Colne Cricket Club

In the years following the club attracted crowds in the thousands and began charging for admission, employing two full-time professionals.

The early 20th century saw success for Colne, winning the league in 1902, 1905 and 1910 and finishing second on three further occasions, losing a 1903 title play-off to local rivals Nelson.

[5] When the league resumed after the First World War Colne found little success, though the club did twice win the Worsley Cup in 1919 and 1924.

He was seen as a rival to Nelson's Learie Constantine and his arrival caused the club's gate receipts and membership to double.

He went on to play for Blackpool and joined Somerset CCC at 38 Years of age setting records there and being the last player to score 3000 runs in a season, retiring at 49 to umpire at Test level.

Learie Constantine, Everton Weekes, Clyde Walcott, Lance Gibbs, Charlie Griffiths, Wesley Hall and Ray Lindwall are just a few who would visit Horsfield.

In 1959, an inexperienced Colne team completed the League and Cup double with a Celonese (Sri Lankan) professional Stanley Jayasinghe, who outscored Everton Weekes to 1000 runs.

Financial stability enabled Colne to employ better professionals including Ben Johnson who scored a league record 1,716 runs in the 1996 season.

Despite being favourites to finish bottom of the second division, Colne defied all odds to be crowned champions on the last day at Enfield.