WHEN a gang of rugby playing mates got together to form a football team little did they know what they were about to create.

That was back in 1970 and next month Crooklands Casuals will celebrate their 45th anniversary in some style at their Longlands Park home.

 Founder members and past players of Cassies are  invited to attend the team's first West Lancs Premier League clash of the season against visiting Charnock Richard  to share memories among themselves and the new generation of players.

Cassies have moved a long way since the club began playing Sunday League football on a  notorious Barnfield   ground which they shared with Dalton Town.

Today  the club   boasts nine junior and two senior teams,  but a lot of their good fortune was  achieved by a dedicated few who gave them the solid foundation to build on.

The biggest   problem for the club  - named after Crooklands Brow, where the lads played rugby, and Casuals after the old Dalton Casuals team - at the start was finance. But this was resolved by  a rummage sale. 

Roy Twiname and  Brian Pickthall  pushed a borrowed pram around Dalton for several nights collecting junk which raised the grand total of £36 - the   league fees.

The first strip came was from a Dalton factory team  which made underwear and they were ready for action.

Prop forwards like Jack Beardsworth  went in goal and the three  permitted Saturday league players allowed to play for them in the Sunday League included Alan Postlethwaite.

Derek Clinton, who went on to become a club stalwart, was quickly signed from under the nose of his dad Cyril who ran Dalton Town. 

On the pitch Crooklands  were pretty successful from the the start.

Off it both teams got changed in Pickthall's garage in nearby Leece Drive. Later the Cassies dressing room was  a windowless garage. As  for the opposition, they had to change at the back of it. Suffice it to say nobody looked forward to visiting the Cassies.

Around that  time a decision was made to go on tour - the players  paid £19 each -  and in 1973 Cassies  headed to Ostend, Belguim, playing a side there and   later   faced  a team in Lille, France, where around  2,000 watched the game. 

Back on the domestic front, Crooklands  were going from strength to strength. 

They had recruited well, blending established soccer players with rugby players who could play football such as Trevor Birkby, Dave Grainger, Brian Coward and Graham Standing. 

This led to Cassies being one of the top Sunday League teams winning leagues and cups. 

By now it had become obvious that Barnfield was no longer an advantage, so a decision was made to find a new pitch  - not easy in hilly Dalton. 

Twiname came up trumps again, convincing a local farmer to sell  a field that became known as Longlands Park. 

The tricky bit was getting planning consent for change of use but after going through masses of red tape the application was eventually granted.

The next step was to install decent changing facilities and everybody pitched in to produce the current building.

By now Cassies had outgrown just Sunday League football but a suggestion by Twiname to create the Furness Premier League took off and Cassies became founding members, until the moved into the West Lancs League structure.

Roy Twiname, Brian Pickthall, John Ennis and Kenny Armisted  were instrumental in the beginning and the decison to wear current strip of orange and black came about from the late Derek Winward.

Twiname said: "There were a lot of people involved in the early days, we all worked hard, nothing was too much for anybody, they were a good set of lads.

"We are very proud of what we have done, that the club has gone forward.  I see them walking down the street with their tracksuit tops and their badges, and I think we've given them that chance to be in that position."

Twiname will be heading to Longlands for the match against Charnock Richard and no doubt he will have a lot of catching up to do with his old friends.

Looking ahead to  the upcoming celebrations and the match against last season's champions  Cassies secretary Barbara Mansergh - mother of top marksman Dave - said: "We didn't want to wait until the 50th, we thought we should celebrate now. It has just snowballed. 

"Without the work and commitment of our founder members this game would not be taking place."