Editing Stalybridge (section)

==Sport==
[[File:Stalybridge Celtic.gif|thumb|right|[[Wild Bank]] with [[Bower Fold]], the home of [[Stalybridge Celtic F.C.|Stalybridge Celtic]], in the foreground]]
From the end of the 19th century until 1909 the main football team in the town was [[Stalybridge Rovers F.C.|Stalybridge Rovers]]. The club reached the 1st round of the [[FA Cup]] in the 1900/1901 season<ref name="Ref_ak">[https://www.fchd.info/STALYBRR.HTM Football Club History Database – Stalybridge Rovers<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and its players included [[Arthur Wharton]] and [[Herbert Chapman]]. Today the town's team is [[Stalybridge Celtic F.C.|Stalybridge Celtic]], founded 1909.<ref name="Ref_al">{{cite web | url=http://www.stalybridgeceltic.co.uk/index.php | title=Stalybridge Celtic | access-date=24 March 2006}}</ref> They are one of four [[FIFA]]-recognised teams to be called ''Celtic''.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} Usually based in non-league football, they are presently members of the [[Northern Premier League]] Division One West, in the eighth tier of English football.<ref name="Ref_am">{{cite web|url=http://www.footballconference.co.uk/News/FC_Club_Links/1,14306,,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051001000425/http://www.footballconference.co.uk/News/FC_Club_Links/1%2C14306%2C%2C00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 October 2005 |title=Football Conference - Club Links |access-date=27 January 2008 }}</ref>

There are two main cricket clubs in Stalybridge. Stayley C.C. play in Millbrook and are members of the Greater Manchester Cricket League. Stalybridge St Paul's C.C. play on Cheetham Hill Road, Dukinfield on the ground formerly used by the now defunct Stalybridge Cricket Club. They are members of the Cheshire League Pyramid, and for the 2008 season are in the first division of the Cheshire Alliance.<ref name="Manchester 2002"/>

[[File:Stamford Golf Club clubhouse, Oakfield House in Stalybridge, England.jpg|thumb|left|Stamford Golf Club clubhouse, Oakfield House]]
Stamford Golf Club on Huddersfield Road has an 18-hole course. The club was incorporated on Saturday 24 August 1901 and was named after the local landowner the [[Earl of Stamford]]. It is a member of the Cheshire Union of Golf Clubs.<ref name="golf club">[http://www.stamfordgolfclub.co.uk/ Stamford Golf Club – Societies, Visitors and Private Functions WELCOME!!!<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

Priory Tennis Club is situated next to Cheetham's Park on Mottram Road. There are four astroturf courts, all with floodlights. The club is fully affiliated to the [[Cheshire]] branch of the [[Lawn Tennis Association]].<ref name="Ref_an">{{cite web |url=http://priorytennis.net/ |title=Home – priorytennis.co.uk |publisher=Priorytennis.net |access-date=27 March 2012 |archive-date=10 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131010055515/http://priorytennis.net/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The local athletics club is East Cheshire Harriers, founded in 1922 by an amalgamation of Dukinfield Harriers and Tintwistle Harriers. Th club's headquarters were once in Stalybridge but their home is now the Richmond Park Stadium, Ashton-under-Lyne.

A [[snooker]] league is operated by the Stalybridge and District Snooker, Billiards and Whist League, which has been in existence since 1910. The league starts around October each year and runs until May.<ref name="Ref_ap">{{cite web |url=http://www.mymanchesteronline.co.uk/Siteadmin.asp?UserSiteid=1142 |title=Manchester News |work=Manchester Evening News |access-date=27 March 2012 |archive-date=24 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091224075744/http://www.mymanchesteronline.co.uk/siteadmin.asp?UserSiteId=1142 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

There are two [[Bowls|crown green bowling]] clubs in the town. One in Stamford Park and one at Carrbrook village bowling green where there is also a [[pétanque]] terrain.

In 1901 [[Joseph Nuttall|Joey Nuttall]], of Stalybridge, lowered the world swimming record for the quarter-mile by 13&nbsp;seconds, with a time of 5&nbsp;minutes 38&nbsp;seconds. In the same year he asserted his right to the title of the champion swimmer of the world beating three competitors in the {{convert|600|yd|m}} championship race at [[Doncaster]], covering the distance in 6&nbsp;minutes 30&nbsp;seconds to win by a length and a half. His share of the spoil was £10, a cup, and two-thirds of the gate money. By 1901 Nuttall had held the {{convert|500|yd|m}} world championship for over ten years. Stalybridge has a 25-metre 6-lane pool at Copley Recreation Centre which is home to the Stalybridge Amateur Swimming and Water Polo Club.<ref name="Ref_aq">[http://www.stalybridgeswimclub.org.uk/ SASC Homepage<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

In 2006 Stalybridge-born cyclist [[Hamish Haynes]] won the UK National Road Race Championship.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cyclingarchives.com/coureurfiche.php?coureurid=10257#uitslagen|title=Hamish Robert Haynes|publisher=Cycling Archives|language=en|access-date=11 July 2017}}</ref>