Kendal Town Football Club is a

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

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, south-east of Windermere and north of Lancaster. Historically in Westmorland, it lies within the dale of th ...

, Cumbria, England. The club are currently members of the and play at Parkside Road.

History

The club was established in 1919 by employees of the Netherfield Somerfield Brothers factory and was initially named Netherfield.Club History
Kendal Town F.C. They won the Westmorland County Cup in 1924–25. They joined the West Lancashire League in 1936, where the club remained until World War II. In 1945 they joined the Lancashire Combination, finishing as runners-up in their first season. The season also saw them reach the first round of the FA Cup for the first time, losing 3–2 on aggregate to

Barrow Barrow may refer to: Places England * Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria ** Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, local authority encompassing the wider area ** Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency) * Barrow, Cheshire * Barrow, Gloucestershire * Barro ...

. When the league gained a second division in 1947 the club were placed in Division One, which they won in 1948–49, a season which saw another FA Cup first round appearance, this time losing 3–0 at

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

. Netherfield went one better the following season, beating North Shields 4–3 in the first round, before losing 6–0 at Watford in the second. In the

1952–53 FA Cup The 1952–53 FA Cup was the 72nd season of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup. Blackpool won the competition for the first time, beating Bolton Wanderers 4–3 in the ...

the club lost 3–0 to Gainsborough Trinity in a first round replay. They were league runners-up again in 1953–54 and another FA Cup first round appearance the following season ended with a 4–0 defeat to Wrexham in a replay. In the

1955–56 FA Cup The 1955–56 FA Cup was the 75th staging of the world's oldest football cup competition, the FA Cup. Manchester City won the competition, beating Birmingham City 3–1 in the final at Wembley, London. Matches were scheduled to be played at th ...

the club lost 5–1 at home to Grimsby Town in the first round in front of a record crowd of 5,184. Later that season they won the Lancashire Combination Cup. The club won the Cup again in 1960–61 and were league runners-up the following season. Another FA Cup run in 1963–64 saw them beat Loughborough United 6–1 in the first round, before losing 4–1 to Chesterfield in a second round replay. The following season they lost 3–1 at home to

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

in the first round. The Lancashire Combination title was won by Netherfield for a second time in 1964–65, and their consistent form led to them becoming founder members of the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

in 1968. However, after their success in the Lancashire Combination, the club struggled in the new league; the league's first season ended with them finishing in the bottom half of the table for the first time since World War II. They went on to finish bottom of the table in 1973–74 and again in 1981–82 and 1982–83. As a result, the club dropped into Division One of the North West Counties League, which had been formed by a merger of the Lancashire Combination and 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 Footba ...

. The club continued to struggle, only avoiding relegation to Division Two in their first season in the league after

Ashton United Ashton United Football Club is a football club in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. They are currently members of and play at Hurst Cross. History The club was founded in 1878 as Hurst Football Club and the earliest known match ...

were given a points deduction. After finishing in the bottom four of Division One for the next three seasons, the club were founder members of Division One of the Northern Premier League in 1987. Although Netherfield finished bottom of the new division in their first season, they were not relegated. They were renamed Netherfield Kendal in 1998, before adopting their current name two years later when Kendal's shoe making industry closed. In 2005–06 the club finished third in Division One, qualifying for the promotion play-offs. After beating

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 ...

4–2 on penalties after a 1–1 draw, they defeated

Gresley Rovers Gresley Rovers Football Club is an English association football, football club from Church Gresley, South Derbyshire. Gresley is a member of the and plays home games at the Moat Ground. They were known as Gresley Rovers until 2009, when they we ...

2–1 in the final to earn promotion to the Premier Division.2005–06 Northern Premier League
Football Club History Database In 2008–09 a fifth-place finish in the Premier Division saw Kendal Town enter the play-offs for a place in the Conference North; however, they lost 4–3 to

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 the semi-finals. Another fifth-place finish the following season led to another play-off campaign, this time losing 2–1 to

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

in the semi-finals. 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. I ...

the club finished second-from-bottom of the Premier Division, resulting in relegation to Division One North.

Ground

After being established, the club were given land at Parkside near the K Shoe factory. Club members paid one pence a week into a sports association, which used the fund to develop the ground.Kendal Town
Pyramid Passion Dressing rooms were built in 1928 and a main stand erected in 1930. Terracing was installed behind one goal and along one side of the pitch after World War II, with the stand was expanded in 1955. More seating was installed the following year when a clubhouse was built with seats in front of it, and floodlights erected in 1965.

Club officials

Honours

*Lancashire Combination **Champions 1948–49, 1964–65 **League Cup winners 1955–56, 1960–61 *Westmorland County Cup **Winners 1924–25

Records

*Best FA Cup performance: Second round, 1949–50, 1963–64 *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, 1980–81, 1998–99, 2001–02, 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: Third round, 1989–90 *Record attendance: 5,184 vs Grimsby Town, FA Cup, 1955–56

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 54, 19, 13.44, N, 2, 44, 11.48, W, display=title Football clubs in England Football clubs in Cumbria Association football clubs established in 1919 1919 establishments in England West Lancashire Football League Lancashire Combination Northern Premier League clubs North West Counties Football League clubs Works association football teams in England