Sunday 30th August 2026 ko 11:00

West Lancashire League Division One

STONECLOUGH 3 (Greenhalgh 14 Howlin 36 80)

Bentley sent off 67 (2nd booking)

CHIPPING 2 (Edmundson 10 Hewitt 74)

Att 324

Entry £5

Programme £1

The third day of the West Lancashire Hop saw us stay in Bolton’s envirions, but of all the games on this year’s event the one I was most looking forward to was Stoneclough, and for the oddest of reasons. Put simply the ground is a star of Netflix!

The 2020 historical drama “The English Game” was a part-fictionalised look at the roots of English club football in the 1870’s. Much of the plot is around the two Scottish “imports” Fergus Suter and Jimmy Love to played initially for Darwen, then Blackburn so a suitable ground was need to represent Blackburn in the 19th century. Fox Park was chosen and the wooden enclosures you see today were constructed by Netflix and donated to Stoneclough when filming was completed.

The series is excellent, even if it does stretch the truth more than a little, the plot seems to merge the two Blackburn clubs, Rovers and Olympic and Love and Suter didn’t join Darwen together. I’d also suggest that since a lot of the plot is about two Scottish players introducing the passing game to the English League, it could have easily been called “The Scottish Game.” The series is still available to view.

You can see why Netflix chose Fox Park, with the terraced houses and the tree-lined pitch. It is tucked away and space does come at a premium- we were all told to park at a nearby industrial estate. Once in the ground, the club had to work hard to make the space work for them. Additional toilets were brought in, and barriers erected to allow the club to take a gate and sell merchandise. That it worked well should reflect highly on all at Stoneclough, and those Netflix buildings certainly earned their keep!

We got a good game too with both sides leading, before Stoneclough deservedly took all the points. I’m sure Lord Kinnaird would have been proud!