Oswaldtwistle Rovers F.C.

Oswaldtwistle Rovers Football Club were a team based in the town of Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire. They first entered the FA Cup in 1884 and, in 1885, reached the second round. Rovers were one of the founder members of the Lancashire League in 1889, but predominantly competed in the Lancashire Combination between 1894 and 1909. In 1909, after leaving the second division of the Combination, they played their final game in the FA Cup.

History


Oswaldtwistle Rovers were based in the town of Oswaldtwistle, near to Accrington, in Lancashire. Aside from friendly matches, they played in a number of competitions, including the FA Cup, the Lancashire League and the Lancashire Combination.

The first of their 22 appearances in the FA Cup came in the 1884–85 season, where they lost 12–0 to local side Blackburn Olympic in the first round. However, Olympic were a strong team who had won the cup in 1882–83 – the first time it had been won by a northern team. They fared better in 1885–86, beating Lower Darwen 3–1 in the first round. They were then paired against another local side, cup-holders Blackburn Rovers in the next round. They lost the game 1–0, with the goal scored by Hugh McIntyre; only a thousand spectators attended the game, which suggests that the two Rovers were not big rivals, despite their proximity. Blackburn Rovers went on to retain the cup that year.

Oswaldtwistle never again made it to the second round of the FA Cup. In the 1888–89 season, qualifying rounds were introduced for the first time. That year, Rovers entered at the second qualifying round, winning 3–1 at Blackburn Olympic, before losing to South Shore, who went on to become Blackpool F.C. In the same year, Rovers won the Lancashire Junior Cup. In February 1888, they also hosted Newton Heath – who would later change their name to Manchester United – in a friendly match that they won 6–0.

In 1889, Oswaldtwistle were one of the founder members of the Lancashire League. However, they struggled in that league, and left at the end of the 1890–91 season, having finished bottom of the table with only one win from 20 matches. In 1894 they entered the Lancashire Combination, a league generally populated by small local sides and the reserve teams of the larger Lancashire clubs. They ended the campaign in fourth place in the division, their highest ever league position. The team left the Combination in 1897, but returned three years later. They were then relegated to the Second Division of the Combination in 1904. Oswaldtwistle's final full league campaign, in 1908–09, saw the club concede 137 goals.

The club was forced to play in the extra preliminary round in the 1909–10 FA Cup; paired against Dobson & Barlow's in the extra preliminary round, they drew 1–1 at home, before losing 2–0 away in the replay. Its final league season ended prematurely; it resigned from the Lancashire Combination in March 1910, and its fixtures were taken over by Walkden Central. The club needed gates of £15 to break even, but had only been receiving £11, and had debts of £108, meaning that the club could not afford the expenses for the remaining away matches. The Rovers had at least signed off with a win, a late Taylor penalty securing a 2–1 win over Eccles.

The club's annual general meeting in April 1910 heard that the owner of the ground wanted to use it for housing, and had refused the club a lease for the 1910–11 season. The club was caught between wanting to join a league, for which it required a ground, and leasing a ground without the certainty of a league, and ultimately the committee resolved to wind up the club. The club was duly liquidated, its paraphernalia sold at auction on 30 July 1910.

Today the town of Oswaldtwistle, because of its location, is home to supporters of Blackburn Rovers and Accrington Stanley.

Colours
The Alcock yearbooks for 1886 to 1889 give the club's colours as red jerseys and white knickers; by 1906 its jerseys were described as scarlet.

Ground
The club originally played at the White Ash ground. By 1886 it was playing at the Town Bent and by 1887 at the Rhoden Ground on Roe Greave Road, near the Rose & Crown.

Seasons
Key: LL – Lancashire League; LC – Lancashire Combination; LCB – Lancashire Combination, B division; nR – nth round; nQ – nth round qualifying; PR – preliminary round; EPR – extra preliminary round.

Former players
Former players who also played professionally in the English Football League include Tommy Becton, Martin Dunne, Proctor Hall, Kelly Houlker, Dick Lindley and George Parsonage.