Blackpool Panthers
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| Blackpool Panthers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Blackpool Panthers Rugby League Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 2004 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Lytham St Annes, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Woodlands, Lytham St Annes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity | 9000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  John Chadwick |
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| Coach | Simon Knox |
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| League | National League 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | 12th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Blackpool Panthers RLFC are a rugby league team based in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire. They play in National League Two. They play at Woodlands Memorial Ground owned by Fylde RUFC.
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[edit] History
[edit] Blackpool Borough
A Blackpool club were members of the Northern Union Lancashire Second Competition in 1898/99. The first unsuccessful application for a Blackpool team to join the Rugby League was made by a in December 1950. Blackpool Borough were accepted into the Rugby League for the 1954/55 season.
Borough played at Blackpool St Anne's Road Greyhound Stadium but larger fixtures were played at Blackpool FC's Bloomfield Road Stadium. Their record attendance was 12,015 on 10 September 1955 when they drew with the New Zealand tourists 24-24 at Bloomfield Road. Blackpool Greyhound Stadium was sold for housing and in April 1962 Blackpool Borough Council granted a 21-year lease on a new ground - Borough Park - on the former gas works and coach park site at Rigby Road and Princess Street.
In 1978-79, Blackpool won promotion to the First Division for the first and only time by finishing fourth in the Second Division. However the next season, they finished bottom and were relegated back to the Second Division.
In April 1982 Borough were put into liquidation less than nine months after being taken over by a Cardiff businessman. A new company, Savoy Sports and Leisure Ltd, then bought the club and a new Blackpool Borough RLFC was formed on 4 August 1982 and accepted into the Rugby League for the new season. The club was ordered to carry out safety measures on the ground by Lancashire County Council by 1 February 1987 or quit the ground. Blackpool failed to get grant aid from Blackpool Borough Council and were forced to leave. The final game at Borough Park being on the 4th of January 1987 when a crowd of 386 saw the club lose 8-5 to Whitehaven. Their final six home games were played at Bloomfield Road.
[edit] Springfield Borough
Another consortium took over the club in April 1987 on condition that Borough left Blackpool. Their first new home was Springfield Park, the then home of Wigan Athletic and they played one season as 'Springfield Borough'. Despite good performnces on the field the move was not successful; the pitch was suffering from overuse and in January 1988 Wigan Athletic gave Borough six months to quit. Springfield Borough beat Sheffield Eagles 11-10 in the final rugby league match at Springfield Park.
[edit] Chorley Borough
The club played as Chorley Borough in the 1988-1989 season and finished sixteenth out of twenty teams in the Second division.
[edit] Trafford Borough
Borough then became 'Trafford Borough' when they moved to Moss Lane, Altrincham (sharing with Altrincham F.C.) for the 1989-90 season. This, however, caused a boardroom split leading to five Blackpool based directors resigning to form a new club based in Chorley (see below).
Trafford Borough survived three seasons before returning to Blackpool as 'Blackpool Gladiators' for the 1992-93 season, playing at the Blackpool Mechanics FC ground. However, the season was a disaster which culminated in their final home game when they were beaten 90-5 by Dewsbury. Their last game as a professional club was on 11 April 1993 when they lost again to Dewsbury 56-0. They were demoted to the National Conference for the following season and the professional game in Blackpool disappeared.
[edit] Chorley
The Chorley side were based at Chorley AFC's ground Victory Park. They became 'Chorley Borough' in the 1991-92 season.
In the 1993 a decision was made that rugby league championship would return to two divisions. The top two Second Division clubs would join the new First Division, and the rest would form the new Second Division, apart from the bottom three clubs Chorley Borough, Blackpool Gladiators and Nottingham City who would be demoted to the National Conference. Chorley regained their status in 1995-96 when they became 'Chorley Chieftains'. In 1996 they dropped the Chieftains moniker; became 'Lancashire Lynx' at the start of 1997 after a short non-playing spell as 'Central Lancashire'.
Lancashire Lynx reached the final of the Anglo-French Treize Tournoi in 1998 and finished top of the Second Division Championship, then at the end of the 1999-2000 season they changed again to 'Chorley Lynx'. In 2003 they finished second in National League two but head coach Darren Abram left to join Leigh Centurions
In 2004 Chorley Lynx folded due to poor attendances and the withdrawal of funding by backer Trevor Hemmings. They were losing £1,000 a week with an average crowd of just 434.
[edit] Blackpool Panthers
Blackpool West Coast Panthers were created in 2005 supposedly as a separate team rather than the continuation of the old Chorley team. They were elected to National league two for the 2005 season. Despite this most of the players were former Chorley players, the coach Mark Lee had been coach of Chorley and most of the supporters were those who had previously followed Chorley. Blackpool agreed an initial two year tenancy of Bloomfield Road.
The original chairman quit before the season started leaving Dave Rowland to shoulder the financial burden. Coach Mark Lee was sacked before the start of the season and Simon Knox was appointed on a 12-month contract. Blackpool struggled on the field finishing second bottom of National League two and failed to make an impact on the Blackpool public. Due to the high cost of renting Bloomfield Road and disappointing attendances Blackpool were due to ground share with Preston Grasshoppers rugby union.
However, the board bought out former major shareholder Dave Rowland's stake in the club and a last minute deal saw them secure the use of Bloomfield Road at a reduced rent. The 2006 season was again a difficult one for Blackpool as they finished bottom of National League two; winning only four games. In June and July three games were played at Fylde RUFC's Woodlands Memorial Ground in Lytham St Annes as Bloomfield Road was being reseeded. The Panthers beat Keighley Cougars and Workington Town and lost to Gateshead Thunder.
In October 2006 a contract was signed for an initial period of six years, covering the seasons 2007-2012. The administrative and commercial base of the Panthers, as well as the National League will move to the Woodlands Memorial Ground.
[edit] Sources
[edit] External links
| Rugby League National Leagues - National League Two |
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See also: Rugby League Championship Third Division |
| Rugby league in Britain and Ireland | |
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