Hebden Bridge Saints Junior Football Club
In April 1984 the Hebden Bridge Times announced that there would be a meeting at the Council Offices to discuss the setting up of the first junior football club in the town, and everyone interested was invited to attend. Peter Horne, who had previously coached and managed junior teams in Hampshire and Sussex, had discussed the setting up of such a club with Dennis Wilkinson whose son Daniel aged 11 was a promising player. Only four people attended that first meeting, Peter, Dennis, Councillor Chris O'Brien and Peter Devine, but it was decided to proceed with the project, and the Club duly entered Under 12s (managed by Dennis) and Under 14s (managed by Peter) in the Halifax Junior League. Barry Harrison came on board during that first season 1984-85 to play an important committee role for many years. Peter was a lifelong Southampton fan, having been brought up in the city (although proud of his Yorkshire roots having been born in Batley) and there was no opposition to his suggestion that the name of the Club should be Hebden Bridge Saints. It was decided not to have red and white stripes as another club in the League (St Mary's) had those colours, so again Peter came up with black and white stripes as no other team in the League had them, and also he recalled that in his time living and coaching in Sussex the most feared team was Henfield who wore the famous black and white. Also Dennis and Barry had links with Newcastle, so it was a popular choice. The club logo of the ball in the goal was "borrowed" from the now defunct Horsham and District Mini Minor League whose Representative Teams Peter had managed. In its first season the U12s played at Stubb Playing Field and the U14s at Calder Holmes. Many of the players had not played organised football before but both teams finished near the top of their Leagues; the following season they both won their Leagues! At the end of that first season 1984-85 the Under 12s were invited to go on tour to Aachen, Halifax's twin town in Germany, together with Halifax Town's youth team. They were the first English team to travel to Europe since the Heysel Stadium tragedy a few weeks before, and the front page of the Hebden Bridge Times recorded this fact in their main banner headline the following week. That of course was the start of many HB Saints' Tours to Europe, Holland many times, plus visits to Warstein, St Pol, and Strakonice. The early nineties saw Margaret Blakely coming on board and importantly overseeing the introduction of Mini Soccer and Girls Football. HB Saints were amongst the first to organise mini soccer teams and set up the Luddenden Dene Saturday morning club, whilst they were pioneers too in promoting girls football and entering girls football leagues. Peter returned to Southampton in 2002 where he works as a coach for Southampton FC. Hebden Bridge Saints continues to go from strength to strength! - Peter Horne.
