ST. CUTHBERTS HISTORY
St. CUTHBERTS ARLFC entered the Northwest Counties League Division 3 in 1974,They were promptly promoted as runners up the following year,Players of note in the first Cuthberts team were the late Ian Hunter, and John Mason, Many other players went on to give the club many years of sterling service including Keith Ashall. Stey Johnson, John Derbyshire, Frank Hughes,John Swann, Jimmy Seddon,Malc Mannion, and Jimmy Woodcock. Harold Swann, Cyrill Coleman, and Vinny Finch, Helped the team keep ticking over, and Warrington*s Wembley winner Tommy Conroy held the coaching reigns. Over the years the Swann brothers John, Kevin, Malc, and Chris, And the derbyshire brothers John, and Allan, Served the club well, Malc Swann went on to play for Leigh, And Wakefield Trinity, And played along side the Legendary Wally Lewis, Allan Derbyshire Captained Swinton, And went on to give the Lions many years good service. Tommy Highton returned to the club from Swinton, Off the field Tommy was one of the nicest bloke you would likely to meet, On it he was the toughest, And hardest tacklers i have ever seen, He once dispatched 3 Rylands forwards in 20 minutes, Who had the audacity to run striaght at Tommy, And all the tackles were legitimate!
Yet another Swinton player Les Bolton arrived at the club in the eighties, Les a top pro, Who also played for Wigan, Brought a professional attitude to the Club, And took the team to the Premier Divison of the North West Counties. The nineties was probably the Clubs most successful period, As well as a very strong 1st team, we had a second team who could compete with any team on the day. And that was perfectly demonstrated, When the Cuthbert*s accounted for, the highly fancied Premier Divison outfit Rose Bridge in the Ken Gee cup. The coaches at the time were John Swann and John Boyd, The second team lads went on to be the 1st St. Cuthberts team to appear in a Ken Gee Cup Final, At the old Central Park, Thats were the fairy tale ended, as they was over run by a very youthful St Pats team. However the Cuthberts 1st team made amends the following year when they lifted the Ken Gee Cup, For the first time with a memorable win over St Pats, The following year they retained the trophy with a tremendous victory over St Judes, Peter Saunders and John Duffy were the top preformers of the day. Peter Saunders went on to represent BARLA, The only Cuthberts player to date to do so. The Cuthberts went on to win the Ken Gee again in 1998, When Malc Swann was the coach. The following years proved to be a transitional period, But the junior section which was formed by Tony Sykes, Paul Mitchell, and Peter Hampson in 1990, Was begining to bear fruit, With a trickle of our own players, Developing to our under 18s & Open Age. The present Open Age is the Youngest in the Clubs history, and coaches John Duffy, and Shaun Meehan have done a excellent job, In achieving Premier Division status. The young team are led by a sprinkling of experienced players, None more so than Steve Hunt who as amassed more than 300 appearences for the club, Captain Dean Byrom, Warren Molloy and Darren Speakman. The secretary of the Open Age who started playing for the club when he was 16yrs old, Almost 27 years ago is Paul Hewitt, Who still displays the same enthusiasm in his secretarial role as he did when he was a player. St. Cuthberts has a long and proud history of producing rugby league teams going as far back as the 1940s, And are the second oldest Club in Wigan.