Early days of football in Bootle
Tony Onslow is the club historian at Bootle FC and has written several books and articles concerning the history of football in the North West. In this specially written article, he shares some research he undertook a few years ago, tracing the history of football in Bootle back to the 1870s.
An incumbent Clergyman, in the year 1879, introduced the people of Bootle to the game of association football. His name was Alfred Keely and he had been educated at Cambridge University. He fashioned a team from amongst his parishioners, which he called, with deference to the parish, “Bootle St Johns”.
One year later the name was shortened to Bootle. The club, eventually, settled on Irlam Road sports ground where they shared the facilities with Bootle Cricket Club. The location however, thanks to the progress of commerce, was required for development and the club was obliged to find a new home.
The Cricket Club of Bootle approached the land agent in the employ of Lord Derby who, after consulting His Lordship, offered a good piece of land on Hawthorne Road. The town council immediately purchased the area, in all 25 acres, 10 acres of which was rented to Bootle Cricket Club.
Bootle AFC, it was decided, would rent the land during the months of winter when then field was not required for cricket. They made their temporary headquarters at the Hawthorne Hotel that stood, at the time, in top right hand corner of the location. Here they awaited the land to be cultivated. Bootle Football Club used an old ground on Marsh Lane until, in November 1883, they entertained Southport at Hawthorne Road.
The local council continued to develop the area adding a cricket pavilion, tennis courts and bowling green. Bootle Football Club moved in to the new pavilion that now became their headquarters’ and changing rooms. The football pitch was laid out along the southern end of the field and a grandstand was built along Bedford Road. A section of terracing was also erected behind the Stanley Road goal.
The Liverpool & District F. A. quickly took note of the improvements and representative matches, along with the local cup final, were many times played on the ground.
Everton AFC however, had also improved their status and was now main rival to Bootle in attracting the local football fans. This became evident when, in November 1887, the sides met in a Liverpool Cup tie at Hawthorne Road. A local newspaper reporter, who was present, described the scene in a manner reminiscent of the Victorian era.
The day being beautifully fine, the roads were thronged with intending spectators long before the advised time for the commencement of hostilities .the sequel being that from 9,000 to 10,000 people were present before the game was very many minutes old.
The crush at the pay boxes was so great, that hundreds took advantage of it and adopted a cheaper mode of entry by dropping over the wall without hindrance. The game itself, in which the spectators constantly interrupted the incidents of play, was eventually won 2-0 by Everton.
Bootle and Everton continued to battle for local supremacy until, in 1888, the Anfield club were elected to the Football League while Bootle, were refused entry. It is now impossible to ascertain as to why the Football League chose to elect Everton and not Bootle, but the most likely theory is that Everton played on a purpose built football enclosure while Bootle shared their home with the cricket club.
The decision, nevertheless, was to have a profound effect at Hawthorne Road as the gates began to fall dramatically. Bootle, undaunted, then joined the Football Alliance along with such clubs as Nottingham Forest: Sheffield Wednesday and Newton Heath (later to become Manchester United),
Bootle finished a creditable second to Sheffield Wednesday, but long overnight journeys to such places as Sunderland and Grimsby were proving a drain on the clubs financial resources. Gates hovered around fifteen hundred mark but the club needed twice that many to survive.
Things were not helped when, at the third attempt, neighbours Everton won the Football League Championship attracting, in the process, an average home gate of over ten thousand people. They also had the backing of local businessmen such as John Holding while Bootle did not.
Bootle, in 1892, became founder members of the Football League Division Two but this standing did not improve their predicament. Their attendances continued to fall and the debts began to mount. The club became bankrupt and, as a result, they became the first club ever to resign from the football league. Their place was taken by Liverpool.
The local cricket club, to whom the footballer section owed money, moved swiftly to adopt the ground solely for the summer sport. The council purchased most of the football field, demolishing the grandstand and removing the terraces. Wadham Road was then extended across Stanley Road and row of terraced houses was constructed to face the cricket field. The first Bootle Football Club was then confined to the record books.
Two years ago I published a book," The Forgotten Rivals" which covered the history of the first Bootle FC that resigned from the Football League in 1893. I researched the book myself using the local newspaper archives in Liverpool where I found two sketches of matches at Hawthorne Road.
The drawing which can be viewed by clicking the link on the left was one I drew myself, using the OS map of 1892 plus the two sketches I found. The location, which is still there today, remains the home of Bootle Cricket Club. The old pavilion, which I remember well, was demolished in 2002 and replaced by the present structure.
The present day club, the third to represent Bootle, was formed in 1953 and was a founder members of the North West Counties Football League in 1982. However the legacy of the first Bootle FC, left behind by the people of Victorian Bootle, is still very much alive and is remembered, with fond memories, by the football loving inhabitants of Bootle.
To view Tony's sketch of Hawthorne Road :
The Vodkat League on-line magazine
