Since its inception in 1887 St. Mary's football teams have been represented with distinction in almost every Amateur leaague and cup competition in the East Lancashire area. Young men of the parish formed the club, their first recorded success in an organised league was as champions of the Haslingden District Amateur League. They enjoyed continued success until the Great War intervened in 1916.

On the resumption of organised football in 1919 St. Mary's did the double two years in a row being champions of the Haslingden Sunday School League in 1919/20 & 1920/21 and also winning the Bailey Cup in 1919/20 and the Fr. Cashell Cup in 1920/21. In the late 20's the team enjoyed the most successful period in their history winning at least one trophy and quite often two every season from 1927/28 until 1939/40 when the war intervened. They dominated the Rosendale Sunday School League between 1929 & 1935 creating an unbeatable record in 1933/34 by wwinning all their league matches and the Hirst Cup. In the early days they used to change in St. Mary's School and then walk a couple of miles upto Laund Hey to play. However, Fr. Hunt the parish priest had at this time obtained the land that was to become the home of St. Mary's for the next 50 years,Prinny Hill, and on April 2nd 1932 this keen sportsman cut the first sod. The project took a futher three years to complete and it was a glorious example of a community working together towards a common goal. The women of the parish raised most of the monies needed to buy the land, whist the men spent almost every spare hour digging and levelling the land to make a field fit to play on. It was offically opened by Coun. F. Brandwood on the 7th. Sept. 1935. The subsequent generations who have enjoyed their sport at Prinny Hill owe a great debt of thanks to the foresight and industry of Fr. Hunt and his parishoners.

With the new field came a new league and in 1935/36 St Mary's joined the Blackburn Combination. They continued to enjoy the same success they had experienced in the Rossendale League, the highlightbeing the 1939/40 season when hey were league champions and runners up in the Lancashire Junior Shield. The final was played at Ewood Park and the team was Bob Yates Mick Doherty Jim Kerron John Durkin "Scobie" Smith Eddie Touhey John Arthur Mick Flanagan Joe Pattison John Flanagan and Richard Bright. They played Hindsford and at half time led 1-0 thanks to "a glorious shot by Jack Arthur into the roof of the net". In the second half Hindsford equalised with a hotly disputed goal, the defence thinking the winger was offside and the scorer "propelled the ball over the line with his hand". St Mary's never recovered from that and Hindsford added a second to claim the trophy.

Amateur football was again suspended because of the war and it was not until 1947 that things started to return to normal. In 1951 plans were drawn up for the building of a new pavilion and once again the parishioners rallied round, raising the necessary money and donating there time and labour to the project. The pavilion was completed in time for the start of the 1953/54 season and replaced a wooden hut which had stood adjacent to the half way line. In 1956/57 St Mary's enjoyed their most successful post war season finishng as champions of division two in the Blackburn Combination and also winning the Eddleston Cup. George McKenzie also had a good season being presented with a specially struck medal for the remarkable achievement of scoring 96 league and cup goals in the season. From 1961 St Mary's were the owners of two pitches, the second being laid by the members and remained in this happy position until the arrival of the motorway in 1977 which deprived the club of its facilities, the reinstatement of which was eagerly awaited. After many delays and much red tape the new pavilion and pitches were haanded over in 1990. The fortunes of the club improved and promotion for both tems saw the 1sts challenging for the Premier League title and the reserves rising from from the Fourth Division to the Second in the Blackburn Combination. This prompted the committee to take the step of applying for membership of the West Lancashire League in time for the 1996/97 season, the reserves joining a year later. At the end of the 2003/04 season the 1st. team were relegated to division 2. In the following season of 2004/05 they bounced straight back winning the 2nd. division championship. Success continued in the 2005/6 season with the team winning the 1st division championship. In their first season in the premiership the team finished runners up.The 1st. team's run of success continued with victory in the 2008 Richardson Cup beating Poulton Town 3-1 in the final. The reserves enjoyed their first success since joining the league when winning the championship of Reserves Division 2 in the season 2008/09.

haslingden st marys

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