02/08/08

Mossley's second away pre season friendly is on Wednesday night at North West Counties League side Padiham (7.30 pm).

Ground: Arbories Memorial Sports Ground, Well Street, Padiham, Lancs BB12 8LE
Telephone: 01282 773742
Website: www.padihamfootballclub.co.uk

HOW TO GET THERE

M65 to Junction 8, then follow A6068 signposted Clitheroe and Padiham. At traffic lights at bottom of hill turn right into Dean Range/Blackburn Road towards Padiham. At next junction turn into Holland Street opposite church, then into Well Street at the side of Hare & Hounds Pub to ground.
Nearest Railway Station: Burnley

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It might be hard to imagine today but in the immediate years following the establishment of Padiham Football Club in November 1878 the "Caldersiders" as they were then known were considered one of Lancashire's soccer pioneers and one of the better club sides in England.

The Padiham club were in at the birth of the Lancashire Football Associations senior cup competition in 1879, reaching the third round proper of the F.A. cup in season 1883-84 and beating Burnley FC 6-0, 7-0, 9-1 and 4-2 in their first four encounters.

Gates of over 2,000 were not uncommon for the visits of teams like Blackburn Rovers, Preston North End, Burnley and other local rivals to Padiham F.C.'s ground which was originally situated on the banks of the River Calder at the end of Wyre Street in Padiham and intitially leased from the Shuttleworth Family of Gawthorpe Hall.

At present the site is occupied by the Potterton Myson Limited Main Gas factory and nothing remains of the clubs original ground which witnessed many encounters with clubs that in later years achieved Football League status. In fact it was the setting up of the Football League and the ensuing loss of fixtures with the leading clubs, as well as the legalisation of professionalism within football that ended Padiham's initial decade of success.

Being an ardent stalwart of the fight waged from Lancashire for the legalisation of professionalism in football, Padiham's progressive outlook at the time ironically helped fashion the stranglehold football finance came to have on small town clubs, in hindsight it condemned Padiham F.C. to an ongoing fight for survival.

Unable to secure the services of players able to compete with the bigger surrounding towns and cities, gates dropped and as a result reduced income meant Padiham has to restrict it's activities to playing in the Lancashire Combination Football League and at times the minor leagues.

The outbreak of World War One curtailed Padiham Football Club's involvement in active football altogether at the end of the 1915-1916 season, and the loss of their ground during the war meant that Padiham Football Club lay dormant until after the end of World War Two when they were reformed.

The rebirth of Padiham Football Club came about in 1949 with the opening of of the "Arbories" Memorial Sports Ground in Padiham on August 20th 1949 when 1777 spectators turned up to see the clubs opening Lancashire Combination fixture of the 1949-1950 football season.

In 1982, Padiham Football Club became founder members of the North West Counties Football League, however in 1990 they left the league and joined the West Lancashire Football League where they played their football for ten seasons. Padiham Football Club returned to the North West Counties Football League for the 2000-2001 season and since 1999 have spent in excess of £400,000 on upgrading their Arbories Memorial Sports Ground.