Grantham Town 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

Grantham Grantham () is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England. They are currently members of the and play at the South Kesteven Sports Stadium.

History

The club was established in 1874 as Grantham Football Club.History
Grantham Town F.C. They joined the Midland Alliance, but withdrew from the league during the 1892–93 season. They joined the Grantham & District League the following season.Grantham Town: History
The Football Archives The club later returned to the Midland Amateur Alliance, where they played until becoming founder members of the Central Alliance in 1911 alongside Grantham Avenue.The Central Alliance 1911–1925
Non-League Matters In 1924–25 they were Central Alliance champions, also winning Division B of the Subsidiary Competition. Grantham then moved up to the

Midland League The Midland Football League, officially known as the Capelli Sport Midland Football League since January 2025 for sponsorship reasons, is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midl ...

. In 1928–29 they reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time since the Victorian era, and after beating Rhyl Athletic 1–0, they lost 2–1 at Third Division North club Wigan Borough. In 1933 they joined the new Central Combination, but after finishing second-from-bottom of the league in its first season, they returned to the Midland League. The club qualified for the first round again in 1935–36, losing 2–0 at home to

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

. The 1937–38 season saw the club finish the season as Midland League runners-up. In the

1945–46 FA Cup The 1945–46 FA Cup was the 65th season of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, generally known as the FA Cup, and the first to be held after the Second World War. Derby County were the winners, ...

, the first after

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 ...

, Grantham reached the second round again; after beating Kettering Town in the first round, they lost 4–2 on aggregate to

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

in the second round. Another first round appearance in 1947–48 resulted in a 2–1 defeat at Stockton, whilst the club's

1949–50 FA Cup The 1949–50 FA Cup was the 69th season of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup. Arsenal won the competition for the third time, beating Liverpool 2–0 in the final ...

run ended with a 4–1 loss at

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

. In 1959 the club left the Midland League to rejoin the Central Alliance and were placed in Division One South. However, after two seasons the club returned to the Midland League. In 1961–62 they reached the first round of the FA Cup again, this time losing 3–0 at Brierley Hill Alliance. Grantham were Midland League champions in 1963–64 and runners-up the following season. In 1965–66 they beat

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...

4–1 in the first round of the FA Cup before losing 6–1 at home to

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

in the second round. They also reached the second round the following season after beating

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

2–1 in the first round; in the second round they lost 4–0 at home to

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

. After finishing as Midland League runners-up again in 1969–70, they won back-to-back league titles in 1970–71 and 1971–72; the 1970–71 season also saw them beat Football League opposition in the FA Cup for the first time, defeating Stockport County 2–1 in the first round before losing 4–1 to Rotherham United in the second. After the second successive title in 1971–72, the club were promoted to Division One North of the Southern League, which they won at the first attempt, earning promotion to the Premier Division. The following season saw Grantham progress to the third round of the FA Cup for the first time since the 1880s. After beating Hillingdon Borough 4–0 in the first round, they went on to defeat Third Division

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

5–3 in a second round replay, before losing 2–0 at home to Second Division

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

in the third round in front of a record crowd of 6,578. They went on to finish the league season as runners-up in the Premier Division. However, in 1977–78 the club finished bottom of the Southern League Premier Division and were relegated to Division One North. The following season saw them win the division. As well as being promoted, the club were also transferred to the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

. However, after being relegated at the end of the 1984–85 season, they were transferred back to the Southern League and placed in the Midland Division. In 1987 the club was renamed Grantham Town. They were Midland Division champions in 1997–98, earning promotion to the Premier Division. The club were relegated again at the end of the 1999–2000 season, this time of the Eastern Division. After finishing as runners-up in the Eastern Division in 2001–02 the club were promoted back to the Premier Division. In 2006 they were transferred to the Premier Division of the Northern Premier League, but were relegated to Division One South at the end of the 2007–08 season. In 2010–11 a fifth-place finish saw them qualify for the promotion play-offs, in which they beat Newcastle Town 3–0 in the semi-finals before losing 2–0 to Rushall Olympic in the final. However, they won Division One South the following season and were promoted back to the Premier Division. In 2017–18 the club finished fourth in the Premier Division, qualifying for the play-offs. After defeating Warrington Town 3–0 in the semi-finals, they were beaten 2–0 by Ashton United in the final. They finished bottom of the Premier Division in 2021–22 and were relegated to Division One East. The club were transferred to Division One Midlands at the end of the 2023–24 season. They were relegated at the end of the 2024–25 season.

Ground

The club spent much of their history playing at London Road until leaving during the 1990–91 season. They briefly groundshared with Spalding United before moving to the council-owned South Kesteven Sports Stadium in October 1991. The ground was built on the Meres playing fields and is also referred to as 'the Meres'.Grantham Town
Pyramid Passion On one side of the pitch is the seated West Stand, which has uncovered terracing on either side. The East Stand on the other side of the pitch is of a covered terrace. There are no stands behind the goals due to the running track. The ground currently has a capacity of 7,500, of which 750 is seated and 1,950 is covered.

Honours

*Northern Premier League **Division One South champions 2011–12 *Southern League **Division One North champion 1972–73, 1978–79 **Midland Division champions 1997–98 *Midland League **Champions 1963–64, 1970–71, 1971–72 **League Cup winners 1968–69, 1970–71 *Central Alliance **Champions 1924–25 **Division B champions 1924–25 *Midland Amateur League **Champions 1910–11 * Lincolnshire Senior Cup **Winners 1884–85, 1971–72, 1982–83 *Lincolnshire County Senior Cup **Winner 1936–37 *Lincolnshire Senior Cup 'A' **Winners 1953–54, 1960–61, 1961–62 *Lincolnshire County Shield **Winners 2003–04, 2004–05, 2011–12

Records

*Best

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 ...

performance: Third round, 1883–84, 1886–87, 1973–74 *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: Quarter-finals, 1971–72, 1997–98 *Biggest victory: 13–0 vs Rufford Colliery, FA Cup preliminary round, 15 September 1934 *Heaviest defeat: 15–0 vs Notts County Rovers, Midland Amateur Alliance, 22 October 1892 *Record attendance: 6,578 vs

, FA Cup third round, 1973–74 *Most appearances: Adrian Speed, 667 *Most goals: Jack Macartney, 416 *Record transfer fee received: £20,000 from

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

for Gary Crosby

References

External links