Richmond Park
Junction Lane
Burscough
Lancashire
L40 5SN
Ground Number: 1465
Sunday 24th August 2025
Burscough Richmond 2-1 Lostock St Gerards
West Lancashire Premier
BURSCOUGH RICHMOND FC - A BRIEF HISTORY
Burscough Richmond FC were formed in 1975, with the club spending its formative years in the Preston Sunday League before moving to the Preston and District Saturday League in 1985. The club spent several seasons in the lower divisions before almost folding in 1990 due to financial difficulties. The club was rescued by its current committee and would go on to dominate the Preston League for the majority of the next 20 years. They won Division 1 in 1994 & the Premier Division in 1995 & 1998, also winning the Guildhall Cup three times around this time. They won another league and Guildhall Cup double in 2003, as well as the cup again in 2009 and the league title in 2011. This latest title saw them successfully apply for the West Lancashire League, where they were Division 2 runners-up to Ambleside United in their first season. Five seasons were spent in Division 1 before they went up to the Premier Division after finishing as runner-up to Haslingden St Mary's in 2017. Burscough Richmond have been in the Premier Division ever since, they won the title in 2023 and finished 3rd in the two subsequent seasons.
The town of Burscough is located in West Lancashire, around 14 miles from Liverpool and 13 miles from Preston. It has a population of around 10,000, and well-known players from there include former footballer and current FC United manager Paul Beesley, who ended his career at Burscough Richmond. He also played for the town's bigger team, Burscough, who currently play in the North West Counties Premier. There is less than a mile between the grounds. Martin Mere is a large wildfowl reserve and visitor attraction on the edge of Burscough and is owned by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. In 2006, Martin Mere featured in the BBC television programme Autumnwatch. The remains of a substantial Roman fort are located at Burscough; it has an area of 30,000 square metres and was begun in the 1st century. The fort was linked to the nearby forts at Wigan and Ribchester, and is significant as Roman sites are rare in the west of Lancashire. It is a scheduled monument.
From our game at Hesketh Bank, it was a 15-minute drive to Burscough. It was a mess when we got there, as the club expected us to know the local area car parks off the top of our heads by just handing us a map. To be fair, they had put information out this morning, but it was a long way down the timeline and had also been put out by the Groundhop a few days ago. In the end, we parked on an adjacent road, which was a few minutes walk away. It was £3 to get in, and the first stop was the food place. The local sausage for £4 was decent, and for a drink, I had a can of Strongbow for £3 to help the club out.
Burscough Richmond were in 9th place before the weekend, having won two, drawn two and lost two of their games so far. They'd drawn 2-2 with CMB in their last game but were winless in four after they had won their first two games of the season. Lostock St Gerards were 4th and had won two, drawn one and lost one of their games so far. They'd lost their last game 2-1 to Poulton, their first defeat of the season. They were based up near Preston and had travelled 15 miles to today's game. Lostock took the lead on 37 minutes, a great low shot from the edge of the area by #11. It wasn't a great game and really dragged. Just as it looked as if the game might be dead, Burscough Richmond broke, and Carberry curled home a great shot from the edge of the area on 75 minutes. This gave them impetus, and on 89 minutes they took the lead, a shot in off the post by Avis.
THE GROUND
RICHMOND PARK is yet another railed pitch, but it is perfectly decent for the level. The food was decent and the people were friendly. The bar was excellent for real ale fans but very ordinary for cider fans. There was also a small range of merch. The biggest issue was the parking, barely any at the ground, but alternatives and street parking were provided.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.