Founded in 1833, Bootle CC can proudly claim to have been at the heart of the local community for the past 184 years. For the first half-century of its existence the club played at a ground on Irlam Road which was owned by the Earl of Derby. During the late 19th century what had been predominantly a residential area now became increasingly industrialized with the development of the Mersey docks and in July 1882 the club was given notice to quit. A site on Hawthorne Road was offered at a peppercorn rent and this is where Firwood Bootle CC (FBCC) now plays.
No club records exist prior to 1882 and the earliest reference to a match being played talks of Bootle taking on the newly formed Birkenhead Park club in 1846. Evidence also exists of three other notable games that took place in those early years. In 1865 a match was staged against an All England XI, which Bootle lost having been bowled out for 58. Three years later there was an historic fixture against an Aboriginal XI (the first Australian team to visit Britain), which the tourists won by 154 runs. Then in 1876 a South of England XI, which included W.G. Grace, opposed the men of Bootle, who again came off second best.
Recreational cricket on Merseyside became standardized only in 1949, and Bootle was proclaimed champions in each of the first two seasons. Since then the club has, in terms of honors won, become the most successful in the Merseyside conurbation with a total of fifteen league championships, seven- teen Liverpool Competition Knockout Cups, seven Lancashire Cups and ten Liverpool Echo Challenge Cups. The word FIRWOOD was incorporated into the club’s name in the mid-1990s soon after Mr Peter Booth became president and offered a generous sponsorship package from his company and today the club is officially called Firwood Bootle Cricket Club.
The three decades from 1984 onwards – mostly under the inspirational captaincy of Ian Cockbain – have been the most glittering in the club’s proud his- tory. Many of these successes have been achieved with locally sourced players, and FBCC has one of the best youth sections in the area, with teams at under-9, under-11, under-13 and under-15 levels who enjoy the benefit of our indoor and outdoor netting facilities and well qualified coaches. In this way we are not only filling a void left by the almost complete absence of cricket opportunities offered in local schools but also, hopefully, nurturing young talent which will carry on the success of the club for many years to come.
