Armthorpe Welfare Football Club is a semi-professional

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

Armthorpe Armthorpe is a large village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it had a population of 12,630, increasing to 14,457 at the 2011 Census. Histor ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

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

History

The club was established in 1926,Club history
Armthorpe Welfare F.C. and initially competed only in local leagues, including the Doncaster Red Triangle League. In 1935 they turned semi-professional and joined the

Sheffield Association League The Sheffield Association League was an English association football league based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. History The league was founded in 1897 to fill the void left by the disbandment of the Sheffield & District Football League, which ...

. They first entered 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 the following season, and competed in the

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of professionalism within footba ...

for a few years after

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 opposin ...

. They left the Sheffield League in 1950 to join Division Two of the

Doncaster & District Senior League The Doncaster Saturday Football League is a football competition for clubs in the Doncaster area of England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its nort ...

. Their first season in the new league saw them promoted to Division One. Although they were relegated two seasons later, Armthorpe won Division Two at the first attempt to earn promotion back to Division One. In just their second season in Division One they won the league title, and they would go on to win the title on a further four occasions in the next five years. They added further title wins in 1960–61, 1961–62 and 1964–65. However the club was relegated from the renamed Premier Division at the end of the 1966–67 season. They were relegated again in 1969–70, and sunk into Division Three after another relegation in 1972–73. In 1974 the club folded. Two years later the club reformed and rejoined the Doncaster & District Senior League. They began in Division Three, which they won in 1978–79. The following season they won Division Two and the League Cup in 1979–80, and went on to retain the League Cup for the following two seasons. In 1981–82 they won the League Cup for a fourth consecutive season, as well as the West Riding Challenge Cup and the Division One title, earning promotion to the Premier Division. The following season saw them win four competitions; the Premier Division, the League Cup, the West Riding Challenge Cup and the Goole & Thorne FA Challenge Cup. Following their Premier Division title, the club moved up Division Two North of 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 Th ...

(NCEL). They finished as runners-up in their first season, earning promotion to Division One Central. They went on to win the division at the first attempt and were promoted to the Premier Division, where they have remained since, becoming the division's longest serving club. In 1987–88 the club finished as runners-up, losing the title to Emley on goal difference. In 2000–01 they finished in the relegation zone, but were reprieved from relegation after

Ossett Albion Ossett Albion Association Football Club was an English football club. They played at Queen's Terrace in Ossett, in West Yorkshire, more commonly known as Dimplewells, the area of Ossett the ground is situated in. History The club was formed in ...

were promoted to the

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 ...

and no club was relegated in their place. Having remained in the Premier Division for a record 32 seasons, the club were relegated to Division One at the end of the 2016–17 season after finishing second-from-bottom of the table.

Season-by-season record

Ground

The club plays at the Welfare Ground on Church Street. It has a capacity of 2,500, of which 250 is seated and 400 covered. File:ARMTHORPE WELFARE FC - V - GLAPWELL FC 11-02-2006 NCEL PREMIER DIVISION.jpg, The Philip Mitchell Stand. File:ARMTHORPE WELFARE FC - V - GLAPWELL FC 11-02-2006 NCEL PREMIER DIVISION park close stand.jpg, Park Close covered terracing (capacity 200) File:ARMTHORPE WELFARE FC - V - GLAPWELL FC 11-02-2006 NCEL PREMIER DIVISION southfield road side.jpg, Southfield Road side and dugouts. File:ARMTHORPE WELFARE FC park end.jpg, Park End.

Honours

*Northern Counties East League **Division One Central champions 1984–85 *Doncaster & District Senior League **Champions 1952–53, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1964–65, 1982–83 **Division One champions 1981–82 **Division Two champions 1978–79 **Division Three champions 1977–78 **League Cup winners 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83 *West Riding Challenge Cup **Winners 1981–82, 1982–83 *Goole & Thorne FA Challenge Cup **Winners 1982–83

Records

*Highest league position: 2nd in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division, 1987–88 *Best

performance: Third qualifying round, 1986–87 *Best

performance: Fourth qualifying round, 1957–58 *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, 2009–10 *Record attendance: 2,000 vs

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

, pre-season friendly, 1985–86

References

External links

* {{Coord, 53.534677, N, 1.05645, W, display=title Football clubs in England Football clubs in South Yorkshire Sport in Doncaster Association football clubs established in 1926 1926 establishments in England Sheffield Association League Doncaster & District Senior League Northern Counties East Football League Mining association football teams in England