Barrow Association Football Club is an English football club based in the town of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. Founded in 1901, the team began in that season's Lancashire League, joined the Lancashire Combination in its newly formed Second Division for the 1903–04 season, and were promoted to its First Division in 1905. In 1909, Barrow moved to the Holker Street ground where they have played ever since. They won the Lancashire Combination title in 1920–21, and were invited to join the newly formed Third Division North of the Football League for 1921–22.

Barrow spent most of the 19 seasons before the Football League was suspended for the Second World War in the bottom half of the table. They finished bottom of the league four times, were re-elected each time, and had three consecutive top-half finishes in the early 1930s, the best of which, fifth place in 1931–32, remains the club's highest finishing position. When the regional third tier was reorganised into national Third and Fourth Divisions in 1958, Barrow were placed in the fourth tier. After one bottom-placed finish and three more in the re-election positions, Barrow finished third in the 1966–67 Fourth Division and gained promotion to the third tier. They finished eighth in their first seasontheir highest finish in the four-tier Football Leaguebut were relegated two years later, finished bottom in 1970–71, but in 1971–72, at the eleventh time of asking, their application for re-election proved unsuccessful after a second vote. Their place was taken by Southern League runners-up Hereford United, who had received widespread attention during an FA Cup run that included their dramatic elimination of top-flight team Newcastle United in front of the television cameras.

Barrow struggled for seven seasons in the Northern Premier League (NPL) before joining the newly formed Alliance Premier League (APL), where they lasted four seasons before being relegated back to the NPL. They bounced straight back as 1983–84 title-winners, and yo-yoed between the two for the next 20 years, during which time the APL was renamed the Football Conference. They won further NPL titles in 1988–89 and 1997–98, and won their first national silverware, the FA Trophy, in the 1989–90 season, beating Leek Town 3–0 in the final they would win their second FA Trophy 20 years later, with an extra-time victory over Stevenage Borough. Barrow were expelled from the Conference in 1999 after financial mismanagement forced the club into liquidation. The NPL would not initially accept the reconstituted club as a member; it finally did so, under pressure from the Football Association, eight matches into the 1999–2000 season, and it took considerably longer for issues around the club's ownership to be resolved.

The non-league pyramid was restructured ahead of the 2004–05 season, and Barrow became founder members of the sixth-tier Conference North. After four seasons they were promoted via the play-offs to the Conference National, from which they were relegated after five years. Barrow won the 2014–15 Conference North title, and remained in the newly renamed National League until the 2019–20 season was initially suspended and then ended prematurely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Barrow four points clear at the top of the table. After protracted discussions, the clubs voted to decide the final tables on a points-per-game basis; Barrow's 70 points from 37 games made them champions, and returned them to the Football League after 48 years. They retained their status for the next two seasons, albeit with bottom-four finishes, before moving into mid-table in 2022–23.

Key

Key to league record: P – Played W – Games won D – Games drawn L – Games lost F – Goals for A – Goals against Pts – Points Pos – Final position

+ Key to colours and symbols:SymbolMeaning 1st or W Winners 2nd or F Runners-up / losing finalists Promoted Relegated ♦ Top league scorer in Barrow's division

Key to divisions: Lancs Lge – Lancashire League Lancs C 1 – Lancashire Combination Division 1 Lancs C 2 – Lancashire Combination Division 2 Div 3N – Football League Third Division North Div 3 – Football League Third Division Div 4 – Football League Fourth Division League 2 – EFL League Two NPL – Northern Premier League NPL P – Northern Premier League Premier Division APL – Alliance Premier League Conf – Football Conference Conf Nat – Conference National Conf P – Conference Premier Conf N – Conference North Nat – National League

Key to rounds: Group – Group stage Prelim – Preliminary round QR1 – First qualifying round QR2 – Second qualifying round, etc. R1 – First round R2 – Second round, etc. QF – Quarter-final SF – Semi-final F – Final W – Winners (N) – Northern section of regionalised stage

Details of the abandoned 1939–40 Football League season are shown in italics and appropriately footnoted.

Seasons SeasonLeagueFA Cup Individual seasons accessed via dropdown menu.League Cup Select season required via sidebar.OtherFor Third Division North Cup: Top league scorer(s)For the Football League up to 1971–72: For the Alliance Premier League/Football Conference up to 2003–04: For 2008–09 to 2019–20: For the EFL from 2020–21 onwards: Other seasons sourced individually.DivisionPWDLFAPtsPosCompetitionResultNameGoals1901–02Lancs Lge24831352581910thQR4—Not known—1902–03Lancs Lge2214354224313rdQR4—Not known—1903–04Lancs C 234129135154339thPrelim—Not known—1904–05Lancs C 2 34222107343462ndQR3—Not known—1905–06Lancs C 1381471775783516thR1—Not known—1906–07Lancs C 1381242273952816thQR3—Not known—1907–08Lancs C 1 388723551022320thQR1—Not known—1908–09Lancs C 238184168085409thQR2—Not known—1909–10Lancs C 2381281860783215thQR2—Not known—1910–11Lancs C 2 38272910247562ndQR4—Not known—1911–12Lancs C 13215986648394thQR5—Not known—1912–13Lancs C 134176117334405thR1—Not known—1913–14Lancs C 13421589239472ndQR5—Not known—1914–15Lancs C 1321161559892813thQR5—Not known—1915–19The Football League and FA Cup were suspended until after the First World War.1919–20Lancs C34203115837435thQR4—Not known—1920–21Lancs C3423657928521stQR4—Not known—1921–22Div 3N381451942543315thQR4—141922–23Div 3N381342150603018thQR6—121923–24Div 3N42892535802522ndQR4—101924–25Div 3N421671951743914thR1—131925–26Div 3N42743150981822ndR1—141926–27Div 3N427827341172222ndR1—61927–28Div 3N42101121541023119thQR4—71928–29Div 3N421082464932820thR2—141929–30Div 3N421152641982722ndR2—111930–31Div 3N421572068893716thR1—251931–32Div 3N40241158659495thR1—301932–33Div 3N42187176060439thR1—171933–34Div 3N421991411694478thR2Third Division North CupR1381934–35Div 3N421392058873517thR2Third Division North CupR1111935–36Div 3N4213121758653815thR2Third Division North CupQF171936–37Div 3N4213101970863616thR1Third Division North CupR1221937–38Div 3N4211102141713221stR1Third Division North CupQF91938–39Div 3N421691766654113thR1Third Division North CupQF241939–40Div 3N3021452—11939–45The Football League and FA Cup were suspended until after the Second World War.1945–46—————————R3———1946–47Div 3N42177185462419thR1—131947–48Div 3N421613134940457thR3—121948–49Div 3N4214121641484013thR2—101949–50Div 3N421491947533715thR1—121950–51Div 3N461662451763819thR1—191951–52Div 3N4617121757614612thR1—151952–53Div 3N4616121866714419thR2—191953–54Div 3N4616121872714412thR3—201954–55Div 3N461762370894017thR1—181955–56Div 3N461292561833322ndR3—191956–57Div 3N462191676625110thR2—271957–58Div 3N4613151866744118thR1—201958–59Div 44691027511042823rdR3—121959–60Div 44615112077874118thR1—171960–61Div 44613112252793722ndR1R1—131961–62Div 4441714137458489thR1R1—151962–63Div 4461912158280509thR2R3—161963–64Div 4466182251933017thR3R1—101964–65Div 44612628591053024thR1R1—141965–66Div 44616151572764713thR1R1—151966–67Div 4 462411117654593rdR3R2—181967–68Div 346218176554508thR3R3—161968–69Div 3461782156754219thR2R1—161969–70Div 3 468142446813023rdR2R2—111970–71Div 446783151902224thR1R1—141971–72Div 4 4613112240713722ndR1R1—101972–73NPL4612628521013023rdQR4FA TrophyR2Not known—1973–74NPL461372646943322ndQR1FA TrophyR2Not known—1974–75NPL469152245723322ndQR1FA TrophyR1Not known—1975–76NPL461292547843323rdPrelimFA TrophyR1Not known—1976–77NPL4414122058614021stR1FA TrophyQR3Not known—1977–78NPL4614122058614018thQR1FA TrophyQR3Not known—1978–79NPL4614122058604017thQR2FA TrophyR2Not known—1979–80APL381461847553414thPrelimFA TrophyQF121980–81APL38158155049389thQR3FA TrophyR1151981–82APL421811135950658thQR1FA TrophyR1161982–83APL 428122246743621stQR4FA TrophyR3121983–84NPL 42291039238971stQR1FA TrophyR2Not known—1984–85APL4211161547574318thQR2FA TrophyR1131985–86APL 46782741862422ndQR1FA TrophyR1151986–87NPL421572042575215thQR1FA TrophyR1Not known—1987–88NPL P42218137041715thQR4FA TrophySFNot known—1988–89NPL P 4226976935871stR1FA TrophyR3Not known—1989–90Conf4212161451675214thQR3121990–91Conf421512155965572ndR3FA TrophyR2181991–92Conf 428142052723822ndQR4FA TrophyR2111992–93NPL P421811137155658thQR4FA TrophyR1Not known—1993–94NPL P421810145951648thQR3FA TrophyQR3Not known—1994–95NPL P421752068715611thQR3FA TrophyQR3Not known—1995–96NPL P42201396942734thR2FA TrophyQR2Not known—1996–97NPL P442311107145805thQR4FA TrophyQR3221997–98NPL P 4225896129831stQR1FA TrophyQF131998–99Conf 4211102140634319thQR3FA TrophyR281999–2000NPL P4414151565595713thQR2FA TrophyR2192000–01NPL P44219148363726thR1FA TrophyR1Not known—2001–02NPL P441910157559678thR1FA TrophyR2Not known—2002–03NPL P44241288452842ndR2FA TrophyR3Not known—2003–04NPL P44221488252803rdQR3FA TrophyR3Not known—2004–05Conf N4214101850645216thQR2FA TrophyR4Not known—2005–06Conf N4212111962674714thQR4FA TrophyR2Not known—2006–07Conf N4212141647485016thR1FA TrophyR1Not known—2007–08Conf N 422113187039765thR1142008–09Conf Nat4612151951655120thR3FA TrophyR2112009–10Conf Nat4413131850675215thR3FA TrophyW142010–11Conf Nat4612142052675018thQR4FA TrophyR1112011–12Conf Nat461792062766013thR1FA TrophyR2172012–13Conf P 4611132245834622ndR2FA TrophyQF132013–14Conf N4214141450565611thQR4FA TrophyR2112014–15Conf N 4226978143871stQR2FA TrophyQR3232015–16Nat4617141564716511thQR4FA TrophyR2242016–17Nat462015117253757thR3FA TrophyQF192017–18Nat4611161951634920thQR4FA TrophyR282018–19Nat4617131652516410thQR4FA TrophyR1122019–20Nat 3721796879701stQR4FA TrophyR3202020–21League 24613112253595021stR1R1EFL TrophyGroup152021–22League 24610142244574422ndR3R2EFL TrophyGroup92022–23League 246188204753629thR1R2EFL TrophyR2 (N)152023–24League 2461815136256698thR2R1EFL TrophyGroup92024–25League 24615141752505916thR1R3EFL TrophyGroup62025–26League 2 46992845783624thR2R1EFL TrophyGroup9

Notes

References

External links Barrow A.F.C. official website