Larkhall Athletic F.C.

Football club infobox
clubname = Larkhall Athletic
fullname = Larkhall Athletic Football Club
nickname = The Larks
founded = 1914
ground = The Plain Ham Ground
Bath
capacity =
chairman =
manager =
league = Western Football League
Division One
season = 2007–08
position = Western Football League
Division One, 3rd

Larkhall Athletic F.C. are a football club based in Bath, Somerset, England. The club was founded in 1914, and played local football until joining the Western League when it expanded to two divisions in 1976. They remain members of Western League Division One, having neither achieved promotion nor faced relegation since joining the Western League, although they did win the Division One title in the 1988-89 season. They run a reserve side, who play in the Somerset County League.

They have not had great success in national competitions - they never won a single FA Cup in either of their two seasons in the competitions until season 2008-09 when they have reach First round qualifying.Their best FA Vase run has seen them reach the Second Round on three occasions.

Plain Ham Ground

In 1951, after a break through the 1940s the club regained access to its home at Plain Ham. And since then, it has gone from strength to strength, achieving the status as a Somerset Premier Club in 2004.

Initially the club rented the pitch match by match. It offered a sloping pitch, 12 sq yd wooden hut for changing and a single tin bath for washing after the match, a nearby stand-pipe providing the water source. In 1962 a cricket team was formed and the club became Larkhall Sports Club. Around the same time the then Bath City Council granted the club a long lease on the ground at Plain Ham. A small club house was erected in 1965. In 1975 the main football pitch at Plain Ham was levelled to create a pitch suitable for senior football. The club house was doubled in size in 1983 and in 1989 the club purchased adjoining land at Pows Field which has become the home for the cricket section. It also provides a second football pitch which is used primarily for junior and youth football on Sunday.

In 1996, aided by a Lottery Grant, the club further extended its club house, enlarging the dressing rooms, incorporating secure storage, a laundry and a kitchen and improving access and facilities for the disabled. Plain Ham was re-levelled in 2004, drainage improved and floodlights installed all with the help of the Football Stadia Improvement Fund. At the same time the car park was extended and new floodlights installed on the training area. In 2005, with tremendous financial support from the local community and members past and present, the club completed the purchase of Plain Ham from the Bath and North East Somerset Local Authority.

Larkhall Cricket Club

There is also a cricket side to Larkhall Sports Club. The play of the aforementioned sloping pitch called the Powesfield Oval. Further information on Larkhall Cricket Club can be found at their own dedicated website www.larkhallcc.co.uk [http://www.larkhallcc.co.uk]

External links

*fchd|name=Larkhall Athletic|id=LARKHALA
*www.larkhallcc.co.uk