Peel Bank Rovers F.C. 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

Church, Lancashire Church is a large village in Hyndburn, Lancashire, England, situated west of Accrington. The village had a population of 5,186 at the 2011 census, an increase from 3,990 according to the 2001 census. History and geography Church was once a ...

History

The earliest reference to the club is from the 1879–80 season. It was closely associated with the Turkey Red Printing Works of F. Steiner & Co, and in origin was a feeder club for

Church F.C. Church Football Club was an England, English association football club based in Church, Lancashire, which once reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. The club originally played at the Church cricket ground, moving to Spring Hill in the early ...

The Peelers played in 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 1885–86, and was one of the clubs involved in setting up the professional British Football Association. The club's best Senior Cup run was in its first entry; the club reached the last 12, at which stage it lost 7–0 at a largely second-choice

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

. The club then stepped back to the Lancashire Junior Cup, its best performance being to the semi-final in 1889–90; at the last 4 stage, the club faced Bury at Heywood Central's ground, and took the lead, but Bury fought back strongly to win 6–2. The club did have success at a more local level, winning the Accrington Charity Cup in 1884–85, 1888–89, 1889–90, and the last incarnation of the competition in 1894–95. Owing to unforeseen circumstances, the players did not receive their medals for the last success until 11 years afterwards, when the cup was brought out of storage for an

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

schools competition. The club was a founder member 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, and in 1891 changed its name to Church, now that the town name was available following the disbanding of the original

, but the name change only lasted one season, the club reverting to Peel Bank Rovers in May 1892. After the 1893–94 season, the league was absorbed into the Lancashire League, but the Peelers did not join; instead it joined the Blackburn and District League, and in 1896–97 tried its luck in the North-east Lancashire Combination, but finished bottom of the table, and there is no further record of the club.

Ground

The club's Peel Bank ground was notorious for a steep slope.

Nickname

The club was nicknamed the Steiner or Steiney Lads, after the club's effective patron. The media also referred to the club by various puns on the club name, such as Peelers, Peelites, and Bankers.

Notable players

Jimmy Whitehead James W. Whitehead (1870–1929) was an English footballer who played at both professional and international levels as an inside right. Career Born in Church, Lancashire, Whitehead played in the Football League for Accrington, Blackburn Rovers ...

, who started his career with Peel Bank before joining

in 1890, and earning two England caps

References

{{reflist Defunct football clubs in England Association football clubs established in 1879 Association football clubs disestablished in 1897 Defunct football clubs in Lancashire