Bacup Borough 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

Bacup Bacup ( , ) is a town in the Rossendale Borough in Lancashire, England, in the South Pennines close to Lancashire's boundaries with West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester. The town is in the Rossendale Valley and the upper Irwell Valley, east ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The club are currently members of the and play at West View. They are full members of the

Lancashire County Football Association The Lancashire County Football Association, also known simply as the Lancashire FA, is the governing body of football within the historical county boundaries of Lancashire, England. They are responsible for the governance and development of foot ...

History

The club was founded by brothers and former

Vale of Leven The Vale of Leven () is an area of West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, in the valley of the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven. Historically, it was part of The Lennox, the name of which derives from the Gaelic term ''Leamhnach'', meaning ''fie ...

players John and Robert Rankine in 1879 as Irwell Springs Football Club, a

works team A works team, sometimes also referred to as factory team and company team, is a sports team that is financed and run by a manufacturer or other business, institution, or organization in a broad sense. Works teams have very close ties with thei ...

for the Irwell Springs Dyeing Works.Roger Hindle (2014)
The History of Bacup Football Club
', p1 In 1883–84 they reached the third round of the

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 ...

, losing 8–1 at

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

. The club was renamed Bacup in 1892, and joined the Lancashire League during the 1893–94 season, taking over the fixtures of Barrow, who had resigned on 20 November 1893. After finishing bottom of the league in their first season, the following season saw the club achieve a top-half place in the table. However, the club withdrew from the league during the 1897–98 season without completing their fixtures. In 1901 Bacup rejoined the Lancashire League, where they remained for two seasons before becoming founder members of the new Division Two of 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 i ...

in 1903. They remained in the division until the end of the 1910–11 season, when despite only finishing sixth, they were promoted to Division One; that season also saw them win the Lancashire Junior Cup. However, they were relegated back to Division Two the following season after finishing bottom. After three more years struggling at the bottom of Division Two they left the league in 1915. Following

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the club rejoined the league in 1920, by which time they had been renamed Bacup Borough. They remained members of the now single-division Lancashire Combination until

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, finishing in the bottom half of the table in most seasons, one of the exceptions being a third-place finish in 1929–30. Bacup returned to the Lancashire Combination after

, and won the league in 1946–47. When it was expanded to a second division in 1947, they were placed in Division One, but were relegated to Division Two at the end of the 1948–49 season, which saw them finish bottom of the table. Despite only finishing sixth in 1954–55, the club was promoted back to Division One, where they remained until the league reverted to a single division in 1968. They were runners-up in 1972–73. In 1982 the Lancashire Combination merged with the

Cheshire County League The Cheshire County League was a football league founded in the north west of England in 1919, drawing its teams largely from Cheshire, surrounding English counties and North Wales. Initially the league was dominated by the reserve teams of Fo ...

to form the North West Counties League, with Bacup placed in Division Three. When the division was abolished in 1987, they were moved into Division Two. The 1989–90 saw the club claim the runners-up position, earning promotion to Division One, where they remained until being relegated at the end of the 1994–95 season. After winning Division Two in 2002–03, Bacup were promoted back to Division One, which was renamed the Premier Division in 2008. The 2003–04 season saw the club win the League Challenge Cup, beating Newcastle Town 3–0 in the final held at

Haig Avenue Haig Avenue (originally known as Ash Lane) is a football stadium in Blowick, Southport, Merseyside, England, that holds 6,008 people (1,537 seated, 4,471 standing). Since its opening in 1905 it has been the home ground of Southport. Location T ...

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

.Bacup Borough FC History
Bacup Borough F.C. In 2011–12 they won the League Challenge Cup again with a 5–0 victory over

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest attenda ...

. In 2013 the club was renamed Bacup & Rossendale Borough after nearby Rossendale United folded, They went on to finish second-from-bottom of the table in

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 ...

, but were reprieved from relegation after Kidsgrove Athletic were reprieved from relegation in the division above. However, the following season they finished in the same position, and were relegated. At the end of the season the club were renamed Bacup Borough again. The 2015–16 season saw Bacup finish fifth in Division One, qualifying for the promotion play-offs. After beating Stockport Town 2–0 in the semi-finals, they lost 2–0 to Barnton in the final. When the division was split in 2018, the club were placed in Division One North. In

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

they won the Division One Challenge Cup, defeating Ellesmere Rangers 2–0 in the final. The club retained the cup the following season, beating Wythenshawe Town 2–1 in the final.

Season-by-season record

Ground

Irwell Springs played at Wracker Height near

Weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

, before moving to a field on Weir Lane near the Dyeing Works in 1882.Hindle, p3 Home matches were also played at a field behind the Weir Hotel, another field behind Northern Primary School and one in Broadclough. The club moved to West View in Bacup in 1889, with the first match played against

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

attracting over 1,000 spectators. It currently has a capacity of 3,000, of which 1,000 is covered and 500 seated.

Honours

*North West Counties League **Division Two champions 2002–03 **Challenge Cup winners 2003–04, 2011–12 **Division One Challenge Cup winners 2022–23, 2023–24 *Lancashire Combination **Champions 1946–47 *Lancashire Junior Cup **Winners 1910–11 *Rossendale Charity Cup **Winners 1883–84, 1884–85, 1886–87, 1887–88Hindle, p5

Records

*Best

performance: Third round, 1883–84 *Best

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

performance: Second qualifying round, 1972–73 *Best

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 ...

performance: Third round, 1993–94 *Record attendance: 4,980 vs

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, 1947 *Most goals: Jimmy Clarke

References

External links

* {{Authority control Football clubs in England Football clubs in Lancashire 1879 establishments in England Sport in the Borough of Rossendale Association football clubs established in 1879 Lancashire League (football) Lancashire Combination North West Counties Football League clubs Works association football teams in England Bacup