Athersley Recreation Football Club is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in Athersley,

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

, South Yorkshire, England. They are currently members 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 English football pyramid respectively. ...

Premier Division and play at Sheerien Park.

History

The club was formed in 1979 as Athersley North Juniors. In 1983–84 they finished third in Division Two of the Barnsley Nelson League and were promoted to Division One. After finishing as runners-up in Division One the following season, they switched to Division Two of the Barnsley Junior League for the 1985–86 season. Their first season in the new division saw them finish third, earning promotion to Division One. They were renamed Athersley Recreation in the summer of 1986. After winning Division One in 1986–87, Athersley became members of Division One of the Barnsley Association League. They finished as runners-up in the following season, earning promotion to the Premier Division. The club went on to win back-to-back Premier Division titles in 1991–92 and 1992–93, and then three successive titles between 1995 and 1997. After their third title in 1996–97, the club moved up to Division Two of the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League in 1997. They won the division in their first season in the league, earning promotion to Division One. The following season saw them finish as runners-up in Division One, resulting in promotion to the Premier Division. They subsequently won the Premier Division at the first attempt. Athersley won the Premier Division again in 2003–04, starting a period of success that saw them win the title four times in the next eight seasons, finishing as runners-up on the other four occasions. After winning their sixth Premier Division title in 2011–12, the club was promoted to Division One of the Northern Counties East League. Their first season in the new league saw them finish as runners-up, earning promotion to the Premier Division. In 2013–14 they entered the

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...

for the first time, and a year later they made their

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

debut. In May 2014 they won the Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup for the first time, beating Frickley Athletic in the final at Hillsborough.Athersley Rec's Sheffield Senior Cup triumph – in pictures
Barnsley News and Sport, 8 May 2014 In 2021–22 they finished bottom of the Premier Division, resulting in relegation to Division One. They finished bottom of Division One the following season, but were not relegated.

Season-by-season record

Ground

The club plays at Sheerien Park on Ollerton Road in Athersley. It has a capacity of 2,000, of which 420 is covered and 150 seated. File:Athersley_Rec_1.jpg File:Athersley Rec 2.jpg File:Athersley Rec 3.jpg

Honours

*Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League **Premier Division champions 1999–2000, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2011–12 **Division Two champions 1997–98 **League Cup winners 1997–98, 2005–06, 2008–09 *Barnsley Association League **Champions 1991–92, 1992–93, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97 *Barnsley Junior League **Champions 1986–87 *Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup **Winners 2013–14 * Sheffield & Hallamshire Association Cup **Winners 2007–08

Records

*Best

performance: Preliminary round, 2014–15 *Best

performance: Second round, 2013–14

References

External links

Official website
* {{coord, 53, 35, 7.195, N, 1, 28, 25.194, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Football clubs in England Football clubs in South Yorkshire Association football clubs established in 1979 Northern Counties East Football League 1979 establishments in England Sport in Barnsley Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior Football League Sheffield & Hallamshire County FA members Barnsley Association League