Early years '', depiction of a match between Yorkshire and Lancashire in 1893. Painting by
William Barnes Wollen. The first match arranged for the county of Lancashire took place in 1870, at Leeds against Yorkshire. This match was immediately known as the "Battle of the Roses" and was considered the "
blue riband" of Northern rugby football. To be selected to represent the county was an honour bestowed long before the foundation of the Lancashire RFU and it was seen as "the high road to International honours". A movement of emerging new clubs, headed by W. Bell, the honorary secretary of the
Broughton FC, had an objective to secure a voice in the selection of county teams. Bell was supported by an informal committee consisting of: G. C. Lindsay (Manchester Rangers), A. M. Crook (Free Wanderers), F. C. Hignett (
Swinton), Hunter (Birch). Initial approaches to the Manchester Club were declined and in 1881 a general meeting of Lancashire clubs was called at which the following clubs were represented: Manchester Rangers; Free Wanderers; Broughton; Swinton; Walton; Rossendale;
Oldham; Manchester Athletic;
Rochdale Hornets; Chorley Birch; and Cheetham. Notably, the Manchester Club did not take part, but a resolution to form the Lancashire Football Union was agreed. The initial committee had W. Bell as its honorary secretary and G. C. Lindsay as the honorary treasurer. Two county matches were arranged altogether versus the Midland Counties and Lanarkshire (Scotland). Manchester then decided to wrest control of the county back and on 22 December 1881 met with the new Union and a duly constituted and representative governing body, its club to be called The Lancashire County Football Club, was formed. It was agreed the president, a vice-president, the hon. secretary and treasurer should be elected from the Manchester Football Club, a vice-president and a member of committee from the
Liverpool Club, and the remaining eight names to be elected from clubs other than the Manchester and Liverpool clubs. Also, all Home County matches would be played on the ground of the
Manchester Football Club. The first officers and clubs elected to represent the newly formed Lancashire County Football Club were: • PRESIDENT : James MacLaren, Esq. (
Manchester). • VICE-PRESIDENTS : W. Brierley, Esq. (
Manchester);
E. Kewley, Esq. (
Liverpool). • HON. SECRETARY AND TREASURER : W. Grave, Esq. (
Manchester). • COMMITTEE :
Manchester,
Liverpool,
Broughton, Cheetham,
Preston, Manchester Rangers,
Rochdale Hornets,
Oldham,
Swinton, and Free Wanderers. The first match was versus the Midland Counties (the Lanarkshire match having been cancelled), played at Coventry on 26 March 1882.
Albert Neilson Hornby became president after James MacLaren resigned the office on 1 October 1884. Lancashire was part of the Queen's Jubilee celebrations in 1887 when they were asked to play Middlesex at
Kennington Oval on 12 March as a representation of Rugby Football, whilst
Corinthians played
Preston North End as an exposition of Association rules. Lancashire, led by
Edward Temple Gurdon, won by a try, gained by
Vincent Slater (
Salford). In February 1889 it was proposed that the county shall be divided out into five districts (Manchester, Liverpool, South-East Lancashire, West Lancashire, and North Lancashire) each with three representatives, removing club based representation on the committee.
1890–1900 Lancashire won the 1890-91 season of the County Championship, despite the
county championship having been organised by arch-rivals,
Yorkshire. Lancashire won all their games with "not a goal being scored against them in any of the county matches they played". They then played "the Rest of England", on 18 April 1891. In 1891-92 Lancashire were defeated by Yorkshire who therefore wrested the championship of England from Lancashire. At this time, Lancashire County Football Club was made up of a number of clubs, and two sub-unions, West Lancashire Union (formed in 1884) and South-East Lancashire Union (predating the county Rugby Union having been formed in 1877): • Aspull • Askam • Barrow-in- Furness • Blackley Rangers • Blackley • Boothstown •
Broughton •
Broughton Rangers • Bury •
Broughton Park • Crompton • Eccles • Failsworth • Free Wanderers •
Leigh •
Liverpool • Liverpool Old Boys •
Lancaster •
Manchester • Manchester Rangers •
Morecambe • Mossley •
Oldham • Owens College • Pendleton •
Radcliffe •
Rochdale Hornets • Rochdale St. Clements •
Salford • Stalybridge •
St. Helens •
St Helens Recs • South-East Lancashire and Border Towns • Southport •
Swinton • Tottington • Tuebrook •
Tyldesley • Ulverston • Walkden •
Warrington • Werneth • West Lancashire •
Widnes •
Wigan •
Waterloo It was postulated that the comparatively small membership compared to
Yorkshire had its roots in the fact that Yorkshire had a
Challenge Cup, the eligibility for which was based on membership of the county union, whereas in Lancashire there was no equivalent. == Affiliated clubs ==