‘Colls’
started their competitive life playing in the Bolton Combination before
progressing to the Lancashire Combination in 1921; where the team won their
second Lancashire FA Amateur Shield.
Colls
returned to the Bolton Combination; winning the league title in 1936-37,
1937-38, 1938-39, 1940-41 and 1944-45 before moving on to the Manchester League
for the 1945-46 season. By 1948 the club moved competitions once more; to the West
Lancashire League.
Two years
later Atherton became members of Division Two of the Lancashire Combination,
but decided to return to the Bolton Combination after a couple of seasons. The
move paid dividends as they were crowned as champions in 1956-57, 1958-59,
1960-61 and 1964-65.
The final
triumph coincided with Colls lifting the Lancashire FA Amateur Shield for a
record sixth time. In 1971 the club rejoined the Lancashire Combination. The
1978-79 season saw the club become founder members of Division Two of the
Cheshire County League.
Non-league
football was restructured in the early 80’s, with Colls becoming founder members
of the North West Counties League; going on to be crowned as Division Three
champions in 1986-87.
In 1995-96
Collieries finished as runners-up in Division Two and won promotion to Division
One; which would be later retitled as the Premier Division for the 2008-09
season. The team had generally finished towards the lower end of the table,
apart from a seventh place slot in 2006-07.
That side
was led by Phil Brown, with striker Anthony Pilkington banging in the goals and
earning himself a transfer to the Football League and Stockport County;
eventually going on to star for Norwich City and Cardiff City and winning caps
for the Republic of Ireland.
Colls were
relegated in 2008-09, with Steve Pilling arriving as manager. Fortunes improved
on the pitch with a couple of cups being added to the trophy cabinet, before
Michael Clegg took over as manager and Colls won the First Division title in
2014-15 to return to the Premier Division.
After finishing in third place, Colls won the North West Counties League title in 2016-17 and promotion to Division One North of the Northern Premier League, as crowds continued to increase at Alder House as the side consolidated their position.
A change to Division One West in 2018-19 seemed to suit Colls who went on to win the title and promotion to the Premier Division of the competition. Clegg’s talents were noticed leading to him to the job at Ashton United. Dave Chadwick replaced him.
The club continued to do things right off the pitch, attracting larger crowds at the same time. After a couple of seasons of struggles the team was relegated in 2023-24 back to Division One West. Clegg returned as manager for a second spell in August 2024.
Atherton
Collieries AFC will play in the Northern Premier League Division One West in the 2024-25 season.
My visits
Wednesday
21st July 2010
I was visiting
Atherton on the final day of a very pleasurable few day’s adventures around
Greater Manchester on public transport visiting football grounds as well as new
places and lovely old pubs.
After
calling at a locked Atherton Laburnum Rovers FC, I made my way across the town
and eventually found the Alder House ground after a wrong turning. I was happy
as I approached to find the gates open. The grounds car park appeared to be
used by a nearby garage during the week.
It is fair
to say that Alder Street had seen better days. It had been Colls home for their
entire history and was showing signs of wear and tear. Once through the
entrance in the corner the changing rooms and clubhouse were behind the near
goal.
Down the
right hand side touchline was a stand made up of old railway sleepers. A stand
was also on the far side which had been fitted out with new tip up seats. The
rest of the ground was made up of flat open grass and hard standing.
I set off
into the small town centre to see if it was possible to catch a bus onto Daisy
Hill. Unfortunately I had missed it by a couple of minutes owing to me taking a
wrong turning. This disappointment was offset by me going back and gaining access
to Crilly Park, the home of their neighbours.
Atherton
Collieries 1 Hyde United 1 (Monday 16th April 2018) Northern Premier
League Division One North (att: 278)
I’d recently
returned from my annual cricketing holiday in Thailand and had plans to visit
Scarborough Athletic’s home game with Brighouse Town as well as a couple of
day’s cricket at Headingley booked in well in advance.
However, the
harsh winter meant that plenty of football matches had to be fitted in before
the end of the season. I re-arranged my plans once I realised that this
particular match was rescheduled for the Monday evening.
The match
was going to be highly significant as Hyde and Scarborough were going neck and
neck for the second automatic promotion place, and even going up in third place
owing to non-league restructuring.
The cricket
never happened at Headingley owing to a wet outfield, which led to a very
interesting weekend including Sunday rugby league at Wakefield Trinity before
arriving in Manchester on an early train on Monday morning.
The plan was
to watch the final day’s play between Lancashire and Nottinghamshire at Old
Trafford, but the home sides capitulation led to me attending the 2pm under 23
clash between Crewe Alexandra and Crystal Palace.
Once back in
Manchester I enjoyed a fine pint in The Old Wellington before taking the busy
train from Victoria to Atherton. I’d received a heads up from fellow Seadogs on
pub advice after their visit a few weeks earlier.
Sure enough
the Pendle Witch offered fine ale from the Moorhouse Brewery at a very
acceptable price. Decent music played in the background of a pub that could be
best described as the set of Phoenix Nights.
After a
couple of pints I weaved through the terraced streets to The Kensite Stadium, as Alder House had been retitled in a sponsorship deal, where I
was charged a bargain £7 admission, with a bulky programme costing another
couple of quid. I headed round to the far side to take a look at the
facilities.
The
clubhouse was cozy but had a lack of real ale, so I opted to have a pie and a
tea for £3 from the small cabin alongside. Everyone seemed very warm in their
welcome. Alder House may have not won any beauty awards but it felt like a
proper football ground and it had received a tasteful facelift since my previous visit.
As the crowd
began to build I decided to head to the open side where I got a decent view
behind the subs benches from a raised section. Hyde kicked off going down the
considerable slope, with their boisterous fans in the cover opposite me.
The visiting
fans had engaged in some trivial, boring and OTT social media confrontation
with Boro fans. I kept my woolen Scarborough hat in my bag. It was crackers. There I was. A 52
year old keeping my allegiances discreet as the Hyde fans repeated “We hate
Scarborough”.
I really
could do without confrontation at the end of a great few days on the road,
lamenting just how sad it was that non-league football had lowered itself that
far, and some Scarborough fans were just as guilty.
The visiting
Tigers fans did get behind their side but their songs soon became tedious.
They’d tried to copy ultra groups and other non-league clubs like FC United of
Manchester with original chants. They gave the impression of being too cool for
school.
However,
their side were to soon give them great reason for cheer. Colls goalkeeper Greg Hartley had
already made a decent stop before the referee awarded a penalty for handball
against Danny Lafferty. Max Leonard sent Hartley the wrong way from the spot.
Luke Porritt
was having a fine game out on the left for Hyde, while Marcus Cusani saw an
effort curl just wide for Atherton. It was a decent enough game played at a
furious pace on a tricky surface.
Hyde’s
defensive partnership of Tyrone Gay and Paddy Miller had dominated in three
matches against Scarborough, who had employed launching high balls. Colls got
the ball on the deck and the stoppers looked far less convincing.
Hyde had
real cause for complaint when centre forward Ben Deegan went down under a
challenge that I thought was a clear foul. Neither the ref or linesman thought
it warranted a foul, which would have certainly led to a red card. The Hyde
bench were furious; and rightly so in my opinion.
At the
interval I had a walk around the ground before going back to the same position
for the second half. I was hopeful of Colls getting something from the game.
They’d already had excellent home results in recent weeks against Boro and
South Shields.
My wishes
came true as the hosts put pressure on the Hyde back line. The equaliser came
after the excellent Ben Hardcastle scored a penalty past Peter Crook after the
ref spotted a push in the area.
Hardcastle
saw a further effort saved by Crook before he saw his shot flash across the
face of goal. Tensions were growing on the pitch as challenges went in with
both sides looking for all three points.
Brad Cooke
was sent off with nine minutes remaining after a shocking challenge on Porritt,
despite huge protests from his Colls colleagues and bench. Substitute James
Sigsworth was denied by Crook for the ten men before I headed off a minute into
the five of stoppage time.
If I didn’t
catch the 21.46 train I’d have to hand around for another hour. I didn’t really
fancy that. The cheers of the crowd were still audible as I cut up Bolton Old
Road towards the station. The refs whistle sounded loud and clear and I was a
happy man!
On arriving
back at Victoria I had a wait for my 23.45 bus back to London. I needed
somewhere to charge my phone and have a decent pint. The Wetherspoon
establishment in The Printworks didn’t solve the solution so I headed over the
road.
The Hare
& Hounds offered old school décor and a decent pint of Robinson’s Dizzy
Blonde as well as some incredibly inadvertent entertainment caused by some
extremely drunk locals who’d obviously enjoyed the hospitality.
One
inebriated gent tried to woo a not particularly aesthetic but friendly barmaid
by playing an old love ballad on her Spotify. She wasn’t enormously impressed
and he would certainly be going home alone.
Rather than
pursuing another pint I queued for the Megabus service over in Shudehill. The
ride was only £11 but that’s all it should have been. I sat behind an old lad
who’d travelled up to watch the speedway at Belle Vue on the cheap.
The rest of
the passengers were made up of Africans taking calls from all points on the
continent and drunks. We travelled via Leeds and down the M1. I got some sleep
but found myself rather wedged in for much of the journey by the bottom of a
large African woman.
My trek
ended at Victoria Coach Station and then a tune journey home. I was due to
start night shifts later that evening after heading out to watch the Middlesex
Senior Cup Final, so the sleep during the day was most welcome.
The visit to
Atherton rounded off a few excellent days on the road, and the result had been
the icing on the cake!
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