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In 2006 over 88 years of footballing tradition in Runcorn died when Runcorn FC played their last match.

The history of the club, which was formed as Highfield and Camden Tanneries Recreation Club, in 1918, is being compiled by local fan Chris Darlington.

Runcorn FC had sprung from the ashes of a rugby team that had been formed in the 1880鈥檚, playing on the same ground Canal Street, the club kicked off as the World War I ended.

The canal next to the clubs location

The transition was swift, men who left to fight war when rugby was being played at Canal Street returned to find the shape of the ball and sport in Runcorn had changed in a few short years, although little else had changed, even some of the rugby players made the transition to play the new sport.

Chris Darlington says that the club was central to the town for many years, 鈥淚t was the heart of the community.鈥�

鈥淲hen the club went it was a body blow to the community because so many things had happened there, not just football.鈥�

Over the years the Canal Street ground had stood in as a makeshift ambulance station during World War Two and a grazing ground for the local tanneries horses.

The team was popular in the town, even if not everybody was prepared to part with hard earned cash to see them play, 鈥淪ome of the houses used to back on to the ground and people would stand on the top of the outside toilets to watch the game,鈥� says Chris.

The clubs home is now a housing estate.

鈥淪ome people used to use stepladders to watch the game.鈥�

Seeing a potential loss of earnings Runcorn FC took a novel approach to the problem, 鈥淭he club knocked posts in and put up string up,鈥� explains Chris.鈥�

鈥淭hey then added Hessian curtains that they used to draw across during every game.鈥�

The club鈥檚 beginnings were rooted in an industrial age when Runcorn was a hard working and hard drinking town.

The rugby team was originally created to keep men away from the plethora of local public houses, although in the early days a lack of facilities meant that the team would get changed in a pub, The Wilson, several hundred yards from the ground.

鈥淭hey were tough men, they did hard jobs,鈥� says Chris.
鈥淎 ships carpenter, a blacksmiths striker, or working in the chemical industry.

鈥淭hey were big men and they were tough.鈥�

Celebrations of the teams successes, they were champions of the Cheshire League in 1919, were held in Wilson鈥檚, a main table being set out like a football pitch, complete with nets, with the guests seated around the touchline.

Wilson's - the original changing rooms.

The end for Runcorn FC came quickly. In 2000 they sold the Canal Street ground and moved to Halton Stadium in Widnes, 鈥淭he final day in 2001 there was a flag draped across the centre circle with a football jersey on it,鈥� recalls Chris.

鈥淚t was like a funeral because it was the death of the ground.鈥�

Renamed Runcorn FC Halton the club鈥檚 financial plight forced them to move again to share a home with Prescot Cables in 2005; it was to be their final home.

Finishing bottom of the Northern Premier League in 2006 the club ceased activity.

For Chris Darlington, Canal Street in Runcorn will always be the clubs real home, 鈥淪o many thousands of memories have been made along this road.

鈥淟ots of conversations, dads, granddads, and the games they saw, generation after generation came down the steps to see the game.

鈥淢y favourite memory is the first time my dad took me, I was seven years old and I had the choice of the zoo, the pictures or football.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 why it鈥檚 got special memories for me.鈥�

The Runcorn name lives on though, in 2006 a new club Runcorn Linnets FC was formed by fans, the team currently plays in the Vodkat League.