New Brighton A.F.C.

Did You Know?

• Sandheys Park was destroyed by Luftwaffe bombing during World War Two, and the site was later requisitioned for housing.
• The 1993 club won the Birkenhead and Wirral League in their first season, then the West Cheshire League Second Division in 2004–05.

History

New Brighton A.F.C. first came together in 1921, rising from the collapse of South Liverpool and taking over that club’s spot in the Lancashire Combination. A local doctor, Tom Martlew, was the chairman. Their home was Sandheys Park on Rake Lane, and that street name is believed to have given them their lasting nickname, the Rakers. Just two years later, they were voted into the Football League’s Third Division North when that division grew to 22 teams.

Between 1924 and 1928, the Rakers placed in the top ten each season, their best showing a third-place finish in 1924–25, five points behind champions Darlington. After 1928, they never cracked the top ten again. They reached the FA Cup fourth round four times: in 1925–26, losing 2–0 to Notts County; in 1927–28, beaten by Port Vale; in 1937–38, under manager WJ Sawyer, losing a replay to Tottenham Hotspur; and in 1956–57, when as a non-League side they knocked out three League clubs before a 9–0 defeat at first-division leaders Burnley.

Sandheys Park was wrecked by a Luftwaffe bombing raid in 1942, so after the war the club moved to the Tower Athletic Ground, once home to New Brighton Tower. The Rakers stayed in the Third Division North until 1951, when they finished last and were voted out, replaced by Workington. In their final league years, manager Neil McBain played in goal for the Rakers at Hartlepools on 15 March 1947, aged 51 years and 120 days, making him the oldest player ever in a Football League match—a record still standing as of June 2018.