A FOOTBALLING family from Blackburn has scored more than a century of fixtures.

Several generations of the Byrom family have hit the back of the net since 1914.

It all started with Tommy Byrom, an inside right, who played for the Rovers four times in the 1914/15 season and scored two goals.

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He also played one game while in the Army in 1916/17 and went on to make a further 12 appearances over the next three years.

His brothers, Albert, who was a right winger and Robert, a left winger, also both played for Rovers during the 1916/17 season.

Albert took to the field 11 times in all competitions, scoring once, with Robert also getting in on the goal action, as he did again in the 1918/19 season.

William Byrom, a full back, was also on the books as a professional at Burnley and Queen’s Park Rangers and played 30 times for Rochdale just after the Second World War.

Winger, Raymond Byrom played for Accrington Stanley nine times in 1957/58 and over the next two years made 70 appearances for Bradford Park Avenue.

His son Alan, was a professional at Preston North End before being released by the then manager, Nobby Stiles, without making a first team appearance in 1977.

Robert’s great grandson, David John Byrom, a full back, played at Stockport County in the 1984 season.

The best known footballer in the Byrom family is John, who played 106 times, plus two substitute appearances, for Blackburn Rovers, in the 1960s, scoring 45 goals.

An England youth international, he retired in 1976.

John Byrom was the first substitute to be used by Blackburn Rovers when subs were first introduced into the game in 1965/66, and the following week he became the first goal scoring substitute for the club in a 4-2 win over Newcastle United.

Alan’s son Joel, who is currently playing for Northampton Town, completes this footballing family tree.

Starting his career with Rovers, he spent four-and-a-half years on the club’s books, progressing from their centre of excellence to the reserve team.

Released in 2006, he joined Accrington Stanley, before moving to Clitheroe on a short-term basis.

Over a hundred-year period from Tommy Byrom, nine members of the Byrom family have played professional football; a record to be proud of!

This local footballing family also had a relative who fought at the Battle of Waterloo: one Henry Byrom, whose story has already been told by Bygones.

Thanks for research by Blackburn community history volunteer Jeffrey Booth, who had considerable help from John Byrom.

Read the full version at www.cottontown.org.