Football
Blackpool has established itself as the 44th club to play in the Premier League and the holiday town in Lancashire is getting ready to accommodate those who decide to stay the weekend in one of the B&B's in Blackpool. The history of the Blackpool Football Club starts some hundred and thirty years ago, when Reverend James Wayman established the Victoria Football Club in 1877. Its initial location was on Manchester's Field in Blackpool. In the first decade, the Victoria club broke up and its old members joined together to found the Blackpool St. Johns team. Then in 1887, a dispute among those same players led to the Blackpool St. Johns team becoming the Blackpool Football Club.
In 1888, the F.C. helped to found the Lancaster League. It competed in eight winning seasons and even scored a championship title in the 1893-94 season. In spring of 1896, the Blackpool Football Club developed into a Limited Company worth 2,000 pounds. Then, only two months later, it joined the Football League. Its first Football League match took place in Lincoln City on September 5th, 1896. The game drew 2,000 fans, and the club's first League goal was scored by Charles Mount.In their first League season, the Blackpool F.C. finished eighth in the Second Division. They scored 31 points in a total of 30 matches. For the thirty years following their initiation, Blackpool stayed in the Second Division with no consistent reign of success. After World War I, the club made a serious bid for the First Division. At this point, George Me joined the team and played 195 consecutive games, becoming a notable club constant in the 1920s. Other players in this period included Billy Benton, "Matty" Barrass, Jackie Meredith, Harry Bed ford, and Jimmy Hampton.
In the course of the 1922-1923 season, Blackpool head honchos took on Major Frank Buckley as the team manager. With ground-breaking training ideas and a first class scouting system, he was a great asset to the club during his four year tenure. In the next couple of years, the F.C. fell on hard times financially, and it was only through the efforts of The Supporters' Club that enough funds were raised to keep the team on its feet.
As the decades passed, the Blackpool Football Club moved into the First Division at last, and although it struggled initially to hold its position, by the sixties it has become a top tier team. In 1953, it even won the F.A. Cup. Afterward, the club continued to drop in and out of the First Division and money troubles plagued it until key players were lost to trade. The possibility of a comeback wasn't realized until more recent years, and the Blackpool Football Club has recently become quite successful.
Accommodation in Blackpool is everywhere as there are literally hundreds of Guesthouses, and Hotels. Come to Blackpool for the weekend and have a great time, and the football is a bonus!
