Chadderton F.C.

Did You Know?

• The club initially played at Parkway when known as Burnley Lane Estate Juniors.
• At Mill Brow they played on a pitch next to the canal in Mills Hill, using the nearby Rose of Lancaster pub as a changing room.
• They later moved to a ground on the Broadway road.

History

Chadderton Football Club began life in 1946 as Burnley Lane Estate Juniors, competing in the Middleton Youth League. A year later, the team relocated to Mill Brow, formed a senior side, and changed its name to Millbrow Football Club. Following another move, the club became North Chadderton Amateurs and played in the Oldham Amateur League, where it won the Challenge Cup in the 1954–55 season. The club then stepped up to the Manchester Amateur League, claiming the North division title in 1955–56, and adopted its present name in 1957.

By the end of the 1958–59 campaign, Chadderton had earned promotion to Division One. They topped that division in 1962–63, the same season they began competing in Division Two of the Manchester League. The club finished as runners-up in Division Two for two consecutive seasons, 1962–63 and 1963–64, before winning the division outright in 1964–65, though no promotion followed. When the division was renamed Division One in 1966, Chadderton won it again in 1966–67, this time securing a move up to the Premier Division.

In 1980, the club joined the Lancashire Combination. When that league merged with the Cheshire County League in 1982 to create the North West Counties League, Chadderton became a founding member of Division Two. A third-place finish in 1988–89 earned them promotion to Division One, but they ended the following season at the bottom of the table and were relegated back to Division Two. Despite an eleventh-place finish in 1991–92, the club was promoted to Division One once more. They remained there until the end of the 1997–98 season, when they were demoted for failing to meet ground grading standards. Division Two was renamed Division One in 2008.

A sixth-place finish in 2014–15 put Chadderton in the promotion play-offs, but they lost 2–1 to AFC Darwen in the semi-finals. In 2018, the league added another tier, placing the club in Division One North. The 2022–23 season saw them finish as runners-up in that division, qualifying for the play-offs again. They beat Euxton Villa on penalties after a 1–1 draw in the semi-finals, then defeated FC St Helens on penalties following another 1–1 draw in the final, earning promotion to the Premier Division.