A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



ranks and brought up the number of competing 

 clubs to ten, the largest entry up to date. 

 The present members are Frizington White 

 Star, Workington, Black Diamonds, Moss 

 Bay Exchange, Carlisle Red Rose, Shaddon- 

 gate United, Wigton Harriers, and Keswick. 

 The league has a promising future, being in 

 touch with the four divisions into which the 

 county is divided. 



At the annual meeting of the league held 

 30 May 1896, at the Commercial Hotel, 

 Workington, a junior division was formed of 

 the following eight clubs : Maryport, Wig- 

 ton Harriers, Cockermouth Crusaders, Har- 

 rington, Workington Reserves, Moss Bay 

 Reserves, Black Diamonds Reserves and Im- 

 perial Rovers Reserves. Harrington was the 

 first winner. The season following (18978) 

 the composition of the Junior League under- 

 went a great change. Of the original clubs 

 only four Cockermouth, Wigton, Harrington 

 and Moss Bay remained. Maryport had suc- 

 cumbed to the strong opposition of the Rugby 

 code, the Imperial Rovers had followed suit, 

 and Workington and Black Diamonds with- 

 drew their reserve teams. Frizington White 

 Star Reserves, Wheatsheaf Rovers (a junior 

 Workington club) and Arlecdon were in- 

 cluded, and made up a complement of seven 

 clubs, of which Cockermouth proved the 

 champion with 16 points out of a possible 

 2O, having only once suffered defeat. At 

 the annual meeting in 1898 the Frizington 

 Rovers were admitted members, but as the 

 Moss Bay Reserves retired, the number of 

 competing clubs remained the same. After a 

 keen competition Frizington White Star was 

 declared champion, a performance which that 

 team might have repeated the following season, 

 but owing to a variety of causes the fix- 

 tures were not completed. In the latter 

 season new blood had been admitted with 

 the West Seaton, Distington and Scale- 

 gill Clubs, whilst Harrington and Wheat- 

 sheaf Rovers had gone under, succumbing 

 to the inevitable. The Junior League, 

 weakened by the promotion of three of its 

 most prominent clubs to the 'upper house,' 

 collapsed, but its place has been taken by a 

 similar organization. 



In October of the Diamond Jubilee year 

 a meeting was held at the King's Arms 

 Hotel, Wigton, ' to consider the question of 

 forming a Cumberland Thursday Association 

 League, with a view to furthering the in- 

 terests of mid-week football.' It was unani- 

 mously decided that such a combination be 

 set on foot. The original clubs were few in 

 number : Aspatria Agricultural College, Car- 

 lisle Thursday, Workington Thursday and 



Wigton Harriers Thursday. Workington 

 proved the first champions in 1898-9, and 

 repeated the success the following season, 

 when interest was added to the competition 

 by the inclusion of Midland United, a Car- 

 lisle organization. The following season the 

 committee failed to carry on the Thursday 

 League. 



Other competitions which have done much 

 to maintain the interest in the game in Work- 

 ington have been the Workington Infirmary 

 Shield Competition and the Workington 

 Town Championship, which have usually 

 excited the keenest encounters amongst the 

 borough clubs. 



No organization has better answered the 

 purpose for which it was formed than the 

 Carlisle and District Charity Shield Com- 

 petition, which came into being in 1890 

 with the object of encouraging the game 

 amongst junior clubs or teams. In a great 

 measure due to the hon. secretary, Mr. J. A. 

 McLean, the competition has been a success 

 from the beginning, and there is now an 

 average annual entry of over twenty clubs. 

 The winners are: 18901, Eden Vale; 

 1891-2, West End Rangers ; 1892-3, 

 Carlisle Red Rose; 18934, Carlisle City; 

 1894-5, Willow Holme Mission ; 1895-6, 

 Shaddongate United; 1896-7, Carlisle Red 

 Rose; 1 897-8, Shaddongate United ; 1898-9, 

 Carlisle Red Rose ; 1899-1900, Shaddon- 

 gate United ; 19001, Shaddongate United ; 

 1901-2, G. and S. W. Rovers. 



The Association game in the east of the 

 county will probably be further advanced by 

 the Carlisle and District Junior League, 

 formed 28 August 1900, to operate in a 

 twelve mile radius of the ' Border City.' 

 The original members were Dalston, Wigton, 

 Burnfoot Star, G. and S.W. Rovers, Carlisle 

 Red Rose, Cummersdale Hornets, N.B.R. 

 Loco., West End, Shaddongate United, Grass- 

 ing Athletic, Caxton and Longtown. Cum- 

 mersdale Club was the first winner, and N.B. 

 Loco, the second. 



In West Cumberland the Egremont Divi- 

 sion Junior League was formed the same 

 month, consisting of Frizington White Star, 

 Frizington Rovers, Keekle, Scalegill Rovers, 

 St. Bees and Arlecdon. The first-named 

 was champion in 19001, and in 19012 

 Scalegill Rovers. 



The Cumberland Junior Medal Competi- 

 tion, during its brief existence under the 

 Association's maternal wing, did much to 

 foster rising talent. 



In the earlier years of the Cumberland 

 Football Association each affiliated club was 

 entitled to representation on the Executive 



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