World Cup winners and a record crowd

Sadly, no World Cup winners, nor a record crowd, were present in person when Prescot Cables visited Curzon Ashton at the weekend. Indeed, there was such a downpour about an hour before the game that I thought of calling the ground to see if the pitch was likely to be playable, or whether I was better off staying in the warm, dry Stalybridge Station Buffet.

Curzon Ashton play on the western edge of Ashton-under-Lyne, at the modern Tameside Stadium, part of what is becoming an impressive multi sports complex. In addition to facilities for athletics, cricket and football, a tarmac cycle track has been built since my last visit. The cyclists looked as though they had been riding for some time when I walked to the ground, and, as I left at the end, one of them called to his fellow competitors that they had 29 minutes to go.

The Tameside Stadium has also acquired a new statue outside the main entrance.

These are the three holders of World Cup winners' medals born in Tameside: Jimmy Armfield CBE (England 1966), from Denton, Simone Perrotta (Italy 2006) and Sir Geoff Hurst (England 1966), both from Ashton-under-Lyne.

And the record crowd? That is a more oblique connection, like those six steps to someone famous exercises. Before they moved in to the Tameside Stadium in 2005, Curzon Ashton played at National Park, about half a mile away. Before the Second World War, this was the home of Ashton National, a team linked with, and taking their name from, the National Gas and Oil Engine Company based in the town. In a similar way, Prescot Cables take their name from sponsorship by British Insulated Cables, at the time the largest employer in the town, in 1928.

Prescot's record attendance of 8122 came in a FA Cup preliminary round tie  - against Ashton National in 1932, with many of the Ashton supporters arriving on 4 special trains. A crowd like this was not altogether surprising. Prescot had been runners up in the Lancashire Combination the previous season, and had unsuccessfully applied for election to the Football League. Ashton National had just signed Alec Jackson, a Scottish international, from Chelsea - because Ashton could nearly double his wages, to £15 per week, instead of the Football League maximum wage of £8 per week.

105 people attended the game at the weekend, and pictures can be seen here.