Barrow A.F.C.

Barrow A.F.C. are a football team based in the town of Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, England.

The team are known by their fans as "The Bluebirds", owing to their blue and white kit. Attendances vary – the record of 16,874 was set against Swansea City in the F.A. Cup Third Round in 1954 – but during the 1990s and 2000s the average has remained consistently between 1,000 and 1,100.

Barrow were founded in 1901 and played at various grounds before moving to their current stadium, Holker Street, in 1909. After early years spent in regional leagues, the club became founder members of the Football League Division 3 North in 1921.

Barrow remained in the lowest tier of the Football League pyramid for all but three seasons. During this time, they remained relatively obscure, only occasionally coming to national attenton. Their F.A. Cup Third Round game against the then Football League champions Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 1958–59 season is particularly notable.

In 1972, Barrow were voted out of the Football League and joined the Northern Premier League. They later became founder members of the Football Conference, the only national division in non-league football. After this, Barrow spent periods of time in both the Football Conference and the Northern Premier League.

In 1990 they won their most prestigious competition, the F.A. Trophy, beating Leek Town 3–0 in the final at Wembley Stadium, London.

Notably, in 1998, the club entered financial difficulties following the departure of Liverpool based chairman Steven Vaughan. The following year, the club entered administration and were thrown out of the Football Conference. Thanks to the support of the Football Association, Barrow were allowed entrance into the Northern Premier League for the 1999–2000 season, almost a month after it had commenced. This reduced time in which to play their fixtures led to the scheduling of Barrow v Winsford United on 30th December 1999, recognised as the last professional or semi-professional game in the UK of the millennium (assuming the year 2000 is considered to be part of the third millennium AD). Following legal disputes of the ownership of Holker Street, the club finally left administration in 2003.

In 2004–2005, Barrow AFC became founder members of yet another division, this time the Conference North, which falls between the Conference National and the Northern Premier League Premier Division.