Kiveton Park F.C.

Kiveton Park
Full name Kiveton Park Football Club
Founded 1877
Ground Hard Lane
Capacity 2,000 (50 seats)
Chairman Bob Poad
Manager Chris Nelson
League Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League Division 2
2013–14 Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League Division 2, 13th

Kiveton Park F.C. is an English football club based in Kiveton Park, Sheffield, South Yorkshire. They play in the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League Division Two, at level 13 of the English football league system.

History

Although the club's official foundation year is given as 1892, a Kiveton side has recently been found to have been playing in Sheffield football as early as 1877,[1] and competing in the 1884 Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup. Its first club colours were believed to be red and black quarters.[2]

The Kiveton Park team which won the 1914 Portland Challenge Cup

They were founder members of the Sheffield & District League in 1891[3] (being Chesterfield's first league opponents on the first day of that season) but left this competition in 1893 to play in the Sheffield Minor Cup League and Hatchard League – remaining in the latter until the outbreak of World War I. In this time the club won its first trophy in 1892 when winning the Sheffield Minor Cup,[4] following up this success with Hatchard League titles in 1894[5] and 1896.[6]

Kiveton spent the majority of the time between the two world wars in the Sheffield Amateur League, with the exception of brief spells in the Sheffield Association League and the Holbrook & District League. They made their FA Cup debut in 1921 and reaching the 3rd qualifying round of the competition two years later, losing to Rotherham Town at Clifton Lane.

The club, like most others in the country, did initially break up when the Second World War broke out, but in 1942 they joined the Worksop & District League, remaining in this competition until the end of the war. The 1945–46 season saw the club came close to winning two prestigious competitions – going out in the semi-finals of the Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup and finishing as runners-up in the Sheffield Invitation League play-offs, after beating Sheffield United reserves in the semi-final at Hard Lane.[7]

They spent the first four post-war years as Kiveton Park Colliery in the Sheffield Association League, before joining the Yorkshire League in 1949.[8] After suffering two disastrous campaigns at this higher level, they moved back to the Worksop & District League, where they stayed for the duration of the 1950s. By the early 1960s Kiveton were competing, and finding great success, in the East Derbyshire League (in 1961–62 they won seven trophies in one season[9]), and so in 1963 the club successfully applied to re-join the Yorkshire League.

A Kiveton Park programme cover from 1977

In 1967 they won promotion to Division One and two years later finished in third place – the club's highest ever league finish. [3] A year later however they were relegated back to Division Two. For a while during this era the club was known as Kiveton Park United.[10] In 1972 they completed a league and cup double, winning the prestigious Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup for the first time, and gaining promotion back to the Yorkshire League's top flight.[3] Their yo-yo existence would continue however – up to 1982 they flitted constantly between Division One and Two, winning the Division Two title in 1978.[3]

A year after Kiveton reached the 4th Round of the FA Vase in 1981, the Yorkshire League merged with the Midland League to form the Northern Counties East League (NCEL), and Park were among the founder members of the new competition.[3] They spent the first three years in Division Two South before being moved to Division One South when the competition went through a restructure in 1985.[3] They were promoted to Division One in 1986, but were relegated back again in 1990 because of ground grading issues. At the end of the 1990–91 season they left the NCEL to join the Central Midlands League (CMFL)[3]

Park finished as Premier Division North runners-up in their first season, and a year later won promotion to the CMFL's Supreme Division. In 1994 the village's colliery closed, and two years later, after losing its biggest financier, the club went into hibernation.[11] The club was reformed in 1999, re-joining the CMFL Premier Division. In 2003 they finished as runners-up, gaining promotion back to the Supreme Division, but were relegated back again two years later because of their failure to install floodlights.[12] This blow came just days after they had won the Sheffield & Hallamshire Association Cup for the second year running.[13] It wasn't until the league restructured in 2011 to form North and South divisions that the club regained Step 7 status in the English football league system.

The year of 2013 was a busy one for the club. It decided, due to the cost of travelling to away games, to leave the CMFL, and join the more local Sheffield County Senior League (S&HCSL).[14] Kiveton entered the Second Division of the S&HCSL for the start of the 2013–14 season, with hopes of eventually reaching the Premier Division – a step 7 league. The year also brought much needed ground improvements thanks to a grant from the Inspired Olympics Legacy Fund.[15]

Managers

From To Manager
1967 John Wragg
1968 1969 George Jowett
1973 1975 Tommy Meecham
1975 1976 Tony Skelton
1976 1981 Paddy Buckley
1981 1982 Terry Stevenson
From To Manager
1982 1984 John Bilton
1984 1990 John Warnock
1990 1991 Jeff Sykes
1991 1994 Chas Mellon
1994 1996 Glyn Reeve
1999 2000 Tony Fowkes
From To Manager
2000 2007 Stuart Holmes[16]
2007 2010 Wayne Burgin & Kevin Hull[17]
2010 2013 Wayne Burgin & Bob Poad[18]
2013 Chris Nelson

Notable former players

Herbert Chapman

Kiveton's most famous sons, Harry and Herbert Chapman, played for the club during this era before going onto greater things – Harry became a Sheffield Wednesday legend while Herbert went on to become one of the most successful managers of all time. In 2004 the Sunday Times voted Herbert the greatest British manager ever,[19] and in 2014 the club featured prominently in Patrick Barclay's book – The Life and Times of Herbert Chapman. Barclay wrote: "Kiveton Park could claim to have been a cradle of two revolutions, one industrial and the other sporting, and beyond question it is the birthplace of at least one great man, widely considered the father of football as we have come to know it."[20]

Although Harry Chapman could claim to be the best player to hail from the village, he never won an international cup – although another Kivetonian did. Bert Morley played for England against Ireland in 1910, just six years after leaving his local football team.

In 1940, Empire News reported that, pro rata, the village had turned out more professional football players than anywhere in England apart from the Shropshire town of Oakengates.[21] The following players played in the Football League either before or after playing for Kiveton Park.

League and cup history

* League play-off winners
** League play-off runners-up
*** League play-off semi-finalists

Ground

The club used to play on the ground of Wales Cricket Club (which was destroyed to make room for the M1 motorway in 1960), but has played at its present home on Hard Lane for over 85 years. The ground was paid for by the local Miners Welfare scheme and also hosts the village's cricket club. Initially Park played on the pitch nearest Hard Lane, but in the 1960s they moved to the central pitch and built a stand to hold 200 seated spectators.[24]

Gallery

Honours

League

  • Yorkshire League Division 2
    • Promoted: 1965–66, 1971–72, 1977–78 (champions), 1979–80
  • Northern Counties East League Division 2
    • Promoted: 1986-86
  • Portland/Worksop Senior League
    • Champions: 1901–02, 1902–03
  • East Derbyshire League
    • Champions: 1961–62, 1962–63

Cup

  • Sheffield & Hallamshire Minor Cup
    • 1891–92
  • Sheffield & Hallamshire Association Cup
    • 2004–05, 2005–06
  • Aston-cum-Aughton Charity Cup
    • 1902–03, 1903–04, 1904–05, 1906–07, 1907–08
  • Portland/Worksop Senior Cup
    • 1903–04, 1908–09, 1913–14, 1920–21, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1925–26, 1953–54
  • East Derbyshire League Cup
    • 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63
A match report from Kiveton's 1892 Sheffield Minor Cup win

Records

References

  1. ↑ Sheffield Independent, 23 November 1877, page 4
  2. ↑ Sheffield Evening Telegraph, 3 November 1906, page 4
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 "Kiveton Park". fchd.info. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  4. ↑ Sheffield Independent, 18 April 1892, page 8
  5. ↑ Sheffield Independent, 30 April 1894, page 8
  6. ↑ Worksop Guardian, 10 October 1896, page 6
  7. ↑ Worksop Guardian, 3 May 1946, page 4
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Kiveton Park Colliery". fchd.info. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Worksop Guardian, 11 May 1962, page 4
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Kiveton Park United". fchd.info. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  11. ↑ "History". Kiveton Park FC. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  12. ↑ "We won't roll over". Worksop Guardian. 19 May 2005. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  13. ↑ "Kiveton win final on penalty shoot out". Worksop Guardian. 28 April 2005. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  14. ↑ Rotherham Advertiser, 23 August 2013, page 28
  15. ↑ "News about the Rotherham and Dearne Valley areas – Clubs to benefit from Olympic legacy". Rotherham Advertiser. 31 January 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  16. ↑ "Club directory". Mitoo. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  17. ↑ "Club directory". Mitoo. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  18. ↑ "Club directory". Mitoo. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  19. ↑ "The Greatest Manager Ever". The Sunday Times. 10 January 2004.
  20. ↑ Barclay, Patrick (2014). The Life and Times of Herbert Chapman. W&N. p. 1. ISBN 0297868500.
  21. ↑ Rotherham Advertiser, 28 November 1986
  22. ↑ "Kiveton Park Colliery". WildStat. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  23. ↑ "Kiveton Park United". WildStat. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  24. ↑ Green Un, 21 December 1968, page 13

Coordinates: 53°20′23″N 1°15′30″W / 53.33977°N 1.25845°W