Kendal Town Football Club is a football club based in Kendal,

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...

, England. The club are currently members of the and play at Parkside Road.

History

The club was established in 1919 by employees of the Netherfield Somerfield Brothers factory and was initially named Netherfield.Club History
Kendal Town F.C. They won the Westmorland County Cup in 1924–25. They joined the West Lancashire League in 1936, where the club remained until

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 ...

. In 1945 they joined the

Lancashire Combination The Lancashire Combination was a football league founded in the North West of England in 1891–92. It absorbed the Lancashire League in 1903. In 1968 the Combination lost five of its clubs to the newly formed Northern Premier League. In 1982 it ...

, finishing as runners-up in their first season. The season also saw them reach 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 ...

for the first time, losing 3–2 on aggregate to Barrow. When the league gained a second division in 1947 the club were placed in Division One, which they won in 1948–49, a season which saw another FA Cup first round appearance, this time losing 3–0 at Gateshead. Netherfield went one better the following season, beating

North Shields North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wea ...

4–3 in the first round, before losing 6–0 at

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

in the second. In the

1952–53 FA Cup The 1952–53 FA Cup was the 72nd season of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup. Blackpool won the competition for the first time, beating Bolton Wanderers 4–3 in the ...

the club lost 3–0 to

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

in a first round replay. They were league runners-up again in 1953–54 and another FA Cup first round appearance the following season ended with a 4–0 defeat to

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

in a replay. In the 1955–56 FA Cup the club lost 5–1 at home to

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

in the first round in front of a record crowd of 5,184. Later that season they won the Lancashire Combination Cup. The club won the Cup again in 1960–61 and were league runners-up the following season. Another FA Cup run in 1963–64 saw them beat Loughborough United 6–1 in the first round, before losing 4–1 to Chesterfield in a second round replay. The following season they lost 3–1 at home to Barnsley in the first round. The Lancashire Combination title was won by Netherfield for a second time in 1964–65, and their consistent form led to them becoming founder members of the Northern Premier League in 1968. However, after their success in the Lancashire Combination, the club struggled in the new league; the league's first season ended with them finishing in the bottom half of the table for the first time since

. They went on to finish bottom of the table in 1973–74 and again in 1981–82 and 1982–83. As a result, the club dropped into Division One of the

North West Counties League The North West Counties Football League is a football league in the North West of England. Since 2019–20, the league has covered the Isle of Man, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cumbria, northern Staffordshire, northern ...

, which had been formed by a merger of the Lancashire Combination and the Cheshire County League. The club continued to struggle, only avoiding relegation to Division Two in their first season in the league after Ashton United were given a points deduction. After finishing in the bottom four of Division One for the next three seasons, the club were founder members of Division One of the Northern Premier League in 1987. Although Netherfield finished bottom of the new division in their first season, they were not relegated. They were renamed Netherfield Kendal in 1998, before adopting their current name two years later when Kendal's shoe making industry closed. In 2005–06 the club finished third in Division One, qualifying for the promotion play-offs. After beating Stocksbridge Park Steels 4–2 on penalties after a 1–1 draw, they defeated Gresley Rovers 2–1 in the final to earn promotion to the Premier Division.2005–06 Northern Premier League
Football Club History Database In 2008–09 a fifth-place finish in the Premier Division saw Kendal Town enter the play-offs for a place in the

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Syst ...

; however, they lost 4–3 to Ilkeston Town in the semi-finals. Another fifth-place finish the following season led to another play-off campaign, this time losing 2–1 to Bradford Park Avenue in the semi-finals. In

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

the club finished second-from-bottom of the Premier Division, resulting in relegation to Division One North.

Ground

After being established, the club were given land at Parkside near the K Shoe factory. Club members paid one pence a week into a sports association, which used the fund to develop the ground.Kendal Town
Pyramid Passion Dressing rooms were built in 1928 and a main stand erected in 1930. Terracing was installed behind one goal and along one side of the pitch after

, with the stand was expanded in 1955. More seating was installed the following year when a clubhouse was built with seats in front of it, and floodlights erected in 1965.

Club officials

Honours

*Lancashire Combination **Champions 1948–49, 1964–65 **League Cup winners 1955–56, 1960–61 *Westmorland County Cup **Winners 1924–25

Records

*Best

performance: Second round, 1949–50, 1963–64 *Best FA Trophy performance: Second round, 1980–81, 1998–99, 2001–02, 2004–05 *Best FA Vase performance: Third round, 1989–90 *Record attendance: 5,184 vs

, FA Cup, 1955–56

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 54, 19, 13.44, N, 2, 44, 11.48, W, display=title Football clubs in England Football clubs in Cumbria Association football clubs established in 1919 1919 establishments in England West Lancashire Football League Lancashire Combination Northern Premier League clubs North West Counties Football League clubs Works association football teams in England