The Sir Tom Finney Stadium, home to Bamber Bridge FC, will host The LFA Sunday Trophy Semi Final between Ingol Rangers & Tanterton FC on Friday 19th February 2016, with a 7:30pm Kick Off. It seems to have taken an age to arrange the tie, since it was originally announced that Padiham would have been the hosts. But with whispers of, AFC Blackpool, AFC Fylde and Chorley who were all possibilities to host the tie, it has been confirmed that the two Sunday league sides will fight for a place in the Final, on the Irongate turf.

Bamber Bridge are a team steeped in football history, where football can be traced all the way back to the late 1800’s. In 1974, the old Bamber Bridge club amalgamated with neighbouring Walton Le Dale. The newly formed club then played their games on the King Georges Playing field, where they enjoyed a great degree of success on the local football scene. It was in 1983, when with the help of South Ribble & Sports Council Bamber Bridge purchased a derelict piece of land located near Irongate Farm. After 4 years of extensive work and expense, the overgrown area was turned in to a football pitch, and named “Irongate” after the area in which it stood. The first game at Irongate was in August of 1987. Since then the ground has undergone several stages of improvements, including the installation of floodlights and more recently “The Gerry Lawson Stand” which sits at the South side of the pitch, a stand which can house up to 500 spectators. The record attendance was 2300 spectators, who in the Summer of 1996, saw the Euro 96 Semi Finalists, Czech Republic, win 9-1 in a warm up game for the tournament staged in England. The Czech’s originally wanted to play Preston North End, but the Lilywhites declined the fixture. The Czech Republic fielded a strong team including players such as Karel Poborski and Patrick Berger, who after the tournament signed for Manchester United and Liverpool respectively. The stadium was renamed in time for the start of the 2014/2015 season, “The Sir Tom Finney Stadium” in memory of the late Preston North End legend who sadly passed away in February 2014.

The game between Ingol Rangers and Tanterton is already the talk of the town, with both sets of players said to be relishing the chance to play against one another. It should be a good game for the spectator too, as both Dean Crossen’s Ingol Rangers and Gareth Hughes’s Tanterton, like to play an attractive style of football. With the added intensity of the two clubs being separated by under a mile, it should be a great advert for Sunday League Football. Admission prices will be announced soon, we will keep you informed of any information as soon as we get it, through our website and all our social media outlets.