Brierfield Football Club was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club from

Brierfield, Lancashire Brierfield () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Pendle, in Lancashire, England. It is north east of Burnley, south west of Nelson, Lancashire, Nelson, and north east of Reedley, Lancashire, Reedley. The ...

History

The Brierfield club entered the

Lancashire Senior Cup The Lancashire County Football Association Cup (commonly known as the Lancashire Senior Cup) is an association football knockout tournament involving teams from Lancashire, England. It is a County Cup competition of the Lancashire County Footbal ...

from 1882–83 to 1884–85, but suffered double digit defeats in its three ties, ending with a 14–0 defeat to Preston Zingari. After the 1884–85 season, the club resolved solely to rely on members as players rather than recruit outsiders, and it stepped back from the senior game. The club formally broke up after the 1887–88 season, but was quickly resurrected, and was one of the founder members of the

North-East Lancashire League The North-East Lancashire League was an association football competition for clubs in Lancashire, which ran from 1889 to 1894. History The League was founded on 2 May 1889 at a meeting at the Bridge Inn, Accrington, with 12 original members: * ...

in 1889–90, It finished the season as the inaugural champions, leapfrogging Burnley Union Star by beating the Stars in the final match. The club did not seek to step up to the Lancashire League, but was considered by the ambitious Union Star as a suitable member of a new Lancashire Alliance; however, as Union Star secured membership of the Lancashire League, any such plans were abortive. Despite a fortnight suspension in October 1892 for making illegal approaches to two players (Halstead of Bell's Temperance and Ireland of

Oswaldtwistle Oswaldtwistle ( "ozwel twizzel") is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England, southeast of Blackburn, contiguous with Accrington. The town has a rich industrial heritage, being home to James Hargreaves, inventor of the spinning j ...

), the club remained a member of the North-East Lancashire League until 1894, when the competition merged with the

Lancashire Combination The Lancashire Combination was a football league founded in the North West of England in 1891–92. It absorbed the Lancashire League in 1903. In 1968 the Combination lost five of its clubs to the newly formed Northern Premier League. In 1982 i ...

, and Brierfield was one of the 14 clubs accepted as a member for 1894–95. However the club withdrew before the season started, amid "dissensions" which saw most of the club's committee resign, and the club join the Burnley & District League as an amateur outfit instead. The club's competitive career concluded with a disastrous 12–0 defeat to Ashton North End in the Lancashire Junior Cup in January 1895 and its last activity was hosting an athletics sports that July.

Colours

The club's colours were navy blue and white, from 1892 in the format of navy blue jerseys with a white sash, and white "pants".

Ground

The club's ground was simply known as the Brierfield Football Ground; one indication of financial difficulties was shown when the club secretary was summoned to the

assizes The assizes (), or courts of assize, were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...

for non-payment of rent in 1894 - his successful defence was that the entire committee was responsible.

Nickname

The club's nickname of the Stumpites was derived from the Brierfield Stump, a 2-ton water trough made of stone, which stood in the town's market square from the 1840s to 1942.

Notable players

* James Cockshutt, who played for the club in 1892–93 and later for

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

* James McConnell, a former Burnley player

References

{{reflist Defunct football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in Lancashire Sport in Burnley Association football clubs established in 1882 Association football clubs disestablished in 1895 1895 disestablishments in England Burnley 1882 establishments in England Lancashire Combination Brierfield, Lancashire