Rawtenstall Athletic F.C.

Rawtenstall Athletic F.C., formerly Rawtenstall F.C., were an English football club based in Rawtenstall, Lancashire. They were nicknamed "The Cobblers" (not to be confused with Northampton Town F.C.) after the town's shoe-making industry.

The club was founded in 1893 as Rawtenstall F.C. when members of Rawtenstall Cricket Club who had been using the cricket ground for football during the winter months decided to formally organise and enter a team in the Central Lancashire League. Their first secretary is listed as a Mr. Sidney Thwaites. The team quickly became competitive in the Central Lancashire League, although their applications to join both the Lancashire Combination and the Lancashire League were rejected. In 1896 the cricket club decided they would no longer allow their pitch to be used for football and Rawtenstall moved to the Cartwright Lane ground that was to be their home for almost a century.

With the disappearance of the Central Lancashire League after the First World War, Rawtenstall were initially accepted into the Lancashire Combination where they briefly rubbed shoulders with the likes of Accrington Stanley and Wigan Borough F.C., but found the competition too tough and in 1922 chose to drop down to the Manchester Football League. Another move to the expanded West Lancashire League came in 1927, followed by a second foray into the Combination in 1930, but by 1934 they were back in the West Lancashire League.

The club was inactive during World War II and was slow to reform thereafter, eventually rejoining the Combination in 1947 under the new name Rawtenstall Athletic F.C. They enjoyed their greatest success during the 1950's, with star striker George Towser finding the net 240 times between 1949 and 1963. They won the Second Division in 1951, enjoyed second-place finishes in the First in 1954 and 1958, and reached the quarter-finals of the FA Amateur Cup in two consective years, losing to Stowmarket in 1954 and to Wembley in 1955 (a season that brought the consolation prize of a Lancashire Junior Cup success). Their members voted at least once during the decade on applying to join the powerful Northern League, but rejected the idea.

By the 60's Rawtenstall's star had faded, with relegation back to the Combination's Second Division coming in 1962 where they languished for the rest of the decade. In 1972 they followed neighbours Rossendale United into the Cheshire County League hoping to emulate their success, but found the increased travelling costs only added to their growing financial difficulties. A welcome distraction came in 1977/78 when victory over Consett F.C. in the FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round brought the reward of a trip to Doncaster Rovers in the First Round proper where Rawtenstall were beaten 6-0.

Struggling badly in the Cheshire County League, in 1982 when the North West Counties Football League was formed Rawtenstall opted not to join the new league, instead dropping back to the West Lancashire League. This was the beginning of the end for the club, operating in a crowded Lancashire market and with a dilapidated ground too expensive to properly maintain. The 1989/90 season saw Cartwright Lane sold off for housing, and a groundshare at Rossendale's Dark Lane proved equally unviable. A fundraising friendly at Burnley F.C., in which Blackburn striker Duncan Shearer turned out for the club, wasn't enough and Rawtenstall folded midway through the 1991/92 season with debts reportedly exceeding £60,000.

Ironically, the team's fortunes had taken a sudden upturn in their final half-season, so much so that Rawtenstall are probably one of the only clubs to have actually topped their league table at the time of their demise.

A revived Rawtenstall F.C. are currently active in the East Lancashire League, outside the pyramid system.