Full name | Barrow Association Football Club |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | The Bluebirds, The Ziggers (pre-1970s) |
Founded | 1901 |
Ground | Holker Street |
Capacity | 4,414 (1,000 seated) |
Chairman | Paul Casson |
Manager | Paul Cox |
League | National League |
2015–16 | National League, 11th |
Website | Club home page |
Barrow Association Football Club is an association football club based in the town of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The club participates in the National League, the fifth tier of the English league system. Barrow play their home games at Holker Street, (currently sponsored as the "Furness Building Society Stadium"), close to the town centre and approximately 547 yds (0.5 km) from Barrow Railway Station.
The club spent over fifty years in the Football League between 1921 and 1972, achieving promotion to Division 3 by finishing 3rd in the Football League Fourth Division in the 1966–67 season. The highest league period in the club's history was to be short-lived and a return to Division 4 came after relegation in 1969–70 season. Fortunes never improved and at the end of the 1971–72 season, after an unsuccessful bid for re-election, Barrow were voted out of the Football League, to be replaced by Hereford United of the Southern League. Barrow have since spent their time in the top two levels of non-league football, having been promoted five times to the Conference (of which they were a founder member), most recently as Conference North champions in 2014–15. In addition they have twice won non-league football's most prestigious cup competition, the FA Trophy – in 1990 and 2010, becoming the only club to have won the Trophy at both old and new Wembley Stadium.
The club colours are blue and white, though the combination of these has varied over time, leading to their nickname "The Bluebirds". Attendances at the club's Holker Street ground vary – the home record of 16,874 was set against Swansea Town in the FA Cup Third Round in 1954 – but during the 1990s and 2000s the average remained consistently between 800 and 1,500. Average attendance stood at 1456 during the 2014–15 season. Barrow are owned by Dallas-based businessman Paul Casson, who purchased the club for £600,000 in September 2014.