Full name | Larkhall Athletic Football Club |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | The Larks |
Founded | 1914 |
Ground |
The Plain Ham Ground, Larkhall, Bath |
Capacity | 1,000 |
Chairman | Paul Rankin |
Manager | Phil Bater |
League | Southern League Division One South & West |
2015–16 | Southern League Division One South & West, 11th |
Larkhall Athletic Football Club are a football club based in Larkhall, in Bath, Somerset, England. From 2014–15 they have been playing in the Southern Football League Division One South & West, reaching the play-off final in May 2015. The club is affiliated to the Somerset County FA.
The club was founded in 1914, and played local football until joining the Western League when it expanded to two divisions in 1976. They won promotion to the Western Football League Premier Division from the First Division for the first time in 2008–09 as champions and with a goal difference of +100. They had previously won the Division One title in the 1988–89 season but remained in Division One. In 2010–11, in only their second ever season at Premier level, Larkhall won the Western League Premier Division for the first time by nine clear points. They remained in the Premier Division for the 2011–12 season however, due to the ground requirements for promotion. In 2014 they won the Western League double (championship and Les Phillips Cup) and progressed to the Southern League for the first time in club history.
The Larks' best FA Vase runs before the 2008–09 saw them reach the Second Round on three occasions. Larkhall went the farthest they had ever been in the 2008–09 season however, and beat Gillingham Town and Plymouth Parkway in the qualifying rounds, before away at Porthleven in the First Round, and beating Lymington Town of the Wessex League Premier Division 4–1 en route to the Third Round.
In the 2011–12 season, the surpassed their 2008–09 season by reaching the Fifth Round, but lost to Herne Bay. They equalled this feat in 2012–13, losing in the fifth round to the eventual finalists Tunbridge Wells, and in 2013–14, when they again went out in the fifth round.