Trawden Forest Football Club was an English association football club based in the village of

Trawden Trawden is a village in the Trawden Forest parish of Pendle, at the foot of Boulsworth Hill, in Lancashire, England. The village co-operatively owns and runs its library, shop, community centre and pub. Samantha Bailey, a local resident, has c ...

in Lancashire and playing their matches at

Cottontree Cottontree and Winewall are two hamlets situated in the civil parish of Trawden Forest in Borough of Pendle, Pendle, Lancashire. They are adjacent to one other and located between the towns of Colne and Trawden. Cottontree is generally situated ...

Colne Colne () is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. The town is northeast of Nelson, Lancashire, Nelson, northeast of Burnley and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. The ...

History

The club was founded in December 1892. It entered the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

, the major English cup competition, for the first time in the 1897–98 season and reached the first qualifying round before being knocked out by Stalybridge Rovers. In the following season, Trawden Forest enjoyed their best run in the FA Cup, reaching the second qualifying round before losing away at Southport Central. In 1899–1900, they were knocked out in the preliminary round by

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

. Trawden Forest never won another match in the FA Cup, and their heaviest defeat in the competition came on 21 September 1901, when they were beaten 0–7 away at Oswaldtwistle Rovers. For the 1902–03 season, the team joined 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 ...

, which was the highest level of

non-league football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

in the area. Trawden Forest finished 14th out of 18 teams. A record of 9 wins, 8 draws and 17 defeats gave the team a total of 26 points from 34 matches. In the same season, the team entered the preliminary round and held

Bacup Bacup ( , ) is a town in the Rossendale Borough in Lancashire, England, in the South Pennines close to Lancashire's boundaries with West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester. The town is in the Rossendale Valley and the upper Irwell Valley, east ...

to a 3–3 draw before losing the replay three days later. In July 1903, Trawden Forest FC changed its name to Colne FC. Under that name, the club continued to play in the Lancashire Combination until 1913 when it folded.

Colours

The club wore green jerseys.

Ground

The club played at Alkincoates, in the north-west of Colne, and to the south of the current Alkincoates Park, roughly encompassed by Priestfield Avenue.

Notable players

Several footballers began their careers at Trawden Forest before moving into professional football; Arthur Dixon went on to play professionally with Burnley,

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

and

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club, sometimes abbreviated as BPA AFC, is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in , at the eighth tier of the English football league ...

, while William Nunnick represented

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

in the Football League. Others ended their career at the club having retired from the professional game; James Savage, William Watkins and Alfred Sawley all played for Trawden Forest after leaving Burnley.

FA Cup results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trawden Celtic Defunct football clubs in England Lancashire Combination Defunct football clubs in Lancashire Association football clubs established in 1892 Association football clubs disestablished in 1913 1913 disestablishments in England