1895–96	Sat 21 03 1896	RL	Hull	Home	H	Won	18-0			[8]
1895–96	Sat 28 03 1896	Rl	St Helens	Home	H	Won	11-10			[10]
1895–96	Tue 21 04 1896	RL	Wigan	Home	H	Won	5-0			[7]
1896–97	-1 -1 1896	Lanc Sen Comp	Widnes	Lowerhouse Lane	A	Won	8-4		2	[11]
1896–97	Sat 26 09 1896	Lanc Sen Comp	St Helens	Knowsley Road	A	Lost	0-3			[10]
1896–97	Sat 31 10 1896	Lanc Sen Comp	Wigan	Folly Field	A	Won	3-0		1	[7]
1896–97	07 11 1896	Lanc Sen Comp	Widnes	Home	H	Won	|			[11]
1896–97	Sat 05 12 1896	Lanc Sen Comp	Wigan	Home	H	Won	8-0			[7]
1896–97	19 12 1896	Lanc Sen Comp	Warrington	Home	H	Won	3-0			[9]
1896–97	Sat 20 02 1897	Lanc Sen Comp	St Helens	Home	H	Won	12-9			[10]
1896–97	27 02 1897	Lanc Sen Comp	Warrington	Wilderspool	H	Won	6-0			[9]
1896–97	27 03 1897	CC R2	Leeds	Home	H	Won	9-3
1896–97	Sat 10 04 1897	CC R4	St Helens	Knowsley Road	A	Lost	0-12			[10]
1897–98	Sat 25 12 1897	Lanc Sen Comp	Wigan	Folly Field	A	Lost	2-3		1	[7]
1897–98	04 09 1897	Lanc Sen Comp	Warrington	Home	H	Won	19-0			[9]
1897–98	Sat 25 09 1897	Lanc Sen Comp	St Helens	Knowsley Road	A	Lost	0-11			[10]
1897–98	Sat 09 10 1897	Lanc Sen Comp	Wigan	Home	H	Won	3-0			[7]
1897–98	13 11 1897	Lanc Sen Comp	Widnes	Home	H	Lost	2-27			[11]
1897–98	04 12 1897	Lanc Sen Comp	Warrington	Wilderspool	H	Lost	0-9			[9]
18 97-98	18 12 1897	Lanc Sen Comp	Widnes	Lowerhouse Lane	A	Lost	0-3		2	[11]
1897–98	Sat 15 01 1898	Lanc Sen Comp	St Helens	Home	H	Won	8-3			[10]
1897–98	Fri 08-04-1898	Friendly	Hull	Boulevard	H	Lost	2-9			[8]
1898–99	01 10 1898	Lanc Sen Comp	Widnes	Home	H	Lost	4-8			[11]
1898–99	29 10 1898	Lanc Sen Comp	Warrington	Wilderspool	H	Lost	4-21			[9]
1898–99	Sat 24 12 1898	Lanc Sen Comp	Wigan	Home	H	Draw	0-0			[7]
1898–99	Mon 26 12 1898	Lanc Sen Comp	St Helens	Knowsley Road	A	Lost	5-9			[10]
1898–99	21 01 1899	Lanc Sen Comp	Warrington	Home	H	Lost	0-6			[9]
1898–99	Sat 11 02 1899	Lanc Sen Comp	St Helens	Home	H	Lost	3-6			[10]
1898–99	Sat 04 03 1899	Lanc Sen Comp	Wigan	Folly Field	A	Draw	0-0		1	[7]
1898–99	15 04 1899	Lanc Sen Comp	Widnes	Lowerhouse Lane	A	Lost	2-14		2	[11]
1899–00	26 10 1899	Lanc Sen Comp	Warrington	Wilderspool	H	Lost	0-22			[9]
1899–00	11 11 1899	Lanc Sen Comp	Widnes	Home	H	Lost	3-10			[11]
1899–00	25 11 1899	Lanc Sen Comp	Widnes	Lowerhouse Lane	A	Lost	0-11		2	[11]
1899–00	Sat 02 12 1899	Lanc Sen Comp	St Helens	Knowsley Road	A	Lost	3-26			[10]
1899–00	Sat 23 12 1899	Lanc Sen Comp	Wigan	Folly Field	A	Lost	6-15		1	[7]
1899–00	Sat 30 12 1899	Lanc Sen Comp	St Helens	Home	H	Lost	3-14			[10]
1899–00	07 01 1900	Lanc Sen Comp	Warrington	Home	H	Lost	0-11			[9]
1899–00	Sat 13 01 1900	Lanc Sen Comp	Wigan	Home	H	Lost	5-7			[7]
1899–00	17 04 1900	SWL R1	Widnes	Lowerhouse Lane	A	Lost	6-23		2	[11]

Notes and Comments

1. Folly Fields is the stadium used by Wigan at the time until 1901. They then became sub-tenants of Springfield Park See below - Note 3.
2. Lowerhouse Lane is the original site of the current ground used by Widnes. It was renamed Naughton Park in 1932 in honour of club secretary, Tom Naughton - and later renamed Halton Stadium after being completely rebuilt in 1997.
3. Wigan became sub-tenants of Springfield Park, which they shared with Wigan United AFC, playing their first game there on 14 September 1901 at which a crowd of 4,000 saw them beat Morecambe 12–0, and the last game on 28 April 1902 when Wigan beat the Rest of Lancashire Senior Competition. A temporary ground was necessary to span the period between moving from Folly Fields and the new ground at Central Park being constructed.

See also

• British rugby league system
• Cumberland League
• Rugby league county leagues
• List of defunct rugby league clubs

References

1. Greater Manchester Gazetteer, [[Greater Manchester County Record <br />Office]], 3 June 2010, retrieved 3 June 2010
2. "Tyldesley RUFC - Club History".
3. "International Statistics at scrum.com". scrum.com. 31 December 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
4. J C Lindley with personal recollections by D W Armitage (1973). 100 Years of Rugby - The History of Wakefield Trinity Football Club. The Wakefield Trinity Centenary Committee. pp. 34 and 35.
5. London Gazette (PDF). 21 December 1900 http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/27258/pages/8649/page.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
6. Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1975). John Player Rugby League Yearbook 1975–76. Queen Anne Press.
7. "Cherry and White".
8. "Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results".
9. "Warrington Wolves results and archives".
10. "Saints Heritage Society".
11. "Widnes Seasons in Review".

External links

• 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com
• Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results 1896/1897
• Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1896-97
• Saints Heritage Society
• Folly Field
• Normanton Knights History
• Eastmoor Dragons ARLFC - Club Info - History 2