North End were a cricket club, who played at Moor Park and took out a lease from the Earl of Derby in 1875, on a piece of ground at Deepdale, that was formerly a farm. The club originally played cricket at Deepdale as Preston North End Cricket Club and from 1878 they played football during winter to keep fit. The club switched solely to football in 1880 and the club became known as Preston North End FC.
The Preston Amateur Athletic Festival festival was held intermittently for the next five years until Preston Gymnastic and Athletic and Preston North End Cricket clubs jointly organised the event from 1876. For the Festival that was held at Deepdale on 29th July 1876, a large grandstand was erected and two refreshment booths, the quarter mile course was railed off and 5,000 spectators attended the meeting. There was a two miles bicycle race with four competitors, Dan Dixon of Manchester and Arthur Smith of Hulme pulled away and passed and re-passed each other until Smith won the sprint in 9 min 48 sec.
Bicycle racing was very popular in Preston in the 1880s and 90s and the Amateur Athletics Festival became the main annual event at Deepdale until 1910, attracting good quality fields and the meetings always had very large crowds, usually over 5,000. The popularity of the ground was helped by the electric tramcar service running to Deepdale that replaced the town's horse drawn trams. There were other bicycle race meetings at this time, taking place at Preston Pleasure Gardens, Preston Cricket Club and West Cliff.
The two day Amateur Athletics Festival held on 7th September 1882 had a ‘large and varied program' was watched by a crowd of 8,000 on the first day. There were one and three miles open handicap bicycle races, but main event was the two miles Hermon Challenge Cup, value 50 guineas, which was won by JT Ward of West Manchester BC in 17 min 3 sec. The cup was donated by Sydney Hermon, President of the Festival and could be won outright by two successive victories or three times in all.
At the Festival Sports on 15th August 1885, which was held in brilliant weather, there were over 9,000 paying spectators and the six laps to the mile grass track was in "fine condition". The great. Event of the day was he two miles Hermon Challenge Cup, which was won by local champion Sanders Sellars of Preston CC by three lengths in 6 min 46 sec. Sellars had won the cup for the second consecutive time, which made the handsome trophy his own property. The cup was not replaced.
The 14th Preston Amateur Athletic Association sports were held at Deepdale on 13th August 1887 with an attendance of 8,000. The Preston Herald reported "The ground had been carefully prepared for the occasion and the Corporation steam roller had been employed to make the grass track as firm and in as good condition as possible." Two miles scratch race for the North End Challenge Cup, value 50 guineas, was won by FF Sharpe from H Synyer by a foot. The one mile local scratch race on roadster machines, for the 20 guinea Sudell and Woods Challenge cup# was won for the second consecutive time by John Nowell of Preston CC (see photo). Nowell went on to win this race again the following year, to make the cup his own property.
The last bicycle racing at Deepdale was the Preston North End FC Annual Sports meeting on 20th August 1910, at which the bicycle events were half and one mile handicap races. First prize for both events was £6 and race entry cost 1/6d.
Preston North End still play at Deepdale and the stadium was completely re-developed after 2000. Tom Finney was the most famous PNE player and there is a statue of him in action, outside the ground.
* There were mixed reports in the press about the location of the festival, as both Preston Marsh and Winckley Meadow were reported as festival locations. The festival was also reported to have been held for some years on the same site as used by Preston Agricultural Society.
# William Sudell was chairman of PNE and played a part in establishing professional football with the FA in 1885. He was also vice-president of Preston BC. John Woods was treasurer of PNE and a vice-president of Preston BC.