Maine Road 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, based in

Chorlton-cum-Hardy Chorlton-cum-Hardy is a suburban area of Manchester, England, southwest of the Manchester city centre, city centre. Chorlton (ward), Chorlton ward had a population of 14,138 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census, and Chorlton Park (w ...

, Manchester, England. Founded in 1955 by

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

supporters, they are currently members of the and play at Brantingham Road.

History

The club was formed in 1955 by supporters of

under the name City Supporters Rusholme.Maine Road: History
North West Counties League They played friendly matches before joining the

Rusholme Rusholme () is an area of Manchester, England, two miles south of the city centre. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 13,643. Rusholme is bounded by Chorlton-on-Medlock to the north, Victoria Park and Longsight to the east, Fallo ...

Sunday League, remaining members until transferring to the Manchester Amateur Sunday League in 1966. The club also moved its headquarters to the Maine Road Social Club and were renamed Maine Road Football Club. After winning the Manchester County Sunday Cup and the league title in 1971–72, the club switched to Saturday football and joined Division Two of the

Manchester League The Manchester Football League is a football league in England, affiliated with Manchester FA, covering a 30-mile radius from Manchester Town Hall. It was formed in 1893, although play ceased between 1912 and 1920. Currently it consists of fiv ...

.The Manchester League 1960–1976
Non-League Matters Maine Road won the Division Two title at the first attempt, earning promotion to Division One, as well as winning the Manchester County Amateur Cup.Maine Road: Info
North West Counties League They went on to win Division One the following season and were promoted to the Premier Division. In 1975–76 the club won the

Manchester Premier Cup The Manchester Premier Cup (also known as the Frank Hannah Manchester Premier Cup) is an annual English football knockout tournament involving teams from Greater Manchester, England. It is a County Cup competition of the Manchester Football ...

, beating Abbey Hey WMC in the final; they retained the trophy the following season with a win over Little Lever. In 1982–83 the club were Premier Division champions.The Manchester League 1976–1994
Non-League Matters They retained the title for the next three seasons, before finishing as runners-up in 1986–87, after which the club moved up to Division Two 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 S ...

. Maine Road's first season in the North West Counties League saw them win the Manchester Premier Cup for a third time, beating Irlam Town 1–0 in the final. Despite finishing as Division Two runners-up in 1988–89, the club were not promoted after failing to meet ground grading regulations. However, the following season saw them win the Division Two title, earning promotion to Division One. They were Manchester Premier Cup finalists in 1998–99. Although the club were relegated at the end of the 2001–02 season, they were Division Two runners-up in 2003–04, and were promoted back to Division One, as well as reaching the final of the Manchester Premier Cup again. The club won the league's Challenge Cup in 2007–08, after which Division One was renamed the Premier Division. The club were Premier Division runners-up in 2013–14. However, they finished third-from-bottom of the Premier Division in 2017–18 season and were relegated to Division One South.

Ground

After playing at several different ground, Maine Road moved to Brantingham Road in 1980. After the ground was upgraded by the

Manchester Football Association The Manchester Football Association (also known as the Manchester FA) is the governing body for association football in the centre of the city of Manchester, England. They are responsible for the governance and development of football at all leve ...

in the mid-1980s, it enabled the club to be promoted to the North West Counties League. The ground currently has a capacity of 2,000, of which 200 is seated and 700 covered. The club's record home attendance of 3,181 was set on 4 November 2006 for a Division One match against

FC United of Manchester Football Club United of Manchester is a semi-professional football club based in Moston, Manchester, England, that competes in the , the seventh tier of the English football league system, and plays home matches at Broadhurst Park. Founded ...

(a team formed by supporters of Manchester City's arch rivals, Manchester United) although the game was played at

Bower Fold Bower Fold in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, England, is the home ground of Stalybridge Celtic football club and, intermittently, Oldham rugby league club. History There has been a ground at Bower Fold since 1906. The current main stand was ...

Stalybridge Stalybridge () is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 23,731 at the 2011 Census. Historic counties of England, Historically divided between Cheshire and Lancashire, it is east of Manchester city centre and no ...

Honours

*North West Counties League **Division Two champions 1989–90 **Challenge Cup winners 2007–08 *Manchester League **Premier Division champions 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86 **League Cup winners 1982–83, 1983–84 **Division One champions 1973–74 **Division Two champions 1972–73 *Manchester Amateur Sunday League **Champions 1971–72 *Manchester Premier Cup **Winners 1975–76, 1976–77, 1987–88 *Manchester Challenge Cup **Winners 1982–83, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 2004–05, 2006–07 *Manchester Amateur Cup Winners **Champions 1972–73, 1997–98, 2006–07 *Manchester County Sunday Cup **Winners 1971–72

Records

*Best

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 ...

performance: Second qualifying round, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1992–93, 1994–95, 1997–98, 2001–02 *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: Fourth round, 1994–95 *Record attendance: 3,125 vs

, North West Counties League Division One, 4 November 2006 (at

)

References

External links