Friday 14 March 2025
Hebden Bridge Local History Society Report
The rise and fall of football
in the Upper Calder Valley
Speaker: Derek Kettlewell
How did the sport of 'Socker' arrive in the Upper Calder Valley and why does the area have no notable teams today? Derek Kettlewell, an enthusiastic researcher into local grassroots sports, spoke to Hebden Bridge Local History Society about the challenges faced and highlights enjoyed by teams such as Hebden Bridge, Portsmouth Rovers and Luddendenfoot.
Photo: Portsmouth Rovers c1910 from Pennine Heritage Digital Archive
Sport is something of a Cinderella in the world of local history research and few teams have retained an archive. Using on-line data throws up challenges too – it's not so simple as typing in the name of a football club. In the early days 'football' meant 'rugby' and 'socker' (not soccer) was the new kid on the block.
Derek explained how the sport is organised into a pyramid of different leagues, with 'the rest' occupying levels from the 11th downward. In theory, it seems that movement up and down the pyramid is possible, but in reality clubs from these levels rarely climb up. The current highest placed local team is Ryburn, in the 11th tier.
From the middle of the 19th century, football gradually became more organised, but it was still a mostly middle class sport, with public schools providing most of the (amateur) players. Only after 1885 was it possible to have professional players, opening the sport to working class men and in 1888 the Football League was formed.
Many social changes contributed to the growth in the popularity of football. Population movement to work in the towns provided players and spectators, and the Factory Act that set up the norm of a five and a half day week freed up Saturday afternoons for sport. (In Sheffield the half day was on Wednesday – still marked in the name of the modern team.)
Benevolent factory owners set up football teams, an act of enlightened self-interest to promote the loyalty and fitness of the workforce. Churches and chapels also saw football as a way of keeping youth on a clear moral path, setting up their own teams and competitions. Football teams were everywhere. Melbourne Street in Hebden Bridge had a football team and when Portsmouth Rovers were set up in 1887 there were already three teams in the little village near Todmorden.
Compared to the nearby towns of east Lancashire, football grew slowly in the Calder Valley. One reason was geography: in this area of deep narrow valleys flat ground was at a premium. Suitable areas tended to have been occupied earlier by sports like cricket and rugby.
Portsmouth Rovers were a successful club but lacked the money to step up to a higher level. One reporter sarcastically described how the ground was a 'fine receptacle' for the rain with excellent mud baths. The dressing room was kept warm, he said, 'at a constant 4 cow pressure.'
The little teams of the Calder Valley did nurture some famous players, notably via Stoke City, whose scout lived in Hebden Bridge. One of Stoke's all time greats was Billy Spencer from Hebden Bridge. He was one of those local football heroes who were immortalised on collectible football cards.
Another heroine was Issy Pollard from Old Town, initially unable to find a local team to play for, but capped three times for England in the 1990s.
Derek had no optimism about the future of local football, but left a strong impression of how community and belonging finds expression in sport.
Hebden Bridge Local History Society meets from September until April on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month at Hebden Royd Methodist Church, starting at 7.30 pm. Details of the History Society talks programme, publications and of archive opening times are available on the "What's on" section of the HebWeb, on the History website and you can also follow the History Society Facebook page.
With thanks to Sheila Graham for this report
See previous reports in the HebWeb History section