Greatest Moment

1901 – winning the Parish Cup.

Local Hero

Len Norcliffe – veteran club stalwart.

Bizarre Fact

The Memorial Ground was given to the club as a gift following the Great War.

Mumps and Scarlet Fever

John Wesley visited the place in 1759, the Halifax Permanent Building Society opened a Stainland branch in 1855, and in the early twentieth century, villagers succumbed to two nasty epidemics (mumps - 1907; scarlet fever - 1912). These events apart, things have always remained pretty quiet in Stainland.

When one jumps off the bus in the centre of Stainland, one is swiftly acquainted with all the hallmarks of a quintessential Yorkshire village: the parish church, the two public houses, the general store and the charming old fashioned cottages that line the narrow and meandering main street (one actually dates from 1703). And then there's the cricket ground.

Stainland's home patch is set back a few hundred yards from the road, beyond the Red Lion pub, the adjoining car park and the pretty, flower-adorned bowling green that backs onto the cricket ground. There are also swings, slides and tennis courts nearby.

Archetypal Village Venue

The main road feels a long distance away from the cricket field - all that can be heard is the gentle buzz of cars and buses travelling to and from Holywell Green and Sowood. In many ways it is the archetypal village cricket venue: a low, semi-whitewashed dry stone wall at one end, a herd of cows wandering aimlessly in a large adjacent field, and vast swathes of farmland for almost as far as the eye can see.

Almost all the benches round the ground's perimeter are dedicated to friends and followers of the team.
Stainland CC was established in 1884.

For the best part of 40 years, they played at Drury Lane - a venue famous for its bandstand. In 1922, the club received their current ground, on Stainland Road, as a post-war gift. The working men of the village had a new recreation area, and the folk at the British Legion were named as trustees.

Semi-Rural Setting

The Memorial Ground, a peaceful, semi-rural setting, now boasts a spanking new beige-and-green pavilion (which is also utilised by the hardworking bowls players when they are in action).

Club secretary Paul Carter explains: 'Fire ripped down the old building in 1996. In the years that followed we had to decide what to do. The council provided us with some temporary changing facilities and a portakabin to use as a tea room, but we had to think long-term. We applied for Lottery funding with other sports organisations in the village, but all our applications failed.'

In the end, the cricket club decided to go it alone, and by May 2001 a permanent building had been erected and officially opened.

Local Rivals

On matchdays, the new pavilion bustles with activity: sandwich-makers doing their stuff on the first floor, those waiting to bat sitting impatiently on the balcony, and kiddies and their parents playing merrily at the bottom of the pavilion steps.

And a nice symbolic touch: the SCC badge is painted onto the pavilion front - a white rose against a yellow and blue background.

From the middle, one can see the town-centre office blocks of Halifax on the far horizon, the ornate architecture of Stainland church only a few hundred yards away, and Blackley CC's hillside ground in the medium distance. (Stainland players declare that Blackley and Outlane are the two big local rivals; they say the rivalry with Greetland 'is not as intense').

Big and Flat

Stainland have never won the Halifax League, but they did claim the Division 2 title in 1979 and, more recently, in 2002. Their ground is one of the biggest in the Halifax League and very flat.

Carter says there has been a big improvement in recent years: 'In the early 1990s our outfield used to get bad reports. The council was responsible for cutting it, but their people used to leave four-inch tractor marks all over the place. However, in 2002 we bought an outfield mower, and today the playing surface is like a billiard table. Once upon a time a par score on this ground was 180; now it is 200-plus, and that is all because the quality of the outfield has been enhanced. We also hire Fletchers, a local company, to look after our square, and they take good care of it.'

The ground is set back so far from the main road that the first-time visitor may not know it's there at all. So a bit of advice: look out for the pub on the corner and the image of the huge red lion. This particular hostelry looks more than welcoming - ideal for a pre-match pint or a post-match victory drink, or both. And as the blackboard by the pub's entrance states: 'PLAICE, CHIPS, PEAS & SALAD - £2.50'. Not bad at all.