Heanor Town Football Club is a football club based in

Heanor Heanor (/ˈhiːnə/) is a town in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire in the East Midlands of England. It lies north-east of Derby and forms, with the adjacent village of Loscoe, the civil parish and town council-administered area of He ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Town Ground.

History

The club was established in 1883 in a meeting at the Rays Arms Hotel.History
Heanor Town F.C. In 1890 they were founder members of the Midland Amateur Alliance. The club reached the first round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

in 1891–92, losing 4–1 at Aston Villa. When the league folded in 1893 they joined the Derbyshire Senior League, winning it at the first attempt,Derbyshire Senior League 1890–1938
Non-League Matters also reaching the first round of the FA Cup again, this tie losing 1–0 at

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. The club then moved up to the

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History T ...

, where they played for three seasons, with another FA Cup first round appearance in 1896–97 ending with a 1–0 defeat to Southampton St Mary's in a replay. After dropping out of the Midland League in 1897, Heanor returned to the league in 1898. The 1898–99 season saw another FA Cup first round appearance, this time ending with a 3–0 defeat at home to Bury. Despite finishing sixth in 1899–1900, the club left the Midland League again. In 1921 they joined the Central Alliance. When the league folded in 1925 they rejoined the Derbyshire Senior League,Central Alliance 1911–1925
Non-League Matters before returning to the Midland League in 1926. However, in 1928 the club dropped back into the Derbyshire Senior League. They were runners-up in 1928–29 and again in 1932–33, after which the club joined the

Central Combination The Central Combination was a short-lived football league in central England. The league was established in 1933 to create a stepping stone for clubs looking to progress from county leagues to the Midland League and initially had 17 members.

.Central Combination 1933–1937
Non-League Matters Heanor were Central Combination runners-up in 1933–34 and went on win the league the following season. When the league folded in 1936, the club joined the Notts Amateur Combination. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

they did not reform until 1951, when a team was entered to the Derby & District Amateur League. They moved up to the Notts Alliance the following season after moving to the Sir John Warren Ground in Loscoe, and after merging with the financially stricken Heanor Athletic in January 1953, Town took Athletic's place in Division One of the Central Alliance for the 1953–54 season."Early Days" ''Ripley and Heanor News'', 10 May 1957, p10The Central Alliance 1947–1962
Non-League Matters League reorganisation in 1956 led to the league being split into regional first divisions, with Heanor winning Division One North in 1956–57 and 1957–58. The following season saw their first appearance in the first round of the FA Cup in the 20th century, with a record crowd of 6,511 seeing the club lose 5–1 at home to Carlisle United.Heanor Town v Greenwood Meadows
Football Grounds in Focus They were Division One North runners-up in 1959–60, before rejoining the Midland League in 1961. Another FA Cup first round appearance in 1963–64 ended with a 3–1 defeat at Bradford Park Avenue. Heanor finished as runners-up in the Midland League in 1967–68 and 1968–69, before leaving to join the Premier Division of the

West Midlands (Regional) League The West Midlands (Regional) League is an English association football competition for semi-professional and amateur teams based in the West Midlands county, Shropshire, Worcestershire, southern Staffordshire and northern Herefordshire. It has tw ...

in 1972. They were Premier Division runners-up in their first season in the league, but returned to the Midland League after two seasons. When the league merged with the Yorkshire League to form the

Northern Counties East League The Northern Counties East Football League is a semi-professional English football league. It has two divisions – Premier Division and Division One – which stand at the ninth and tenth levels of the football pyramid respectively. History T ...

in 1982, Heanor were placed in the Premier Division. However, in 1986 they left the league to join the new Supreme Division of the

Central Midlands League The Central Midlands Football League is an English football league covering the northeast-central part of England. Formed in 1971 as the South Derbyshire League, changing name initially to the Derbyshire League before changing to its current nam ...

. They were Supreme Division runners-up in 1989–90, 1990–91 and 1992–93 before winning the league in 1994–95 and again in 1996–97. In 2008 Heanor were founder members of the East Midlands Counties League. They were league champions in 2011–12, earning promotion to the Premier Division of the Northern Counties East League. After three seasons back in the league, the club were transferred to the Premier Division of the new

in 2014. At the end of the 2017–18 season they took voluntary demotion to the East Midlands Counties League despite finishing in mid-table. In 2021 the club were promoted to the Premier Division North of the

United Counties League The United Counties League (also known after its sponsor as the ''Uhlsport United Counties League'') is an English football league covering Northamptonshire, Rutland and Bedfordshire and most of Leicestershire as well as parts of Buckinghamshi ...

based on their results in the abandoned 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons.

Ground

After reforming in 1951, the club initially played at a field on Midland Road, which was shared with Park Street Methodist FC. In 1952 they moved to the Sir John Warren Ground in Loscoe, enabling a move up to the Notts Alliance, before relocating to the Town Ground in 1953 after merging with Heanor Athletic, who were already based at the ground."Football at Heanor", ''Ripley and Heanor News, 16 January 1953, p3

Honours

*Central Alliance **Division One North champions 1956–57, 1957–58 *Central Combination **Champions 1933–34 *Derbyshire Senior League **Champions 1893–94 *East Midlands Counties League **Champions 2011–12 *Central Midlands League **Supreme Division champions 1994–95, 1996–97 **League Cup winners 2006–07 *Derbyshire Senior Cup **Winners 1892–93, 1893–94, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1978–79

Records

*Best

performance: First round, 1891–92, 1893–94, 1896–97, 1898–99, 1958–59, 1963–64 *Best FA Trophy performance: Second qualifying round, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1974–75, 1981–82 *Best FA Vase performance: Fourth round, 1988–89, 1989–90, 2001–02, 2014–15

References

External links