Atherton Laburnum Rovers F.C.
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| Full name | Atherton Laburnum Rovers |
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| Nickname(s) | The Laburnums, The Panthers |
| Founded | 1956 |
| Ground | Crilly Park, Atherton |
| Capacity | 3,000 (250 seated) |
| Chairman | Jane Wlicock |
| Manager | Shaun Lynch |
| League | North West Counties League Division One |
| 2016–17 | North West Counties League Division One, 20/22 |
Atherton Laburnum Rovers Football Club are a football club based in Atherton, Greater Manchester, England. The club are currently members of the North West Counties League Division One and play at Crilly Park. They are full members of the Lancashire County Football Association.
The club were established as an under-14 team by Joe Riley in 1956, and were originally named Laburnum Rovers, named after Laburnum Playing Fields where they first played. They joined the Briarcroft Junior League in December that year despite the season already having started, as there was an odd number of teams due to other clubs dropping out; their first competitive fixture was a league cup game against Marsh Players A, which they lost 10–0.
As the players exceeded the league's age limit, the club applied to join the Farnworth under-17s League. However it folded before the season started, and club applied to join the Leigh & District League instead, a full age competition. In 1961 they joined the Bolton Combination. They won the Division Two and the Division Two Trophy in 1965–66, and after moving into a new ground in the summer of 1966, were promoted to Division One for the 1966–67 season.
In 1980 the club joined Division Two of the Cheshire County League, but had to change their name as league rules required the name of the town to be included; as a result they became Atherton Laburnum Rovers. Two seasons later the league merged with the Lancashire Combination to form the North West Counties League, with Atherton placed in Division Two. In the 1984–85 season they won the Bolton Hospital Cup, beating Scotts Park United 3–1 in the final.
Despite finishing second-from-bottom of Division Two in 1986–87 the club were promoted to Division One as part of league reorganisation and due to the quality of the facilities at Crilly Park. In 1992–93 the club won the Division One title, and after retaining it the following season, were promoted to Division One of the Northern Premier League. The 1993–94 season also saw them reach the semi-finals of the FA Vase, in which they lost 2–1 to Diss Town in a replay at VS Rugby after the two legs finished 3–3 on aggregate; the quarter final match against Aldershot saw the setting of the club's record attendance of 1,856.
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