Great Lever F.C.
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Great Lever Football Club were an
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
football club founded in 1877, from,
Great Lever Great Lever is a suburb of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire, it is south of Bolton town centre and the same distance north of Farnworth. The district is served by frequent buses running to Bolton town centre, Farnwo ...
, near
Farnworth Farnworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southeast of Bolton, 4.3 miles south-west of Bury (7 km), and northwest of Manchester. Historically in Lancashire, Farnworth lies on the River Ir ...
in
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
, within the town of
Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. The club was briefly one of the best sides in England.


History


Formation

The club was formed by parishioners in St Bartholomew's Church, Great Lever. It was a founder member of the
Lancashire Football Association The Lancashire County Football Association, also known simply as the Lancashire FA, is the governing body of football within the historical county boundaries of Lancashire, England. They are responsible for the governance and development of foot ...
in 1878. The club entered the first-ever
Lancashire Senior Cup The Lancashire County Football Association Cup (commonly known as the Lancashire Senior Cup) is a football knockout tournament involving teams from Lancashire, England. It is a County Cup competition of the Lancashire County Football Associatio ...
in the 1879-80 season. In the first round, the club beat Clough Fold 5-4 at home, but lost to Turton F.C. 3-0 in the second.


Growing reputation

In 1880-81, the club beat Everton in the first round of the same competition; Everton protested because the referee was not a neutral, and the Lancashire FA ordered a replay, which the Leverites won 7-1, with two disallowed goals. In the second round, the Leverites eliminated Bolton Olympic after three ties; the first a draw, the second an Olympian win, but voided because the goalkeeper had not been a club member for the month required by the regulations, and the third a win for Great Lever. The Olympians protested that one of the goals was too narrow, but the discrepancy was under one-eighth of an inch. The run ended in the third round to Bolton Wanderers, just before the Trotters started paying players in breach of regulations. The club reached one stage further in 1881-82, losing in the quarter-finals to a
Blackburn Olympic Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-no ...
side which dangerously under-estimated the growing strength of the Leverites, and came to the tie with some key players missing. The referee, Mr Duxbury of Darwen, was suspected by many of the home fans in the 1,000 crowd of favouritism and the spectators "acted in a most unbecoming manner" to him. In 1882-83, the club lost in the third round of the Lancashire Cup to Eagley, in a replay, amid controversy; the Leverites claimed the tie as Eagley refused to play extra-time in the original match. One problem the club had was that it had recently brought in players who were ineligible for the tournament as they had not lived in the area long enough, requiring the Leverites to play a reserve side in the competition. One of those recent signings was Alf Jones, from Walsall Swifts, who, at the end of the season, played for England against Scotland in the annual international match; the only player from the north to be capped for England that season and the only time a Great Lever player was capped. The improvements in the first team were shown by Great Lever beating Accrington 4-1, a 13-man Bolton Association 11-0, and the Birmingham side
Excelsior Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...
9-0, although the club went down to Walsall Town in another friendly before a crowd of 1,500.


Increased funding and new ground

Before the start of the 1883-84 season, the club went on a spending spree, bringing in players such as Reuben Wilson from Bolton Wanderers, Hodgetts and Green from Birmingham clubs, 'Tot' Rostron from
Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the s ...
, and other players from Accrington,
Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
, and
Padiham Padiham ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Calder, about west of Burnley, Lancashire, England. It forms part of the Borough of Burnley. Originally by the River Calder, it is edged by the foothills of Pendle Hill to the north-west ...
; this meant the team had two first-class clubs available, one with new stars for lucrative friendlies, and one with the 'local' players for the Lancashire Cup. Given the small crowds the club had, it is likely that the club was being heavily funded by local mill owners, especially given club secretary John Roscoe was from a mill-owning family. At the time professionalism was illegal, but, especially in Lancashire, clubs got around this by having players given sinecure jobs to pay a footballer's wage. Following this recruitment, one newspaper was even touting Great Lever as one of the two favourites for the Cup, along with
Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
. This financial help is borne out by the club moving to a new, enclosed ground, Woodsides, enabling charging of admission fees. The ground was near a house called Woodlands, but two mills in the south of Great Lever were called Woodsides and it is probably that this was an early form of advertising from the club's new benefactors, similar to "works" sides like Jardines F.C. bringing in professionals seemingly to promote the company's name. The ground's opening match in September 1883 was a 4-2 win against
Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...
. However, the club was unlucky, in the second round of the FA Cup, to be drawn away to Preston North End , who had received even more funding for its team. Worse, Reuben Wilson, the Leverites' goalkeeper, was injured during the match, so the 10-man Great Lever went out by 4-1, in what was considered a shock result, as it was not yet apparent how good the Preston team was. The club arranged a return friendly at the Woodsides ground in the New Year; by this time Great Lever had persuaded three more players (Lucas, Walkinshaw, and John Goodall), who had played for Kilmarnock Athletic against the Leverites over Christmas, not to return home but to join Great Lever instead. Nevertheless the Leverites lost to Preston before a crowd of 6,000, whose behaviour was such it was subject to an official inquiry. The club got to the 4th round of the Lancashire Cup, but a reserve side lost 7-1 at
Astley Bridge Astley Bridge is predominantly a residential district of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. It is north of Bolton town centre, south of Blackburn, and northwest of Manchester. History Astley Bridge is quite a modern place name and onl ...
, the newcomers not allowed to play as "not having resided in the county sufficiently long". Nevertheless the club finished the season boasting of having scored more goals than any other club.


Dispute with the FA and the club's peak

The club continued to recruit for 1884-85, resulting in an entire side of imported players. The side made Great Lever one of the top two or three sides in the country, with the first match of the season being an easy win over Cup holders
Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
. The club followed this up with a 6-0 win over
Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...
in the latter's first-ever match. The club's other victims that year included some of the best in the country; 3-0 over
West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...
and
Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
, 4-0 over Stoke, 3-2 over
Third Lanark Third Lanark Athletic Club was a Scottish football club based in Glasgow. Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, the club was a founder member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in 1872 and the Scottish ...
on a tour of Scotland, 5-0 and 5-1 over
Halliwell Halliwell is a surname. It may refer to: People * Bryn Halliwell (born 1980), English football goalkeeper * Danny Halliwell (born 1981), rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s * David Halliwell (1936–2006), British dramatis ...
, 7-0 over Walsall Swifts, 3-1 over Aston Villa, and a draw against Preston North End. The only setback on the pitch was a defeat to Bolton Wanderers in the final of the Bolton Charity Cup. Off the pitch however the club was embroiled in controversy between the Lancashire FA and the Football Association. Disputes over professionalism and the FA's new rules on providing details of player employment past and present, aimed squarely at "outing" the sham amateurs employed on fake wages, meant that Great Lever simply did not enter the FA Cup. The club could not legitimately play its leading players without facing protests so did not bother, instead focussing on friendlies. The club was therefore one of the founder members of the
British Football Association The British Football Association was a short lived ruling body for the game of football. It was set up in 1884 in response to the attitude of the Football Association to the issue of professionalism. History Until the employment of professional ...
, and was put under an effective embargo on fixtures, along with other members such as Preston North End, Accrington, and Bolton Wanderers. The situation was only resolved at the end of the season, when the FA legalized professionalism, but by then the club had missed on its best chance to win the FA or Lancashire Cup. A reserve side played in the latter tournament and went out in the third round to Bolton Wanderers, who were able to play five of their first-teamers given the less stringent Lancashire FA rules on residence.


Post-professionalism

Paradoxically, the legalization of what Great Lever had been doing led to the decline of the club. With professionalism in the open, clubs no longer had to resort to the employment trick, and could be open with payments of players out of gate receipts. Although the Leverites could attract up to 6,000 for key matches, other clubs in the area could attract bigger crowds, and suddenly Great Lever were losing players to other clubs rather than poaching them; before the 1885-86 season started, two players went back to Scotland and, most crucially, the club lost John Goodall to Preston. Even worse, the club got the worst possible draw in the first round of the FA Cup - Preston North End away. Preston had been recruiting professionals before Great Lever chronologically, and the North Enders had more players "grandfathered" in as being eligible to play. With the prospect of only being able to field a reserve side, Great Lever instead scratched from the competition, and played the scheduled tie out as a friendly match with a first-choice side; the game ended 3-2 to North End. Amazingly enough, the situation repeated itself in the second round of the Lancashire Cup, as that competition applied no seeding. Great Lever again scratched to play an ordinary friendly, this time ending 2-2. It was apparent that the club had already dropped from the previous season. Although the club beat a weak Blackburn Rovers side 6-2, it also lost 7-1 at Burnley, and 4-0 at Accrington; even a 1-0 win over a poor Darwen side ended in a fight between Lucas and the ex-Leverite Rostron.


A strike and the end

The financial difficulties caught up with the club with precipitous speed. For the 1886-87 season, the players available were entirely different to those available two seasons before, and included two players who had been with the club since before the quasi-professionalism. A home FA Cup tie with
Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...
was considered a 'soft thing', especially as the Irish side only arrived at Woodsides on the morning of the match, having had little sleep after a storm on the Irish Sea, but the visitors won with ease. The following week, the club turned up 90 minutes late for a match at
Blackburn Olympic Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-no ...
, despite the distance between the two grounds being around 20 miles; this suggests there was a deeper issue involved. It came to the boil when the club was due to play Padiham in the Lancashire Cup. The players refused to play, as they were being paid only out of gate money in excess of the club's expenses, and the gates had dwindled to a minimum. At the start of the new year, the club's remaining players left for other clubs, including Bolton and Heywood Olympic. There was an attempt to re-form the club for 1887-88 by merging with Great Lever Wanderers, a junior club, but it was not successful; a 7-1 hammering by Heywood Central marked the end of the club. By 1888 everything, including the grandstand, and even the match balls, had been sold.


Colours

The club played in the following colours: *1878-80: navy blue jersey & knickers, orange & blue hose *1880-81: orange and blue *1881-83: chocolate and green halves *1883-85: narrow red and white "stripes" (probably hoops) The club's colours after 1885 are not recorded.


Grounds

The club's first ground was described as being on the Bradford Road, and in 1879-80 the club played at Doe Hay to the south-west of Great Lever, possibly at the cricket ground. In 1880-81 the club gave its ground as Green Lane, and from 1881 to 1883 as High Street (probably the recreation ground). In practice, the Green Lane and Doe Hey addresses may refer to the same ground. In 1883 the club moved to a ground called Woodsides, to the east of Great Lever. The pitch had a reputation for being particularly poor. Bolton's Burnden Park ground was close to the Woodsides ground.


FA Cup history

; 1882–83: *First Round – Defeated 3–2 by Halliwell ; 1883–84: *First Round – Won 4–1 v. Astley Bridge *Second Round – Defeated 4–1 by Preston North End ; 1885–86: *First Round – eliminated in walkover by Preston North End ; 1886–87: *First Round – Won 4–2 v
Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. Historically part of Lancashire, Bootle's ...
*Second Round – Defeated 3–1 by
Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...
.


Famous players

* Alf Jones made one appearance for
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in March 1883, whilst registered to Great Lever, having previously made two England appearances when with Walsall Swifts.Club affiliations – Great Lever
/ref> * Thurston Rostron played for Great Lever during the 1883–84 season, having previously made two England appearances when with
Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the s ...
. *
John Goodall John Goodall (19 June 1863 – 20 May 1942) was a footballer who rose to fame as a centre forward for England and for Preston North End at the time of the development of the Football League, and also became Watford's first manager in 1903. He ...
played for Great Lever, before joining Preston North End in 1885. He went on to make 14 appearances for England between 1888 and 1898. *
Albert Shepherd Albert Shepherd (10 September 1885 – 8 November 1929) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward. He began his career with amateur side Bolton Temperance before signing for First Division club Blackburn Rovers but was r ...
went on to play for Bolton Wanderers and Newcastle United. *
Dennis Hodgetts Dennis Hodgetts (28 November 1863 – 25/26 March 1945), commonly known as Denny Hodgetts, was a footballer in the early years of professional football in England. Signed as a Youth player for Mitchell St George's in 1878 and played for three ...
played League football for Aston Villa after playing for Great Lever. * James Trainer b. Wrexham Played for Wrexham and then Great Lever *Jack Switherby, first-ever captain for the United States national side, who played for the club until 1884


References

{{reflist Association football clubs established in 1879 Defunct football clubs in England Sport in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton 1879 establishments in England Defunct football clubs in Lancashire Defunct football clubs in Greater Manchester Association football clubs disestablished in 1887