The History Of Barnstoneworth Football Club, Orange

Heritage

The Original Barnstoneworth Football Club was a team in an episode of Ripping Yarns starring Michael Palin. The year is 1935. Barnstoneworth played in the Yorkshire premier league and had not won a game since 1931. They had last one the league in 1923 with a dynamic team. They are now due to play their last match as the ground is to be turned into a scrap yard. Gordon Ottershaw, the number 1 fan, decides to get the last premiership team back onto the field. The last game is won with players sporting grey hair or no hair and the odd paunch.

Orange

It seems appropriate then the modern team should also field a team of similar stature. There was an original team that played in an indoor competition but it was not until 1998 that the team progressed to the open field in the Orange Over 35's competition.

Many players are from the old Bloomfield Club some of whom actually display a degree of skill on old legs. The team had limited success but outstanding popularity. So much so that in 1999 there were two teams and in 2000 there were three teams. When the competition split into an A Division and a B Division it was decided to provide one team in each competition.

And so it is that we come to this year, 2002, full of little hope but a great sense of fun.