Barrow A.F.C.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Barrow | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Barrow Association Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | The Bluebirds, Furness | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1901 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Holker Street Barrow-in-Furness |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity | 4,500 (1,000 seated) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Brian Keen |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager | Phil Wilson |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | Conference North | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | Conference North, 14th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Barrow A.F.C. are a football team based in the town of Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, England.
The team are known by their fans as "The Bluebirds", owing to their blue and white kit. Attendances vary - the record of 16,874 was set against Swansea City in the FA Cup Third Round in 1954 - but during the 1990s and 2000s the average has remained consistently between 1,000 and 1,100.
[edit] History
Barrow were founded in 1901 and played at various grounds before moving to their current stadium, Holker Street, in 1909. After early years spent in regional leagues, the club became founder members of the Football League Third Division North in 1921.
Barrow remained in the lowest tier of the Football League pyramid for all but three seasons. During this time, they remained relatively obscure, only occasionally coming to national attention. Their F.A. Cup Third Round game against the then Football League champions Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 1958-59 season is particularly notable.
In 1972, Barrow were voted out of the Football League and joined the Northern Premier League. They later became founder members of the Football Conference, the only national division in non-league football. After this, Barrow spent periods of time in both the Football Conference and the Northern Premier League.
In 1990 they won their most prestigious competition, the FA Trophy, beating Leek Town 3-0 in the final at Wembley Stadium, London.
Notably, in 1998, the club entered financial difficulties following the departure of Liverpool based chairman Steven Vaughan. In January 1999, the club were the subject of a compulsory winding up order and a liquidator was appointed to run the club whilst trying to establish who the legal owner of the Holker Street ground was. A new members company was formed with the aim of providing financial support to the club and with the long term intention of taking over the running of the football club. In the summer of 1999 the club were thrown out of the Football Conference. After a long dispute and thanks to the support of the Football Association, Barrow were allowed entrance into the Northern Premier League for the 1999-2000 season, almost a month after it had commenced. This reduced time in which to play their fixtures led to the scheduling of Barrow v Winsford United on December 30, 1999, recognised as the last professional or semi-professional game in the UK of the millennium (assuming the year 2000 is considered to be part of the third millennium AD). The legal disputes over the ownership of Holker Street were finally resolved in August 2002 and the new members company bought the Holker St Stadium from the liquidator. In 2003 the Football Association finally allowed the 'football membership' to be transferred to the new company.
In 2004-2005, Barrow AFC became founder members of yet another division, this time the Conference North, which falls between the Conference National and the Northern Premier League Premier Division.
On the 11th January 2007 Barrow player James Cotterill became the first player in recent history in England to be jailed for an offence on the pitch, after he punched Bristol Rovers striker Sean Rigg during an FA Cup first round match on 11 November last year. Cotterill was jailed for four months.[1]
[edit] Honours
- Lancashire Combination Division Two - runners up (2) 1904/05, 1910/11
- Lancashire Combination Division One - champions (1) 1920/21; - runners up (1) 1913/14
- Northern Premier League - champions (3) 1983/84, 1987/89, 1997/98 - runners up (1) 2002/03
- FA Trophy - winners (1) 1989/90
[edit] External links
- Supporters Association website that claims to be the oldest non-league website in England
- Official website
| Conference North 2006/07 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Alfreton Town | Barrow | Blyth Spartans | Droylsden | Farsley Celtic | Gainsborough Trinity | Harrogate Town | Hinckley United | Hucknall Town | Hyde United | Kettering Town | Lancaster City | Leigh RMI | Moor Green | Nuneaton Borough | Redditch United | Scarborough | Stalybridge Celtic | Vauxhall Motors | Worcester City | Workington | Worksop Town edit |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
