Holker Old Boys Association Football Club is an amateur

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 the ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, England. They are currently members of the and play at Rakesmoor Lane.

History

The club was established in 1936 as Holker Central Old Boys and was initially an under-16 team for former pupils of the Holker Central Secondary School.Holker Old Boys: History
North West Counties League They joined the adult North Western League in 1939, before joining Division One of the

West Lancashire League The West Lancashire Football League is a football competition based in northern England, consisting of five divisions – three for first teams (Premier, One and Two), and two for reserve teams. The league is currently sponsored by Lancaster ...

in 1967.West Lancashire League 1959–1978
Non-League Matters In 1972–73 the club finished bottom of Division One and were relegated to Division Two. The club adopted its current name in 1973, and after finishing fourth in Division Two in 1975–76, they were promoted back to Division One. The club were relegated again at the end of the 1978–79 season, but returned to Division One after finishing second in Division Two in 1980–81.
Non-League Matters In 1985–87 Holker Old Boys were Division One runners-up, and the following season they won the league for the first time. The club were runners-up again in 1987–88, and after finishing fourth in 1990–91, they moved up to Division Two of the

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 S ...

. A third-place finish in 1993–94 saw the club promoted to Division One. They were relegated back to Division Two after finishing bottom of Division One in 1998–99. Division Two was subsequently renamed Division One in 2008. In 2014–15 the club finished fifth in the division, qualifying for the promotion play-offs; they went on to lose 3–1 to Hanley Town in the semi-finals.

Ground

The club initially played on playing fields, before moving to Thorncliffe Road. In 1971 they relocated to Rakesmoor Lane, which had previously been used for an isolation hospital and then allotments. Floodlights were installed within two seasons of joining the North West Counties League in 1991. In 2003 a home match against

F.C. United of Manchester Football Club United of Manchester is a semi-professional football club based in Moston, Manchester, England, that competes in the , the seventh tier of the English football league system, and plays home matches at Broadhurst Park. Found ...

was moved to Craven Park, the home ground of

Barrow Raiders The Barrow Raiders are a semi-professional rugby league team in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The club was formed in 1875 as Barrow Football Club. For the 1995–96 and 1996 seasons the club was known as Barrow Braves, becoming the Ba ...

rugby league club, due to the anticipated size of the crowd; the attendance of 2,303 was a club record.

Honours

*West Lancashire League **Division One champions 1986–87 *Lancashire Amateur Shield **Winners 1988–89, 1990–91

Records

*Best

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 competi ...

performance: Second qualifying round, 2004–05 *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 footbal ...

performance: Fourth round, 2022–23 *Record attendance: 2,303 vs

FC United Football Club United of Manchester is a semi-professional football club based in Moston, Manchester, England, that competes in the , the seventh tier of the English football league system, and plays home matches at Broadhurst Park. Found ...

, North West Counties League Division Two, 17 December 2005 *Most goals: Dave ConlinMike Williams & Tony Williams (2016) ''Non-League Club Directory 2017'', Tony Williams Publications, p461

References

External links