Cottesmore AFC (formerly known as Cottesmore Amateurs FC) is a football club based in Cottesmore,

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest l ...

, England. They are currently members of the and play at Westray Park.

History

The club was formed in 1941 and spent the first 42 years playing in local leagues. This was followed by a move slightly further a field with a 7-year stint in the Leicester and District League and on winning that League's Premier Division title in the 1992/3 season, a further move up in standard to the

Leicestershire Senior League The Leicestershire Senior League (currently sponsored by Everards Brewery) is a football competition based in Leicestershire, England. History The league was formed in 1896, had a two-year hiatus between 1901 and 1903, and has run continuous ...

was achieved. Following one season in Division One of the Senior League, promotion to the top division was achieved. The club dropped into Division One in the 2001–02 season but went back into the Premier Division in the 2008–2009 season where they have remained ever since. Cottesmore became the first team outside of Lincolnshire to win the Ancaster Cup in its 113-year history during the 2012–13 season and won it for a second in the 2014–15 season. Prior to the 2017–18 season the club renamed their ground ‘Westray Park’ in recognition of exiting chairman Allan Westray's 61 years of dedicated service to the club. Cottesmore entered 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 footb ...

for the first time in 2019–20 eventually reaching the first round proper. They beat higher league opposition in their first two games with a 3–1 victory away against East Midlands Counties League side Radford FC and a 2–1 away victory against Harrowby United of the United Counties League before being defeated 3–1 away against Clay Cross Town of the Central Midlands Football League. In March of that season, the team were in 2nd place in the table with 49 points from 20 games and had applied for Step 6 promotion when the season was declared null & void due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 5 September 2020, Cottesmore won the Beacon Hill League Cup with a victory on penalties against Hathern FC following a 2–2 draw. The final was held over from the 2019–20 season which was ended prematurely due to COVID-19 and was played at Barrow Town's Riverside ground.

Ground

The club currently play at Westray Park in Cottesmore. In 1996, the

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in ...

championships were held in England and Cottesmore's then-‘Rogues Park’ was chosen as the

Croatia national football team The Croatia national football team ( hr, Hrvatska nogometna reprezentacija) represents Croatia in international football matches. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS), the governing body for football in Croatia. It is a ...

’s training ground, due to its locality to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, where their qualification games were being played. The Cottesmore pitch is, to this day, still the same size as that of the

City Ground The City Ground is a football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest Football Club since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,445. The stadium was a venue when ...

. In February 2018, Cottesmore received £2,000 from a scheme by

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues an ...

after repeated incidences of vandalism at the site. In early 2020, the club secured more funding and assisted by local business, have built a perimeter fence around the site to protect from further vandalism, as well as meeting criteria to be elevated to the next stage.

Records

*Best

performance: First round proper, 2019–20

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cottesmore Amateurs F.C. Football clubs in England Football in Rutland Leicestershire Senior League Association football clubs established in 1941 1941 establishments in England