Blackburn Park Road F.C.
Full name | Blackburn Park Road Football Club | |
---|---|---|
Nickname(s) | the Roadsters[1] | |
Founded | 1875 | |
Dissolved | 1890 | |
Ground | Audley Hall Ground, Park Road | |
|
Blackburn Park Road F.C. was a football team formed in 1875. They played in Blackburn, Lancashire, near to the railway station.
History
The club was formed in 1875 out of the Park Road cricket club.
Lancashire Senior Cup runners-up
Despite some good results they were rarely a match for the two major town teams of that time,
FA Cup appearances
In 1883–84 Park Road beat Clitheroe Low Moor 6–0, all of the goals coming in the first half, and Holden scoring a hat-trick.[7] This proved to be the Roadsters' only victory in the main draw of the competition. In the second round, the club lost 3–2 to Accrington to a late goal, having come from 2–0 down, in front of 1,000 spectators.[8] The Owd Reds were consequently disqualified because one of the club's players (Beresford) was a professional, but Park Road declined the invitation to participate in the third round, as the club faced a likely defeat against Blackburn Olympic.[9]
In the
In 1887–88, the club beat (Northern) Irish invitee (Lisburn) Distillery 2–1 in the FA Cup, but Distillery protested on the basis that the pitch markings were not in conformity with the regulations, lacking the centre spot, centre circle, and six-yard arcs;[12] the protest was upheld and rather than replay the tie Park Road scratched from the competition to play Distillery's rivals Cliftonville F.C., who had beaten the Roadsters in the first round the previous year, in a friendly instead. The club however finished the season with its only trophy success, winning the East Lancashire Charity Shield, coming from behind to beat Bell's Temperance of Accrington at Rovers' Leamington Road ground.[13]
Lancashire League
As the fourth club in Blackburn, behind Rovers, Olympic, and
Second club
In 1894, a new club emerged using the Park Road name, and in 1895 its committee took over the Audley End ground, "once the property of the once famous but now defunct Park Road".[18] The club played for four seasons in the Lancashire Combination, without ever finishing in the top half of the table. After then the club played in the North-East Lancashire League but could not finish the 1901–02 season. The club's final seasons were in the extremely low-key Blackburn & District Amateur League, and Park Road finally disbanded after a 10–3 defeat at Wilpshire at the end of the 1903–04 season.[19]
Colours
The club's original colours were white jerseys, blue knickers, and blue and white hose.[20] In 1880 they changed to light red and blue jerseys,[21] later confirmed as being in halves.
Grounds
In 1880, the club moved from its original Haslingden Road ground to Place Farm, a mile and a quarter from Blackburn Station.[22] By 1883 the club was playing at the Audley Hall Ground.[23] The club introduced electric floodlighting for three matches in 1889–90, but the experiment was not successful.[24]
Honours
- Lancashire Senior Cup
- Runner-up 1880-81
- East Lancashire Charity Shield
- Winner 1887–88
Notable former players
International players:
- Jack Reynolds
References
- ^ "Blackburn Park Road v Clitheroe Low Moor". Blackburn Times: 6. 3 November 1883.
- ^ "Football Notes". Manchester Courier: 3. 5 November 1883.
- ^ "Lancashire Association Challenge Cup Competition Fourth Round". Guardian: 7. 14 March 1881.
- ^ "Football". Blackburn Weekly Standard: 3. 9 April 1881.
- ^ "Lancashire Challenge Cup". Blackburn Weekly News: 8. 30 April 1881.
- ^ "Notes from Free-Kick". Blackburn Weekly News: 2. 30 April 1881.
- ^ "report". Blackburn Times: 6. 3 November 1883.
- ^ "report". Blackburn Times: 3. 1 December 1883.
- ^ "report". Blackburn Standard: 3. 1 December 1883.
- ^ "report". Glasgow Herald: 10. 19 October 1885.
- ^ Thirds withdrew from the second round rather than playing the professional side Church F.C.
- ^ "report". Sport (Dublin): 27. 15 October 1887.
- ^ "The East Lancashire Charity Shield - Final". Blackburn Standard: 8. 9 June 1888.
- ^ "Suggested Foootball League for Junior Clubs". Blackburn Weekly Standard: 5. 2 March 1889.
- ^ "1889/90 Season Summary". Southport F.C. 11 December 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
- ^ "Football prospects". Lancashire Evening Post: 4. 30 August 1890.
- ^ "Clitheroe v Blackburn Park-Road". Preston Herald: 7. 22 October 1890.
- ^ "Athletic & Sporting Gossip". Blackburn Weekly Standard: 3. 30 November 1895.
- ^ "Blackburn & District Amateur League". Guardian: 3. 21 March 1904.
- ^ Alcock, Charles (1879). Football Annual. p. 111.
- ^ Alcock, Charles (1880). Football Annual. p. 108.
- ^ Alcock, Charles (1880). Football Annual. p. 108.
- ^ Alcock, Charles (1883). Football Annual. p. 203.
- ^ "Blackburn Park Road". Lancashire Evening Post: 2. 7 June 1890.
Sources
- The Guinness Record of the FA Cup