Retford United Football Club (also known as the Badgers) are an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 at Cannon Park in

Retford Retford (), also known as East Retford, is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England, and one of the oldest English market towns having been granted its first charter in 1105. It lies on the River Idle and the Chesterfie ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

. They currently play in the .

History

The club was founded in 1987 by Retfordian Brian Jackson to give the town a senior club after Retford Town had gone out of business. The club's inaugural season was in the Gainsborough & District League which was successful so it applied to join the Notts Football Alliance the following season and competed in that league up until 2001, when local business man Dean Vivians financial support, built the club house, ground, floodlights , everything necessary to rise up the football pyramid and they joined the Central Midlands League. Promotion after promotion followed and Just three years passed before another milestone was reached and the club joined 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 ...

. The success continued, finishing as runners-up in the Northern Counties East League Division One in 2005–06, gaining promotion to the Premier Division, which they won at their first attempt. They were then promoted to the

Northern Premier League Division One South The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

, which they won two years running, gaining promotion to the Premier Division in 2009. In all, between 2000 and 2009, they won a total of six championships, of various leagues and divisions, in nine seasons. However, at the end of the 2010–11 season they finished bottom and were relegated to the

. Due to financial constraints, the club opted to resign from the Northern Premier League and to compete in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division where they again won the title in the 2011/12 season but they rejected promotion opting instead to continue in NCEL. Retford reached the fifth round (last 16) of the

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 ...

in the 2006–07 season, while their best run in 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 ...

has consisted of one appearance in the fourth qualifying round, in the 2008–09 season, where they were defeated 3–1 by

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfr ...

. Their first season in the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

in 2007–08 took them to the first round where they were defeated 5–2 by

Histon Histon is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is immediately north of Cambridge – and is separated from the city – by the A14 road (England), A14 road which r ...

. Retford were relegated from the 1st division of the NCEL at the end of season 2017-2018 and now play in the Central Midlands North League. The club has been taken over by the ONECALL insurance group and is now an Ltd Company. ONECALL have refurbished the clubhouse, changing rooms and outside areas of the ground. The current Manager is Liam Kay. In 2023, the club was promoted back to the

for the 2023-24 season.League line-ups announced by the FA
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Origins and youth structure

When Retford United was formed in 1987 it consisted of a senior team in the Gainsborough & District League and an under 10 youth team. Looking forward the aim was to get the senior team climbing the football league pyramid, and at youth level add a new team at the youngest age group until the club was competing at every level up to the seniors. Also girls football was introduced in the later years and still continues. The first-ever youth games were played on the Jenkins Sports Ground on Thrumpton Lane. The Junior Section of the club now operate independently at Oaklands as Retford United Junior F.C. The first senior games were played on the council-owned Goosemoor for a short period before moving to Oaklands and eventually to Cannon Park on Leverton Road at the start of the new millennium.

Honours

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

** Division One South Champions 2008–09 (Promoted to Premier Division) **Division One South Champions 2007–08 (Could not be promoted to Premier Division after failing a ground inspection) **

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

Runners-up 2009–10 **Chairman's Cup Winners 2007–08 *

** Premier Division Champions 2006–07, 2011–12 **

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

Runners-up 2005–06 **Wilkinson Sword Trophy Winners 2005–06 **President's Cup Winners 2006–07 *Central Midlands Football League **Supreme Division Champions 2003–04 **North Division Champions 2022-23 **League Cup Winners 2003–04 **Trophy Winners 2005–06 **Floodlit Cup Winners 2003–04 *Nottinghamshire FA Senior Cup **Winners 2008–09

Records

**Fourth Qualifying Round 2008–09 *

**First Round 2007–08 *

**Fifth Round 2006–07

References

External links

Retford United website
{{coord, 53, 19, 28.020, N, 0, 55, 05.189, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Retford 1987 establishments in England Association football clubs established in 1987 Football clubs in England Football clubs in Nottinghamshire Northern Counties East Football League Central Midlands Football League