Burnley - Sport

Sport

The town's sporting scene is dominated by Burnley Football Club, founded in 1882. The club has played its home matches at Turf Moor since 1883, where attendance currently averages 20,000. The club is very well supported in the town, and holds the record for the highest ratio of match attendance to town population in the country. It was one of the 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is one of only three English league clubs to have been champions of all four professional league divisions (along with Wolves and Preston). Nicknamed the Clarets, they played the 2009/10 season in the Premier League, 33 years since they last played in the top flight of English football, and 50 years since they won it (List of English football champions). Burnley's current manager, Sean Dyche, is one of the up and coming managers in the Football League, after joining in November 2012.

There are two members of the Lancashire Cricket League in the town. Burnley Cricket Club play their home matches at Turf Moor, their ground being adjacent to the football ground, while Lowerhouse Cricket Club play at Liverpool Road. The Burnley-born England Cricketer James Anderson started his career at Burnley Cricket Club.

Burnley is also home to Burnley Rugby Club (formerly Calder Vale Rugby Club 1926–2001). They field three senior sides, with teams at most junior age groups, and play at Holden Road, the site of Belvedere and Calder Vale Sports Club.

Burnley briefly had a speedway team in 1929 at Towneley Stadium, but withdrew from competition in mid-season, never to be seen again.

Burnley has good public sporting facilities for a town of its size. The £29m St Peter's Centre (opened in 2006) offers swimming, squash courts and a fitness suite, while the nearby Spirit of Sport complex includes a large sports hall, and several indoor courts and outdoor synthetic pitches. There is an outdoor athletics track at Barden Lane, where the Burnley Athletic Club meets. For golfers, there are both 9-hole and 18-hole municipal golf courses at Towneley Park, along with an 18-hole pitch and putt course. Burnley Golf Club have a private course, established in 1905 above the town in Habergham Eaves. There are tennis courts at Towneley Park, and at the Burnley Lawn Tennis Club, as well as eleven bowling greens around the town, and a £235,000 skate park at Queens Park, which opened in 2003. There are also basketball, caving and judo clubs in the town. In 2001, the private Crow Wood centre was established in countryside on the edge of the town, offering a combination of spa and fitness facilities, and racquet and equestrian sports.