DYNAMISM, a word familiar to followers of Colne football, will be needed by the ladleful if the town is to re-create its glory days of the recent past.

A committed group of Colne individuals are anxious to prove they have sufficient quantities of the stuff.

This week in a smoke-filled room in The Commercial Pub, evoking images of the origins of association football, they were considering proposals for financing this ambitious plan.

Their intentions were made expressly clear.

"We want to establish a town team for Colne which local people can support and be proud of," said David Blacklock, chairman of the newly-formed Colne FC.

"Since the collapse of Colne Dynamoes there has been a void.

"There is no team that the entire town can support and unite behind.

"We are seeking to fill that void by forming a team that can be successful and hopefully put Colne back on the footballing map.

"But we are under no illusions about the enormity of that task."

That task is hardly made easier by the sheer scale of Dynamoes' triumphs during the 1980s.

Colne Dynamoes was not so much a football team as a phenomenon, an institution whose meteoric rise threatened even the long-established foundations of Burnley FC.

Any expectations Colne FC may hold of equalling these successes will have to be matched by a broad grasp of everyday reality.

Encouragingly, this seems to be the case. "Don't think too much of Colne Dynamoes, don't think people will come to us on the back of them," cautioned a prudent voice.

"That would be a mistake.

"We've got to get a team going before people will come."

The point was taken on board by Blacklock.

"No-one here is of the mind this will be easy," he said.

"We're not guaranteed success.

"When we put our team out we can't be assured of not getting stuffed!"

Blacklock's resolve, however, is not weakened by this possibility.

A broad-shouldered man with an expression that suggests he might sometimes need more than words to dissuade him once he sets his sights, Blacklock feels strongly about this venture.

Born and bred in Colne, he believes that the border town needs a football team in which the locals can readily identify.

A builder by trade, he worked for Dynamoes' former owner "Chalky" White and was a regular on the Holt House terraces on Saturday afternoons.

Naturally, memories of the side's exploits in the FA Vase, culminating in victory at Wembley, are vivid, especially the day he "saw more 'Colners' in London than he had ever seen in Colne!" He maintains that "Colners" are very proud of their Lancastrian origins, no doubt a legacy of the cotton mill era and the town's position on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border.

Formed out of the former Rock Rovers and other interested parties, Colne FC has still to gather a team capable of performing in the North West Counties.

But a manager, who is well-respected in football at this level, has already been pencilled in for next season.

The club has been negotiating with Pendle Leisure Services about improvements to Colne Dynamoes' stadium, where Rock Rovers currently play. "It is by no means a revival of Colne Dynamoes, although comparisons will be drawn," said Blacklock.

"These are early stages though and much hard work needs to be done.

"But that's something we're prepared for."

It is essential that the people of Colne are prepared for it too.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.