‘THE TOWN GROUND’ CLUBHOUSE TO GET INVOLVED AND ENJOY BEING PART OF OUR
The club owes its humble beginnings to long before their 1883 formation at the Rays Arms Hotel. Teams representing the town and playing under the name of ‘Heanor’ or ‘Heanor Town’ were recorded in 1878, but it was not until a public meeting was called in September 1883 that these fragmented issues were drawn together under one roof and the Club affiliated to the Derbyshire County FA.
They joined the Derbyshire League, but within a decade the Club had established itself as a top Midland League side, on one occasion finishing seventh when the top four were promoted to the Football League. And four times during this period reached the First Round Proper of the FA Cup (today’s equivalent would be the Third Round because the competition then had six Qualifying Rounds) losing to Aston Villa (away) 1-4, Nottingham Forest (away) 0-1, Bury (home) 0-3 and Southampton St. Mary’s (home) 0-1. In the latter game only a broken leg suffered by centre forward Sam Widdowson ensured that Heanor played with ten men for almost 80 minutes this after a 1-1 draw at Southampton. During this period such teams as Mansfield Town, Chesterfield, Lincoln City and Northampton Town were beaten in the Qualifying Competition. Since then, the Lions have played in the Derbyshire League, Mid-Derbyshire League, Midland League (four times), Central Combination, Central Alliance, Notts Alliance, West Midlands (Regional) and Northern Counties East. In 1986 they joined the Central Midlands and are the only Club to have held continuous membership of the Supreme Division since its formation. Last season they added the new East Midlands Counties League to the list in which they have competed. In 1958 Heanor entertained Fourth Division Carlisle United at The Town Ground in the FA Cup First Round losing 1-5 before 6,511 spectators. At the time they were members of the Central Alliance League Division One (North). But the strength of that league at the time can be judged by the fact that Ilkeston Town and Creswell Colliery was other clubs who also graced the FA Cup competition proper. In 1963 The Lions were a Midland League side and once again when they lost at the same stage away to Fourth Division Bradford Park Avenue containing one Kevin Hector and managed by Jimmy Scoular at Bradford in front of a crowd 5,799. The club’s best Midland League finish was in 1966 when they were runners-up and twelve months later, they were one of only six Midland League clubs with the best record selected to become founder members of the Northern Premier League. However, the Heanor Committee at the time declined the opportunity because of the costs involved and their place was taken by Goole Town. The Club has three times reached the Fourth Round Proper of the FA Vase; in 1989 they drew at this stage at home to Eastwood (Hanley) 1-1 but lost the replay by the odd goal of three. And the other two occasions also saw they lose by the same score to Rushden Town (Home) in 1990 and Arnold Town (away) in 2002. They have reached the Third Round Proper on two other occasions losing to Warrington Town and Eccleshill United both away. Honours decorated the Town Ground trophy cabinet at regular intervals during the 90’s with two Central Midlands League Supreme Division titles in 1995 & 1997 and the last being the Central Midlands League Cup won in a thrilling 5-3 finale against Ollerton Town in 2007. In 2009 the Club appointed Joint Managers Craig Hopkins and Glenn Kirkwood who set themselves a target to win the East Midlands Counties League championship within three years. In their first season they finished seventh, the season after they improved to third then in their third season, they achieved their goal when they were crowned champions in front of a home crowd of 154, beating local rivals Blackwell Miners Welfare 1-0 courtesy of a Josh Royce goal in the penultimate game of the season. Managers Kirkwood and Hopkins left Heanor Town giving short notice on the 12 January 2013 to join local strugglers Mickleover Sports. Jordan Hall, one of the players, was appointed as interim manager later that day and guided the club to an 11th place finish in the NCEL Premier league.
In June 2013 local businessman Geoff Clarence purchased the club and immediately spent thousands of pounds updating the facilities at the Town Ground including a complete renovation of the ageing clubhouse. Glen Clarence was appointed first team manager building a young local squad which improved the club to an 8th place finish in the league along with two semi-final appearances in the Derbyshire and League cups. With the re-shape of the football leagues from step three downwards Heanor took the sideways move to the Midland Football League. With that league folding Heanor moved to the United Counties North league. In 2024 Heanor Town reached the Derbyshire Cup Final and proudly played at Pride Park in front of a match record crowd of 1400. Then in 2025 the club reached the FA Vase quarter finals for the first time in its history.
Bright things are on the horizon for the club as a total ground upgrade including an all-weather pitch is due to finish by early 2026.
A FIRST YEAR FULL OF SUCCESS - AFC Mansfield was formed in 2012 and joined the Central Midlands Football League, signing a 10-year rolling deal to play at the Forest Town Arena. The newly-formed club - nicknamed ‘the Bulls’ - began their journey in the 2012/13 season, when they fought on four fronts and nearly won the lot.Despite mustering 176 goals and losing just twice, the Bulls had to settle for a runners-up place to Dronfield, who dropped just five points all season to clinch the league title. But success would come in the Notts Intermediate Cup final where they defeated Beeston AFC, and a Floodlit Cup final victory over Newark Town would earn a cup double for the Bulls in their first ever season as a club.It could have been a hat-trick of cup titles, but a tiresome nine-man AFC would be beaten in injury time by Clifton All Whites in the League Cup final at Alfreton Town.
MORE SILVERWARE & A RISE UP THE LEAGUES - The club entered the FA Vase for the first time in the 2013/14 season and were eventually knocked out in a replay by step five side Huntingdon Town.But much more success was to come later that season, as the Bulls clinched the Central Midlands Football League North Division title before beating Thorne Colliery in the League Cup final to earn their fourth piece of silverware in two seasons... Althougha treble eluded them once again with defeat in the Floodlit Cup final to Bulwell FC. In their first season in the Northern Counties East Football League Division One, the Bulls came one game away from an FA Vase quarter-final by reaching the fifth round - a record run - but were knocked out 3-0 by Tadcaster Albion.
FA CUP GLORY & FURTHER PROMOTIONS - The next three seasons would be full of further success. In 2015/16, AFC earned promotion to the NCEL Premier Division with a second-place finish, and a year later made club history with an FA Cup run lasting all the way to the Third Qualifying Round, where they would be knocked out by Stamford in a close 2-1 defeat. The 2017/18 season was perhaps the best in AFC’s bountiful but brief history to date, with the Bulls matching their FA Cup run from the previous campaign and clinching promotion to the Northern Premier League East Division- step eight in the football pyramid. The Bulls got past Hall Road Rangers, Quorn, Dunkirk and Rushall Olympic before being beaten by National League North side Boston United in front of over 600 spectators in the FA Cup Third Qualifying Round. Mustering 96 points and scoring 110 league goals, at first glance it would be expected that AFC won the NCEL Premier Division that season, but they actually finished in third behind Pickering Town on goal difference and league winners Pontefract who recorded a ridiculous 102 points. Thanks to a reshuffle in the step above in the football pyramid, however, the Bulls were promoted alongside Pontefract and Pickering to the NPL East Division.
EXPERIENCING THE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE- For the first time in the Bulls’ history, they found difficulty in adapting to their new league despite a promising start to the 2018/19 campaign.The ray of sunshine in the first half of their season was another impressive FA Cup run which ended at a much higher side in Kettering Town, who could only just edge past the Bulls with a 2-1 win despite a very nervy ending. Manager Rudy Funk was sacked in February 2019 with the AFC bottom of the pile, and new boss Mark Ward steered his side to safety by 15 points, but ground grading issues meant that the club would be playing Step 5 football once more which resulted in manager Mark Ward stepping down from his role.
RETURN TO THENORTHERN COUNTIES - Ward was then replaced at the start of the 2019/20 season by Matt Chatfield who quickly went to work transforming the club, securing six consecutive home wins in his opening season and signing the likes leading goal-scorer Ross Duggan before the Covid-19 pandemic put a halt to proceedings with the NCEL declaring the season null and void. The Bulls once again made a positive start to the 20/21 season opening their account with a strong run in the FA Cup beating local rivals Sherwood Colliery 2-1, Cleethorpes Town 1-0, Gainsborough Trinity 3-0under the lights at the Forest Town Arena. Finally going out 4-2 to Boston United away at Gainsborough Trinity’s ground. With the Bulls only managing to play 9 league games, with pandemic in full swing the season ended was declared curtailed.At the start of the 21/22 season u21 Manager and club captain Phil Buxton was announced as the new AFC Mansfield Boss after Matt Chatfield resigned as Manager to take up a new role elsewhere.
THE UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE - 21/22 saw the club finish 15th in their last season in the NCEL and they started the 22/23 season in the UCL Premier Division North. With 2 Owners, 3 Managers and over 50 players signed on the club struggled for stability and narrowly avoided relegation. Phil Buxton, back for his 2nd stint as Manager lead The Bulls into 2023-24 with a new committee and backers in place the club was looking to improve and although they finished 10 points above relegation the league position remained the same. 2024/25 sees an influx of players both old and new. 11 players in total joined The Bulls and that influx saw the club finish 5th on 72pts and reach the play-offs. They unfortunately lost in the semi-final to Bourne Town. 2025/26 again sees new players sign for the club with the majority of last season’s squad remaining. Let’s hope The Bulls can go one better this season!
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