Clubs > Sowerby Bridge Robins > Earlier Teams

Earlier Teams

Sowerby Bridge had rugby and football teams by 1877. Sowerby Bridge’s original rugby team was the short-lived Sowerby Bridge Church Institute who had connections with the SBCI cricket club that still functions today, but this team had disappeared by the time a general village team appeared around 1886. Sowerby Bridge played at the Beech ground, which is still there not far from Tuel Lane, the location of its terracing still evident. They became a good side, winning the Halifax Charity Cup in 1890-91 and 1891-92, and Yorkshire Cup in 1899.
Sowerby Bridge joined a Northern Union Yorkshire 2nd Competition in 1998 and played in the Northern Union Challenge Cup during the 1902-03 season. They lost in the first round to one of the great teams of the era, Batley, by 14-5.

Like many teams, Sowerby Bridge was struggling with paying players and ceased operations in 1903. In later years a Sowerby Bridge team played in the U18 and U21 leagues of the early 20th century.

There was a new team in the area in 1913 when Sowerby Free Wanderers were formed, acquiring a field at White Windows, One of their players was future international prop/hooker Alf Milnes who played 15 for the Northern Union including the 1920 Ashes tour to Australia and New Zealand.

With the outbreak of the First World War, 1914 Sowerby Bridge Free Wanderers announced that sixteen registered players had joined the colours but were able to keep going. Sowerby Bridge Recreation came into existence and were an amalgamation of all teams from that area, joining together as much as anything, it is reported, because they only had thirteen shirts left between them. Their name suggests they played on the old recreation ground at Beech, a team of that title being among those who had joined the group. They only lasted a single season but re-emerged after the war as Sowerby Bridge West End, another of the amalgamators.

Sowerby Bridge West End were new to the league but had been playing friendlies earlier while struggling to find a suitable ground. They found one on the hillside beyond Triangle Station and were good enough to win the Intermediate League in season 1920-1, after which they were able to secure the former Free Wanderers ground at White Windows. A building already beside the field was converted into dressing rooms. They were to continue until 1928, by which time the White Windows ground had been lost to the building of the Beechwood estate. Other Sowerby Bridge teams also appeared in the 1920s – Sowerby Bridge Central (1921-4), Sowerby Bridge LMS Railway (1926) and Sowerby Bridge Rovers (1929-31). Sowerby Bridge West End figured briefly in 1924,

There would no more Rugby League in Sowerby Bridge for the next 60 years.