Darwen Football Club is a
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club from
Darwen,
Lancashire,
England. The club was formed in 2009 as A.F.C. Darwen, a successor to the original
Darwen club, which had been wound up. They currently play in the and are based at the Anchor Ground.
History
On 22 December 2003
Carlsberg Tetley tried to wind up Darwen Football and Social Club. Although the club, then playing in Division One of the North West Counties League, avoided liquidation on that occasion, another winding up petition was brought by
The Bee radio station on 14 April 2008 in respect of £8,000 owed for advertising. Plans were made for
Blackburn with Darwen
Blackburn with Darwen is a borough and unitary authority area in Lancashire, North West England. It consists of the industrial town of Blackburn and the market town of Darwen including other villages around the two towns.
Formation
It was fou ...
Council to buy the Anchor Ground. However, following two further petitions for liquidation brought by
Thwaites Brewery and
ING Lease UK and their refusal of an offer of 25p in the pound, the 134-year old Darwen Football Club was wound up in the
High Court on 14 May 2009.
Almost immediately, there were plans for a new Darwen football club to be formed. This was achieved before the start of the 2009–10 season, with AFC Darwen created, taking over the Anchor Ground from the dissolved club. However, the new club had to start at step 7 (level 11) of the
football pyramid. They successfully applied for admission to the
West Lancashire League
The West Lancashire Football League is a football competition based in northern England, consisting of five divisions – three for first teams (Premier, One and Two), and two for reserve teams. The league is currently sponsored by Lancaster ...
, and were placed in the Premier Division. After finishing eighth in their first season, they were promoted to Division One of the North West Counties League.
In
2014–15 the club won the Division One Trophy with a 3–1 win over
Atherton Collieries in the final, also finishing third in Division One and qualifying for the promotion play-offs. After beating
Chadderton 2–1 in the semi-finals, they defeated
Hanley Town 5–3 in the final, earning promotion to the Premier Division.
[BIG SATURDAY INTERVIEW: Chairman Wayne Wild reflects on AFC Darwen’s sensational season]
Lancashire Telegraph, 6 June 2015
The 2017–18 season saw AFC Darwen finish bottom of the Premier Division, resulting in relegation to Division One North. In June 2022 the club was renamed Darwen Football Club.
Honours
*North West Counties League
**Division One Trophy winners 2014–15
*Martin Vizzard Memorial Trophy
**Winners 2016
Records
*Best FA Cup performance: Extra-preliminary round, 2015–16, 2016–17[
*Best ]FA Vase
The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...
performance: Third round, 2022–23[
*Record attendance: 982 vs ]Bury AFC
Bury Football Club is an English association football club based in Bury, Greater Manchester, whose team last played in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of English football, in the 2018–19 season. The team are known as "The Shakers", and p ...
, North West Counties League Division One, 9 October 2021Thank You to all who attended yesterday. Your support was massively appreciated
AFC Darwen on Twitter
See also
* Darwen F.C players
* Darwen F.C managers
References
External links
Official website
{{Coord, 53, 42, 42.38, N, 2, 28, 38.25, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title
Football clubs in England
Football clubs in Lancashire
Association football clubs established in 2009
2009 establishments in England
Sport in Blackburn with Darwen
Darwen
West Lancashire Football League
North West Counties Football League clubs