SKELMERSDALE UNITED

My local club, Penistone Church FC, are heading to Skelmersdale tomorrow evening (19.45 on a Friday) to play an Emirates FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round tie, against United.
Not a great time to travel across the Pennines.

Skelm, the Blueboys, a Lancashire club, play in the North-west Counties League Premier at the JMO Sports Ground- see below.
Founded in 1882, the club was started with a group of young men from the Skelmersdale Weslyan Day School, who named themselves, the Skelmersdale Young Rovers. Soon after various religious objections to the original name, they changed to Skelmersdale United. The club joined the Lancashire Combination in 1892.

With a population of around 5,000, the village club was playing against teams from Blackburn Rovers Reserves and other clubs from Bolton, Preston and so on,  the professional clubs from Lancashire. Skelm found it difficult to compete. They soldiered on.

Designated a New Town in 1961, Skelmersdale soon made its mark in urban development in Lancashire and with a population boost, in north-west regional football.

In March 1967, an FA Amateur Cup 1-0 victory in the quarter-final against Slough Town was quite a shock to the southerners. Skeml then  put to bed Hendon FC another famous amateur club after a semi-final, with two replays at Derby 0-0, then St Andrews, Birmingham 2-2 and at West Bromwich Albion's The Hawthorns, 3-1.

In the Final on April 22 at Wembley, 75,000 saw Skelm draw with the fancied Enfield 0-0, only to lose the replay, seven days later, at Maine Road 0-3 in front of nearly a 56,000 crowd. The Wembley crowd was the biggest for any event at Wembley, bar the FA Cup Final, League Cup or England internationals.

The next season (1967-8) they lost in the First Round to Spennymoor United.
In 1968-9 they made the semi-finals again, drawing 1-1 with North Shields at Middlesbrough and losing 1-2 at Southport. North Shields won the Cup beating Sutton United.

In 1969-70 Skelm made the semi-final again losing to eventual winners Enfield 1-0 at Derby.

In 1968-9 the club joined the Cheshire County League and in 1970-1 they beat the favourites Dagenham 4-1 in the FA Amateur Cup Final, again at Wembley on April 24th. 45,000 saw it.
In 1971-2 they never made the First Round proper of the cup and within two years the Amateur Cup was no more as "professionalism" bit hard into the "non-league" clubs. The last final was in 1974.
After all this glory, Skelmersdale United has "ticked over" amongst the regional leagues.

Famous players to have moved on from Skelm include Steve Heighway in 1970, the Futcher brothers and Peter Withe. Some of you may remember who they are!