Rochdale A.F.C (1896) (England)
I decided to
see how many clubs once had predecessors with the same name as before. Queen’s
Island FC were a club from Northern Ireland, but what about England? How many
of todays modern football clubs, are not the originals of themselves? There are
quite a few, but one that stuck out to me was Rochdale AFC, a club that in
modern times, have fallen on hard times, playing outside the football league
(at the time of writing) however still have a loyal and huge support. But
before the Rochdale AFC that we know today, there was a Rochdale AFC before,
even if it they were only around for five years. They even played at Spotland
for a year. It’s a short story, but one that shows that some clubs are
forgotten about simply because there is another with their name nowadays. This
is the story of Rochdale AFC, the original club from Rochdale.
In the late 19th
century, football was starting to grow in the north of England, with Lancashire
becoming a hub for some of the sport’s biggest and best clubs. Towns like
Blackburn and Bury were producing clubs that were starting to compete with the
best, however, in the town of Rochdale, rugby was still the dominate and most
popular sport. So, when a football club was founded in 1896, many were
sceptical. Founded as Rochdale AFC when both Rochdale Athletic Club and
Rochdale Athletic Ground Company got together, the club immediately entered the
Lancashire Combination in the 1896-97 season, finishing 6th in their
debut season.
They only
lasted one season in the Lancashire Combination, as they transferred to the
Lancashire League for the 1897-98 season, however they struggled at their new
level, finishing 12th out of 14 clubs. At the same time, they
entered the FA Cup for the first time. But they only reached the second
qualifying round.
The club never
made any impact in the league, with a 9th place finish in their
1899-1900 season being their highest they achieved in one of the lower
Lancashire League divisions. It was at the turn of the new century, in 1900,
when the club were forced to move ground having played at the Rochdale Athletic
Grounds for the previous seasons. They played their final season at Spotlands,
but after one season there, they withdrew from the Lancashire League, citing
financial troubles as the reason. They did enter the FA Cup in the 1900-01 edition;
however, they could only reach the third qualifying round before having to
withdrew against Workington as they were unable to field a team. It was on
January 1st, 1901, when the first Rochdale AFC club were officially
folded.
I spoke to
Rochdale fanatic and HerGameToo ambassador Charlotte Cromarty. While she
couldn’t tell me much about the connection between the old Rochdale and the
Rochdale she supports so passionately, she gave me an insight into what it is
like to follow a club that was so close enduring the same fate as the old
Rochdale. Here is what she had to say;
First of
all, thank you for taking time on answering my questions. I know you are a huge
Rochdale fan, but did you know that there was a Rochdale AFC before the one you
supported? Is this known within your fan base?
Charlotte: Thank you so so much for asking me to
contribute and talk about all things Rochdale, really appreciate you asking me.
Wow really? I genuinely wasn’t aware this was the case! I know our club was
founded 118 years ago in 1907 but I wasn’t aware of another club before we were
founded! I’m definitely going to have a look at that and into their history
though. I’m really intrigued to find out more!
Rochdale
seems to have a huge following in regards football, whether that he Rochdale or
other clubs in the area. However, in my research it seems as though the earlier
clubs in Rochdale had to compete with other sports, mostly Rugby. Is that still
the case nowadays?
Charlotte: Yes, there’s a lot of sports around the
local area that people enjoy. Rugby is definitely one of the most popular, we
actually share our football ground with a rugby team called Rochdale Hornets.
There’s a lot of other local rugby clubs too around the area that play their
games on a Saturday and Sunday so that can play an impact I suppose.
Cricket is also
a very popular sport across the local borough, Rochdale, Norden, Littleborough,
Heywood and Bamford are just a few names, then there’s obviously the bigger
name, Lancashire as well. Luckily with cricket it’s usually out of season so
doesn’t have much of an impact on the football season.
Not just other
sports though, I think the main cause of our club not really having the support
as big as other clubs is due to the bigger and more popular names around the
north west! We have to compete with the likes of Manchester United, Manchester
City, Liverpool, Burnley, Bolton, Wigan, Oldham, Bury, Salford, Accrington,
Morecambe and there’s so many more too. There’s a lot of local teams in such a
small confinement so it’s difficult to attract the crowds and consistent
numbers on the gates due to this.
The current
Rochdale club has had its problems in recent years. Without sounding pessimistic,
do you ever envisage them going out of business? Was there ever that fear?
Charlotte: Yes, unfortunately the last few
seasons have been very difficult for us all at Rochdale AFC. Last season we all
feared the worst when our chairman alerted us fans that without a takeover and
the fan owned structure of the club changing, possible liquidation was on the
cards by the end of March 2024.
Covid season
was the start of our problems. The club was relegated from league one and a
possible hostile takeover was apparently happening due to some members of our
board doing some sneaky business behind the scenes, two board members got
ejected. Rightly so too!
Simon Gauge
took over as chairman, he stepped up at a time where we really needed him which
I will forever be thankful for and assigned his own board members.
Money was spent
a lot on legal fees towards that hostile take over. That took its toll then on
the football side due to lack of funds and not knowing where our club would
be.
Poor managerial
appointments. Stockdale came in when Brian Barry Murphy (manager who got us
relegated from league one) left us to move to Manchester City. Brought
Stockdale in. Gave one of the highest budgets to Stockdale especially in the
January transfer window. Stuck by him the season after, gave him the summer
transfer window but then sacked him after 4 games. Brought in Jim Bentley! That
didn’t go well. Sacked Bentley then obviously appointed McNulty full
time.
Gauge wanted to
keep the club fan owned and has been looking for investment but only for
investors to buy shares because he wanted to protect the club. There’s been a
lot of outside interest apparently but investors want more control. Asset rich
- own ground, bars at the club etc
But cash poor -
no money to put into the club and Gauge can’t keep doing that! Tried to
remortgage the ground for a cash flow but national league rules wouldn’t let
us.
We don’t have
very much debt. The club owes money to Gauge and also the local council because
I believe we took out a loan with them.
We couldn’t
keep being fan owned, we have always been this way, people know nothing
different. Nobody has done anything wrong and has always had the best interest
of the club at heart, I believe that! He’s made mistakes too and that’s down to
his inexperience. I’m thankful for everything he has done for us but I do
believe that we need to change like he’s saying and get out of this fan owned
structure!
We couldn’t let
Rochdale die! Us fans as much as this is a massive change, we had to take a
chance. Luckily a local business man and his family jumped at the chance to
takeover the club, Simon Gauge has stayed on as chairman, both himself and
fellow director Richard Knight didn’t ask for the money back that they put into
the club, they have kept shares and it’s now transferred into equity.
Hopefully this
is the start of bigger and better things for the club. On the pitch and off as
they are looking to make a profit not just on football but the business side of
it, also build our own training facilities that we have never had.
Bury, a club
close to Rochdale, were highlighted in recent years with having huge problems
as were other clubs in the area. Is there a problem in that area as a
collective or is just a problem with individual football clubs?
Charlotte: Honestly I still find it so so sad as a
football fan that this happened to a club as big as Bury with such great
history too! My uncle and cousins are Bury fans so wasn’t nice to see at all.
As I mentioned before it’s so hard being a football club within our area due to
the ‘bigger clubs’ around us, we are always competing to try and get fans in,
that’s as well as struggling with the cost of living at the moment too, people
are genuinely struggling for finances so watching football is a luxury to some.
Hostile
takeovers and poor people running clubs are also a huge part in football. So
many clubs are being used for business purposes, people with no attachments
come into the club and can run them down to the ground, similar at the moment
are the likes of Swindon and Morecambe. The fit and proper test to takeover a
football club really does need to be improved and the council/MP’s/Government
need to help put something in place to protect football clubs.
Would you
welcome a return of the earliest form of Rochdale AFC? As in have the two clubs
in the one town? A new local derby?
Charlotte: As much as I love to see more football
clubs in the pyramid and more teams due to being a football fan, I don’t think
it would help our football club as we already struggle to bring in more people
on the gates anyway, especially since dropping to National League.
One thing I
couldn't find out was if the current Rochdale ever saw itself as a continuation
of the first Rochdale club. It seems as though they are different clubs but has
there ever been any link to the two clubs?
Charlotte: I’m so so sorry but I’m not completely
sure on this topic! I’ll definitely do some research and look into it though!
Finally, I
always ask this, as to end on a positive note. Who is your favourite player to
have played for Rochdale and who is the best? You can give the same answer of
course for both.
Charlotte: This is an easy one for me! We have had
some amazing players at Rochdale especially step up and end up playing at the
highest level (Glenn Murray, Rickie Lambert, Adam Le Fondre, Robert Sanchez,
Craig Dawson and many more)
But for me my
favourite has to be Grant Holt. It was at the time I was going to every single
home and away game, I was a young girl who fell in love with football and
enjoyed going with my dad! Grant Holt was just incredible! Still hurts that he
left, but he deserved a big move!
The best player
ever for Dale and another of my favourites has to be Ian Henderson. He is the
definition of the G.O.A.T Rochdale’s highest ever goal scorer and I’ve had the
pleasure to follow his journey. Was so sad when he left us but that was due to
no fault of his own, he was treated badly by the guys involved in the hostile
take over! So left to go to Salford for a couple of seasons and now it’s his
testimonial season. He’s 40 years old, squad number 40 and he will be retiring
at the club he scored the most goals ever for! Just incredible stuff.