1. CCFC - the beginning from the Barnfield to Longlands Park
Crooklands Casuals Football Club are a club from Cumbria in the North West of England, based in the town of Dalton-in-Furness. Formed in 1970, It all stemmed from Dalton Rugby players kicking a ball about on Sunday mornings (the pubs shut at 11 on Saturday nights in those days). After a while we had more turning up on Sunday's than on training nights. Roy Twiname was soon using his contacts in the Shipyard to arrange friendlies. Perhaps understandably this was not going down well with the old guard on the rugby committee and the players were given an ultimatum vis a vis use of the pitch.
Needless to say this was a red rag to a bull as far as Roy and Brian PickthallI (both founder members) were concerned. Within a week we had joined league 3 of the Sunday league with no pitch, no strip, no money, no name, no bloody idea really. The pitch issue was easily resolved as we arranged to share the notorious Barnfield (based on the new estate behind Buttermere Drive) with Dalton Town.
The name Crooklands was Brian's nod to his first sporting love and Casuals ( soon morphed into Cassies ) was Roy's nostalgia for the old Dalton Casuals which his family had historic links. The biggest impending problem was finance. This was resolved by the sophisticated expedience of a rummage sale. Roy and Brian pushed a borrowed pram around Dalton for several nights collecting junk which raised the grand total of £36! (our league fees).
Roy acquired our first strip with one of his deals. It was red and white like the old Arsenal strip. Whatever it wasn't designed for prop forwards like Jack Beardsworth which is why he was in goal. The first decision was naming (and finding) our 3 permitted Saturday league players. Alan Postlethwaite was one and Bill Paisley. We quickly signed Derek Clinton (in Brian's view and time Cassies best ever player going on to be a club stalwart). This was from under the nose of his dad Cyril who ran Dalton Town. Derek was still under 18 so didn't count as a league player.
On the pitch we were pretty successful from the off as those teams that weren't intimidated by agricultural tackling from pretty fit rugby players were certainly put off by the muddy sloping Barnfield. At this time both teams got changed in Brian's garage in nearby Leece Drive! Subsequently we scraped up the cash to buy a windowless corrugated iron garage and install it by the pitch. We made the opposition change at the back which did little for their sartorial elegance. (there were worse changing facilities over 40 years ago. Suffice it to say nobody looked forward to visiting the Cassies.
By this time we were getting pretty cocky, so much so that when Alan Postlethwaite quipped that we should go on tour most of the team were up for it (in those days Majorca was a big adventure ) anyway 2 months later we were on the way to Ostend with games scheduled in Belgium and France. I remember Roy conjured up a brand new all yellow strip which became a team favourite. As you will appreciate the football was secondary to the real reason for the trip and we launched ourselves into Ostends beer kellers. Subsequently we headed off for our game in France pretty much the worse for wear. We were staggered when our bus arrived at a brand new stadium with a crowd of 2000 awaiting us and a very skilful (and sober) French side. Surprisingly we acquitted ourselves pretty well but it was a bit like Rorkes Drift at times. The post match festivities were interesting with loads of toasts and speeches, here we acquitted ourselves less well as none of us spoke any French and soon got slaughtered on free wine.
Back on the domestic front, we were going from strength to strength. We had recruited well blending established soccer players with rugby players who could play football such as Trevor Birkby, Dave Grainger, Brian Coward and Graham Standing. Coupled with this we had a great team spirit and regular social events. This led to Cassies being one of the top Sunday League teams winning many leagues and cups.
By now it had become obvious that the Barnfield was no longer an advantage so in 1979 we set off to find a new pitch which wasn't easy in hilly Dalton. Roy came up trumps again, convincing a local farmer to sell us the field that became known as Longlands Park. The tricky bit was getting planning consent for change of use. The ministry of Agriculture opposed our application and sent two barristers to challenge us at the planning enquiry at Barrow town hall. They backed up their case by proposing alternative fields. The planning inspector suggested an inspection of the alternatives, the first we visited was above Hollygate Road which is too steep for skiing never mind football. One look and the inspector granted our application.
The next step was to install decent changing facilities and everybody pitched in to produce the current building. It was inevitable that Cassies had way outgrown just Sunday league football and moves were initiated to facilitate Saturday football. Brian Pickthall's first love was always rugby so it was at this juncture that he stepped quietly to one side pleased to see the club go on to be a major influence on north west amateur football.
The following people all made significant contributions to the early Cassies such as John Ennis, Kenny Armistead, John Morgan, Graham Hinde, Jeff Costa, Pete Alexander, Jeff May, the late Derek Winward. Keith Wells, Danny Smith, Taffy Taylor, Tommy Park, Tommy McLounan, John Cane, Brian Bamber, Billy Casson, Alan Blackburn and not least of all the late (great) Terry Clinton. In summary all these contributions wouldn't have mattered if it hadn't been for Roy Twiname , the man who made the Cassies happen.