Town’s centenary celebration on ice
FOOTBALL worldwide has been decimated this year because of the Coronavirus. From internationals to grassroots, the impact has been severe and Denton Town are like many of the grassroots teams whose season is left in ruins.
The committee, players and supporters of Denton Town FC are doubly disappointed because this year was their Centenary year and plans for this celebration have had to be put on hold. They had already arranged a large walking football tournament for May2020 and talks were in progress for an Old Boys match against a Manchester City Old Boys team and a reunion buffet evening for all the ex players.
This season the club are running four teams and have had mixed success until the enforced closure. The senior team under managers Phil Cooper and Darren Green reached the final of the Manchester Saturday Challenge Trophy in their first year entering the competition.
The club was formed in 1920 by the Reverend JT Canton, the rector of Christ Church, Bradford, Manchester. At the time Bradford was a heavily industrialised area of East Manchester.
During their inaugural season of 1920-1921, they played in the Manchester YMCA League and the team with an average age of just 17 became League Champions and Shield Winners in that first year.
All their home games were played at the David Lewis Recreation Ground or Donkey Common as it was known. Most playing surfaces in those days were not grass but shale and cuts and scrapes were common due to the harsh surface.
The following season 1921-1922, saw the club enter the Openshaw and District League and went undefeated in the league, scoring 76 goals for, with 19 against
The Lancashire & Cheshire League, which the club entered in the 1922-1923 season ran two senior divisions, the 1st Division and the A Division. It was in the A Division that Parish started their long association with the league. winning the A Division that season finishing ahead Union Chapel, another church side.
The team also reached the final of the Rhodes Cup, winning the competition, a feat that has been repeated on a further nine times.
An incredible 17 coach loads of supporters travelled to Urmston to watch them defeat West Didsbury in the final. Judging by the number of coaches there must have been around 800 fans supporting their local team.
It was during this season that Parish, for the first time, ran two teams. The church, or was it was the football, was attracting more and more youngsters, this prompted the committee to set up another team. The second team was a junior side and was entered into the Manchester YMCA League which they duly won at their first attempt.
Having won the league and cup in their first season in the L & C League, it must have been the committee’s intention to consolidate in the senior division in the 1923-1924 season and they did this by doing the double, winning the 1st Division and for the second season running winning the Rhodes Cup, beating Werneth Amateurs.
The 1935-1936 season was a major turning point in the history of Bradford Parish, they were to leave their controversial Cemetery Road ground and move to a new enclosed ground with better facilities and a good quality playing surface, at the Ashton Moss Athletic Ground. Season 1937-1938 saw the Parish side again win the league and cup double and if WW2 had not taken place the club would have faced a promising future with many experienced and good quality up and coming younger players.
The first season after the war saw another change of ground due to bomb damage at the Ashton Moss venue, when Melland
Playing Fields in Gorton, Manchester became the club’s new home.
Although many of the pre-war side were past their best in playing terms, the side retained the league championship for the first two seasons after the war.
The most memorable night in the clubs history took place in April 1953 at the Accrington Stanley Peel Park Ground where Parish won the coveted Lancashire Amateur Cup with a 3-1 win over Morecambe GSOB.
The mid 1950’s to mid 1960’s was a glorious time for the club with a trophy haul of 22 titles and cups.
By the club’s high standards a barren period followed with only seven trophies won up to the clubs change of name to Denton Town in 1994 and change of ground to Whittles Park in 1995.
The Denton team carried on the winning tradition with a league and cup double in the season 2005-2006 in which they were undefeated. The 2008-2009 season saw a step up in standards when the club joined the Cheshire League.
This was a very hard decision for the club to make after being members of the L&C for 86 years.
In the 2010-2011 season the first team won the Cheshire League Division 2 and were promoted to the 1st Division. The Reserves won the first Cup Final we have played in since joining the Cheshire league.
Now that the L&C have changed their rules this allowed the club to move their Reserves back to join them and they were having a mixed season in Division 3 until the season was prematurely halted.
The managers Gary Dixon and Rob Nicholson were having their first experience of open age football having come from running Youth Teams and found the changes interesting to say the least.
Club chairman Phil Bentley said: “Denton Town are a stereotypical amateur football club, reliant on community, local businesses and most of all volunteers.
“They all strive to keep the club afloat in these uncertain times.
“In 2015 the refurbished clubhouse was officially opened by local dignitaries, a very proud moment for all the club and its supporters.
“The playing surface has been a labour of love from the first day at the club which has been on going, and thanks to all the hard work past and present, we think we have a surface of which to be proud.
“The committee battle on a daily basis to keep the club ticking over as many an amateur club will empathise with but having said that we are always trying to think positively and are hopeful a long term project may come to fruition in the near future.
“The future of amateur football is in a very precarious position at the moment and new flag bearers are few and far between, so it’s imperative clubs like ours get the resources they need. This will hopefully give what was once a staple community habitat a much needed boost.
“It’s very difficult to acknowledge individuals who have been a vital part of the Denton Town FC centurions as there are so many.”