Home Is Where The Pitch Is

Does anyone remember this North West Counties League football ground?

Tucked away behind concrete walls and bushy treelines, rests the old ground where distant cheers, shouts of encouragement and disgruntled boos at the referee and away players, have become distant echoes from a once growing and progressing football club.

These days, the pitch is overgrown with weeds and tufted grass, and although remnants of the ground are still standing, time has been cruel, and the little stadium represents derelict ignorance, as folk pass on the Liverpool-Leeds canal path without really knowing what lies beyond those concrete walls. Here rests the old football ground that faithfully played host to Burnley Bank Hall FC.

The history of the club is vague to say the least, with very few references to be found. However, the club were understood to have established themselves with the English Football Association in the West Lancashire League, notably gaining promotion to Division One in the 1989-1990 season - finishing top as Division Two champions. This fantastic achievement was followed up by another amazing and successful season finishing top, as champions of Division One in 1991-1992.

Promotion to the dizzy heights of the North West Counties League Division Two, saw them perform above expectations with a great effort finishing 10th out of 18 teams in their first season 1992-1993.

Division Two North West Counties League:

* - Westhoughton Town and Cheadle Town each had 3 points deducted

(League information from F.C.H.D.)

As the club looked to progress, they attracted key players like Niel Barret and Burnley FC legend Neil Grewcock, whom many Burnley faithful will know, helped save the club from relegation back in 1987. Grewcock played over 240 games for the Clarets, scoring 32 goals. Perhaps the most memorable goal coming in the final game of the 1987 season when Burnley needed to beat Orient to keep themselves in the football league.

Grewcock shared his experience of the match, witnessing that ‘in their hour of need the whole town turned out.’ With 15,781 fans spilling into the stadium for Orient’s visit, the atmosphere was tremendous. “I’d never played in front of that many people at Turf Moor before,” says Grewcock, “but the realisation that possibly you could be out of the league overshadowed everything, you couldn’t enjoy it.” His goal, hit with his weaker foot, went in the bottom left-hand corner, and sent the fans into a frenzy.

(Reported from Clarets Mad, Chadwick Media, The Guardian – Tom Davies).

That ‘Orient’ game has remained in the memories of thousands who lived through that day as Burnley held on to win 2-1 and stay in the league. Grewcock remained at the heart of Burnley for a few more seasons before being forced to retire through injury at the age of 29. He started off his career at Leicester, then Gillingham, Kettering Town, and Shepshed Charterhouse before John Bond spotted him and brought him to Burnley where he established himself as a regular. After retiring from the professional league, he played a season with Burnley Bank Hall before finally hanging up his boots due to further complications with injuries.

Local resident, and Burnley Bank Hall fan, Eric Palmer remembers those days with fondness, and recalls Grewcock making his stamp on the game playing in the amateur league with teams like Bootle and Irlam Town. Attendances averaged around a few hundred, but the atmosphere was great. He also recalls the team playing against Accrington Stanley but missed the big friendly against Burnley FC on Friday evening, July 24th 1992, which attracted a sell-out crowd of over 1,200. Burnley won the match 1-4.

The story sadly comes to an end when the club left the league after the 1992-1993 season. There is no information for the reasons why the club left or folded, but it seems it coincided with the old Bank Hall Miner’s Club that mysteriously burnt down that same year. Burnley Bank Hall FC were formed and supported through the old colliery Miner’s club, and Eric remembers always heading to the popular bar for an afternoon’s drink when the pubs closed at 2pm. It was also a popular club for Northern Soul nights, and a traditional haunt of the Hell’s Angels of the time, who apparently swamped the bar with bottles of Newcastle Brown.

As nature makes its claim on this once popular ground, where graffiti artists have become the main show these days, and evidence of other’s misadventures litter the old dressing room and main stand, what will become of the ground and the many stories it holds?

It's likely that the memories will fade away with the passage of time, as those who stood around the pitch in the sunshine and in the rain, grow older - and ultimately leave us. It doesn’t seem fitting to see the old ground in its current state. So, may the echoes of fans continue to shout, ‘Kick up Bank Hall . . . We was robbed!’