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Blackpool Panthers
Full name	Blackpool Panthers Rugby League Football Club
Founded	1898 or 2004
Location	Lytham St Annes, England
Ground	Woodlands Memorial Ground, Lytham St Annes
Capacity	9000
Chairman	John Chadwick
Coach	Andy Gregory
League	National League 2
2006	12th
Home colours		Away colours

Blackpool Panthers RLFC are a rugby league team based in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire. They play in National League Two. They play at Woodlands Memorial Ground owned by Fylde RUFC.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Blackpool Borough 1.2 Chorley 1.3 Blackpool Panthers 2 2008 Squad 3 Sources 4 External links

A Blackpool club were members of the Northern Union Lancashire Second Competition in 1898/99. The first unsuccessful application for a Blackpool team to join the Rugby League was made by a in December 1950. Blackpool Borough were accepted into the Rugby League for the 1954/55 season.

Blackpool Borough relocated to Springfield Park in April 1987 and became Springfield Borough. Despite good performnces on the field the move was not successful; the club played as Chorley Borough in the 1988-1989 season.

Borough then became 'Trafford Borough' when they moved to Moss Lane, Altrincham (sharing with Altrincham F.C.) for the 1989-90 season. This, however, caused a boardroom split leading to five Blackpool-based directors resigning to form a new club based in Chorley.

The Chorley side were based at Chorley AFC's ground Victory Park. Ironically Chorley's first game was against Trafford Borough in the Lancashire Cup in front of 628 spectators. The record attendance at Victory Park was 2,851 for the visit of Oldham in January 1990. The club became 'Chorley Borough' in the 1991-92 season.

In the 1993 a decision was made that rugby league championship would return to two divisions. The top two Second Division clubs would join the new First Division, and the rest would form the new Second Division, apart from the bottom three clubs Chorley Borough, Blackpool Gladiators and Nottingham City who would be demoted to the National Conference. Chorley regained their status in 1995-96 when they became 'Chorley Chieftains'. They briefly played at Preston North End's Deepdale stadium. In 1996 they dropped the Chieftains moniker; became 'Lancashire Lynx' at the start of 1997 after a short non-playing spell as 'Central Lancashire'.

Lancashire Lynx reached the final of the Anglo-French Treize Tournoi in 1998 and finished top of the Second Division Championship, then at the end of the 1999-2000 season they changed again to 'Chorley Lynx'. In January 2001, Chorley were eliminated in the third round of the Challenge Cup following a 22-8 defeat by National Conference League side Woolston Rovers. It was their 30th straight defeat.[1]

In 2003 they finished second in National League two but head coach Darren Abram left to join Leigh Centurions.

In 2004 Chorley Lynx folded due to poor attendances and the withdrawal of funding by backer Trevor Hemmings. They were losing £1,000 a week with an average crowd of just 434.

Blackpool West Coast Panthers were created in 2005 supposedly as a separate team rather than the continuation of the old Chorley team. They were elected to National league two for the 2005 season. Despite this most of the players were former Chorley players, the coach Mark Lee had been coach of Chorley and most of the supporters were those who had previously followed Chorley. Blackpool agreed an initial two year tenancy of Bloomfield Road.

The original chairman quit before the season started leaving Dave Rowland to shoulder the financial burden. Coach Mark Lee was sacked before the start of the season and Simon Knox was appointed on a 12-month contract. Blackpool struggled on the field finishing second bottom of National League two and failed to make an impact on the Blackpool public. Due to the high cost of renting Bloomfield Road and disappointing attendances Blackpool were due to ground share with Preston Grasshoppers rugby union.

However, the board bought out former major shareholder Dave Rowland's stake in the club and a last minute deal saw them secure the use of Bloomfield Road at a reduced rent. The 2006 season was again a difficult one for Blackpool as they finished bottom of National League two; winning only four games. In June and July three games were played at Fylde RUFC's Woodlands Memorial Ground in Lytham St Annes as Bloomfield Road was being reseeded. The Panthers beat Keighley Cougars and Workington Town and lost to Gateshead Thunder.

In October 2006 a contract was signed for an initial period of six years, covering the seasons 2007-2012. The administrative and commercial base of the Panthers, as well as the National League will move to the Woodlands Memorial Ground.

Andy Gregory took control of Blackpool Panthers in June 2007. Blackpool were bottom of National League Two and had not won for 25 matches.[2]

Gregory resigned after the club finished the entire season without managing a single win, becoming only the fourth British professional rugby league team to have suffered this fate. [3]

	Player	Position	Former Club
	Simon Knox	Prop	Swinton
	Phil Cantillion	Hooker	Rochdale
	Anton Garcia	Centre	Widnes
	Eddie Killgannon	Second Row
	Martin Gambles	Scrum half
	Kris Ratcliffe	Second Row
	Rob Barraclough
	Lee Rowley	Prop
	Danny Barton	Second Row	Swinton
	Gareth Jones
	Jon Chamberlain	Second Row
	Luke Murfin		Warrington
	Mark Leigh	Wing	Leigh
	Neil Haydon	Srum half
	Chris Ramsdale
	Richard Rafferty	Second Row
	Safraz Jama	Hooker
	Chris Brand		Orrell
	Steve Brown	Utility Back
	Chris Maye		Oldham
	Ian Perry	Prop
	Daniel Palmer		London Skolars
	Deon Duel
	Rob Lamb	Prop	Widnes

• http://members.tripod.com/peterflower/table.htm
• The history of Blackpool Borough

• New Official Home Page
• Fan site
• Blackpool rugby league supporters' club
• Blackpool Panthers forum on rlfans.com

v • d • e Rugby League National Leagues - National League Two
Barrow Raiders | Blackpool Panthers | Doncaster RLFC | Gateshead Thunder | Hunslet Hawks | Keighley Cougars | London Skolars | Oldham Roughyeds | Rochdale Hornets | Swinton Lions | Workington Town | York City Knights
See also: Rugby League Championship Third Division

v • d • e Rugby league in Britain and Ireland
Competitions	Super League · National League · Challenge Cup · National League Cup · National Conference League · CMS Yorkshire league · North West Counties · Pennine League · Cumberland League · Hull & District League · Barrow & District League · Rugby League Conference · Midlands Merit League · London League
National teams	Great Britain · England · Ireland · Scotland · Wales
Federations	RFL · BARLA · Rugby League Ireland · Wales Rugby League · Scotland Rugby League
Former competitions	Championship · Premiership · Lancs/Yorks Cups · Lancs/Yorks League Regal Trophy · Charity Shield · BBC2 Floodlit Trophy