Belper Town Football Club is a football club based in

Belper Belper is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Non-metropolitan district, local government district of Amber Valley in Derbyshire, England, located about north of Derby on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent. As w ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...

, England. They are currently members of the and play at Christchurch Meadow. The club are nicknamed the "Nailers" due to the town's nail-making industry.

History

The club were originally formed in 1883 and reached the first round of 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 competit ...

in 1887–88, losing 3–2 to

The Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot o ...

.Club History
Belper Town F.C. They were founder members of the

Derbyshire Senior League Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

in 1890, and finished as runners-up in 1895–96. By the mid-1900s the club were playing in the Mid-Derbyshire League and were league champions in 1904–05. In 1906–07 they were runners-up,1907–08
Ilson Football The league was rebranded as the Derbyshire Alliance in 1907 and merged with the Notts & District League in 1908 to form the Notts & Derbyshire League, with Belper as founder members.The Central Alliance 1911-1925
Non-League Matters However, they left the league midway through the 1911–12 season and folded due to financial difficulties.50th anniversary for Nailers
Belper News, 31 January 2002 The club reformed in 1951 and joined Division One of the

Central Alliance The Central Alliance was a football league in England, covering the East Midlands. History The league was established in 1911 with twelve clubs, most of which had previously been members of the Notts & Derbyshire League; Derby County Reserves, ...

, taking over the fixtures of Mansfield Town 'A', who had withdrawn from the league.The Central Alliance 1947-1962
Non-League Matters In 1956 the league was restructured, with Belper placed in Division One North. They finished as runners-up in 1956–57 and were champions in 1958–59, a season in which they also won the

Derbyshire Senior Cup The Derbyshire County FA Senior Cup is a local county football cup for teams based in the county of Derbyshire. Founded in 1883-1884, the first competition was won by Staveley, who beat Derby Midland 2-1 in the final. 1885-1886 saw Heeley from Y ...

for the first time.Honours and records
Belper Town F.C. When the

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History ...

was re-established in 1961, Belper joined the league.Midland Counties League 1958-1982
Non-League Matters They finished bottom of the league in 1969–70. After it was split into two divisions, Belper were placed in the Premier Division, of which they finished bottom in 1978–79. However, they were not relegated, and went on to win the Premier Division and the Derbyshire Senior Cup the following season. In 1982 the league merged with the Yorkshire League to form 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 ...

, with Belper placed in the Premier Division. They won the Premier Division in 1984–85 and the President's Cup in 1995–96. The following season they finished as runners-up in the Premier Division and were promoted to Division One of the Northern Premier League. When Division One was split in 2007, the club were placed in Division One South. After finishing as runners-up in 2008–09 (missing out on the title on goal difference) they qualified for the promotion play-offs. Although they beat Rushall Olympic 1–0 in the semi-finals, they lost the final 1–0 to

Stocksbridge Park Steels Stocksbridge Park Steels Football Club is an English association football club based in Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire. They currently compete in the . The club was formed in 1986 after a merger between two clubs, and uses a yellow and blue home ...

. A third-place finish in

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

led to another play-off campaign, which resulted in them losing 4–2 to Stamford in the semi-finals. However, after finishing fourth the following season, they defeated

Leek Town Leek Town Football Club is an English association football, football club based in Leek, Staffordshire, Leek, Staffordshire, currently playing in the . The team, nicknamed "The Blues", play their home games at Harrison Park. The club was found ...

2–0 in the semi-finals and

Mickleover Sports Mickleover Football Club is a football club based in the Mickleover suburb of Derby, Derbyshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Station Road. The club were formed as Mickleover Old Boys in 1948, before becoming Mickl ...

1–0 in the final to earn promotion to the Premier Division. Belper's first season in the Premier Division saw them finish bottom of the table, resulting in relegation back to Division One South. In 2021–22 they finished fifth in Division One Midlands, qualifying for the promotion play-offs position. After beating Stamford 2–1 in the semi-finals, they defeated

Chasetown Chasetown is a village in the town of Burntwood in Staffordshire, England. It is split between the civil parishes of Burntwood and Hammerwich. History Chasetown developed in the mid 19th century as a coal mining village. At first the village ...

1–0 in the final to earn promotion back to the Premier Division.

Ground

The club originally played at the Acorn Ground, before moving to Christchurch Meadow in 1951, taking over from a junior team, Field Head.Belper Town
Pyramid Passion The ground initially had a single stand on the northern side of the pitch, but it was demolished in the early 1960s to allow the adjacent West Mill to be extended. Parts of it were reused to build a new stand on the opposite side, although the stand ran from the halfway line to one corner rather than being positioned centrally. The club bought the freehold to the ground in 1986 for £6,000. New dressing rooms were built in 1999 and new 500-seat stand opened in 2003. The ground also has a covered stand, the Reg Walker Stand, with a capacity of 300. The record attendance of 3,200 was set for a match against

Ilkeston Town Ilkeston Town Football Club is a football club based in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England. They currently play in the . History On 30 June 2017, a company, Ilkeston Town F.C. Ltd was registered at Companies House. On 20 July 2017, it was conf ...

in 1955.

Honours

*Northern Premier League **President's Cup winners 2009–10 *Northern Counties East League **Premier Division champions 1984–85 **President's Cup winners 1995–96 *Midland League **Premier Division champions 1979–80 *Central Alliance **Division One North champions 1958–59 *Mid-Derbyshire League **Champions 1904–05 *

**Winners 1958–59, 1961–62, 1963–64, 1979–80, 2007–08

Records

*Best

performance: First round, 1887–88 *Best

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 ...

performance: Second round, 2000–01 *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 footb ...

performance: Semi-finals, 1994–95 *Record attendance: 3,200 vs

, 1955 *Biggest win: 15–2 vs Nottingham Forest 'A', 1956 *Worst defeat: 12–0 vs Goole Town, 1965 *Most appearances: Craig Smithurst, 678 *Most goals: Mick Lakin, 231 *Record transfer fee received: £2,000 from

Hinckley United Hinckley United Football Club was an English football club, from Hinckley, Leicestershire which last played in the Southern Football League Premier Division during the 2013–14 season. They were formed in 1997 as the result of a merger between ...

for Craig SmithMike Williams & Tony Williams (2012) ''Non-League Club Directory 2013'', p414 *Record transfer fee paid: £2,000 to

for Jamie Eaton, 2001

References

External links