BRILLIANT BRONTE PIP WEDNESDAY TO PROMOTION
As the WFA’s Division One North kicked off its first season on 15th September 1991, a statement of intent by Bronte FC was a warning to the division’s seven other clubs of their overriding goal for the campaign ahead.
In their programme notes for that day’s historic opening fixture against Derbyshire team Spondon, the Bradford based side’s determined approach was summed up with the bold words: “Our aim is to qualify for the Premier Division at the first attempt!”
And with key players such as double international and captain Clare Taylor in their ranks, Bronte fulfilled their ambition as they went on to become champions after suffering only one defeat in the league season and with a three-point gap above runners-up Sheffield Wednesday.
The league title was claimed with a victory over Wednesday at their parent club’s Hillsborough stadium in the final match of the campaign for each team.
Skipper Taylor, reflecting on her team’s season after years of playing in the North West Regional League, said: “We’d done well in the Regional League but weren’t sure we were ready for the challenge of the National league.
“The good thing about it was we were playing different teams. We’d got to know all the teams in the North West League and we knew all the best players we had to face, so it was nice to play in a different environment.
“We thought that travelling to games in a much wider area might be a problem, but it was a case of jump on the bandwagon or just stay where you were and then it would have been ‘same old, same old.’
“The key once the league started was continuing to play the way we played. There was no scouting of opposition teams, we didn’t know much about any of them, so we just concentrated on ourselves and what we wanted to achieve rather than worrying about the teams we were going to be playing.”
Ironically in the close season following that Bronte triumph and with it, promotion, Taylor – who had been with the club since joining as an 11-year-old – left to sign for a Knowsley United (later Liverpool) team who were already in the top flight and had finished fourth in the opening campaign.
“I’d been at the club for such a long time and it had got to the point where I wasn’t enjoying it anymore,” said Taylor, who in the following year was to make the unprecedented dual achievement of playing in a football Cup final at Wembley and – for England – in a cricket World Cup final at Lord’s.
Meanwhile, and also in the 1991-92 close season, Spondon amalgamated with Premier Division club Notts Rangers to become Stanton Rangers and prepared themselves to kick off the 1992-93 campaign in a top flight that was set – like the Northern and Southern Divisions – to be expanded from eight to 10 teams.
FINAL TABLE
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bronte | 14 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 49 | 8 | 25 | +41 |
| 2 | Sheffield Wednesday | 14 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 34 | 8 | 22 | +26 |
| 3 | Davies Argyle | 13 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 27 | 19 | 17* | +8 |
| 4 | Wolverhampton | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 23 | 30 | 12 | -7 |
| 5 | Spondon | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 23 | 31 | 11 | -8 |
| 6 | Sunderland | 13 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 18 | 40 | 11 | -22 |
| 7 | Cowgate Kestrels | 14 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 19 | 20 | 10 | -1 |
| 8 | Villa Aztecs | 14 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 8 | 45 | 2 | -37 |
*Davies Argyle deducted two points for missing a fixture, away to Sunderland who were awarded the points.
WFA NATIONAL LEAGUE DIVISION ONE NORTH RESULTS 1991-92
15/9/1991
Bronte 2-3 Spondon
Davies Argyle 3-1 Villa Aztecs
Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Cowgate Kestrels
Sunderland 2-3 Wolverhampton
29/9/1991
Cowgate Kestrels 0-1 Bronte
Spondon 1-1 Sunderland
Villa Aztecs 1-2 Sheffield Wednesday
13/10/1991
Bronte 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday
Davies Argyle 3-0 Spondon
Sunderland 0-1 Cowgate Kestrels
Wolverhampton 4-1 Villa Aztecs
20/10/1991
Cowgate Kestrels 0-1 Davies Argyle
Spondon 1-1 Wolverhampton
Sheffield Wednesday 5-0 Sunderland
Villa Aztecs 0-3 Bronte
3/11/1991
Wolverhampton 0-2 Davies Argyle
10/11/1991
Davies Argyle 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday
Spondon 5-1 Villa Aztecs
Sunderland 0-4 Bronte
Wolverhampton 4-2 Cowgate Kestrels
17/11/1991
Bronte 4-0 Davies Argyle
Cowgate Kestrels 2-1 Spondon
Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Wolverhampton
Villa Aztecs 0-1 Sunderland
1/12/1991
Cowgate Kestrels 4-0 Villa Aztecs
8/12/1991
Cowgate Kestrels 0-2 Sheffield Wednesday
Villa Aztecs 1-5 Davies Argyle
Wolverhampton 5-1 Sunderland
15/12/1991
Bronte 4-2 Cowgate Kestrels
Sunderland 5-3 Spondon
5/1/1992
Spondon 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday
Wolverhampton 0-3 Bronte
12/1/1992
Cowgate Kestrels 0-1 Sunderland
19/1/1992
Bronte 3-0 Villa Aztecs
Sunderland 0-3 Sheffield Wednesday
Wolverhampton 3-3 Spondon
2/2/1992
Bronte 11-0 Sunderland
Cowgate Kestrels 2-1 Wolverhampton
Sheffield Wednesday 5-0 Davies Argyle
9/2/1992
Davies Argyle 0-5 Bronte
Sunderland 6-0 Villa Aztecs
Wolverhampton 0-5 Sheffield Wednesday
16/2/1992
Bronte 2-0 Wolverhampton
Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 Spondon
Villa Aztecs 0-4 Cowgate Kestrels
23/2/1992
Villa Aztecs 2-0 Spondon
1/3/1992
Davies Argyle 4-1 Sunderland
2/3/1992
Wolverhampton 2-1 Villa Aztecs
15/3/1992
Davies Argyle 2-1 Cowgate Kestrels
Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 Villa Aztecs
Spondon 1-4 Bronte
29/3/1992
Davies Argyle 3-0 Wolverhampton
Sheffield Wednesday 1-2 Bronte
Spondon 2-1 Cowgate Kestrels
12/4/1992
Spondon 0-3 Davies Argyle
