Colne F.C.

{{for|the Colne F.C. that played in the early 20th century|Trawden Forest F.C.}}

{{Infobox football club

| clubname = Colne

| image = Colne F.C. logo.png

| fullname = Colne Football Club

| nickname = The Reds

| founded = January 1996

| ground = Holt House, Colne

| capacity = 1,800 (160 seated)Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2012) Non-League Club Directory 2013, p715 {{ISBN|978-1-869833-77-0}}

| chairman = Glenn Stock

| manager = Andy Harrison

| league = {{English football updater|Colne}}

| season = {{English football updater|Colne2}}

| position = {{English football updater|Colne3}}

| pattern_la1 =

| pattern_b1 = _whitecollar

| pattern_ra1 =

| leftarm1 = FFFFFF

| body1 = FF0000

| rightarm1 = FFFFFF

| shorts1 = FFFFFF

| socks1 = FF0000

| pattern_la2 =

| pattern_b2 = _blackcollar

| pattern_ra2 =

| leftarm2 = E2D700

| body2 = E2D700

| rightarm2 = E2D700

| shorts2 = 000000

| socks2 = 000000

}}

Colne Football Club is a football club based in Colne, Lancashire, England. Affiliated with the Lancashire County Football Association, they are currently members of the {{English football updater|Colne}} and play at Holt House.

History

The club was established in January 1996,[http://www.colnefootballclub.com/a/history-of-colne-fc-39719.html History Of Colne FC] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190520015659/http://www.colnefootballclub.com/a/history-of-colne-fc-39719.html |date=20 May 2019 }} Colne F.C. six years after Colne Dynamoes folded after being refused promotion to the Football Conference.{{fchd|id=COLNEDYN|name=Colne Dynamos}} They joined Division Two of the North West Counties League, with their first league match being a 1–0 defeat by Middlewich Athletic. They went on to finish bottom of the division in their first season.{{fchd|id=COLNE|name=Colne}} The club finished in the bottom half of the table every season until 2003–04, when they won the division, earning promotion to Division One; the season also saw them win the Division Two Cup with a 1–0 win against Great Harwood Town in the final, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the FA Vase, eventually losing 4–3 on aggregate to AFC Sudbury.

Division One was renamed the Premier Division in 2008. In 2015–16 Colne were Premier Division champions, earning promotion to Division One North of the Northern Premier League. They finished fifth in the division in 2016–17, qualifying the promotion playoffs. However, they lost 4–0 to Farsley Celtic in the semi-finals. As a result of league reorganisation, the club were placed in Division One West for the 2018–19 season. They went on to finish fourth in the division and qualified for the play-offs, losing 2–1 to Leek Town in the semi-finals. In 2022–23 the club finished second-from-bottom of Division One West and were relegated back to the Premier Division of the North West Counties League.

In 2023–24 Colne won the Lancashire FA Trophy, defeating Bamber Bridge 5–2 in the final.{{cite web|url=https://www.lancashirefa.com/news/2024/may/16/colne-fc-make-heroic-comeback-to-claim-the-challenge-trophy|title=Colne FC make heroic comeback to claim the Challenge Trophy|website=Lancashire FA|date=16 May 2024}}

Ground

The club play at Holt House, which was previously the home ground of Colne Dynamoes.[http://www.pyramidpassion.co.uk/html/colne.html Colne] Pyramid Passion The ground was originally an area with several pitches, before being enclosed in 1975 when Dynamoes joined the Lancashire Combination, although it continued to be used for cricket. Between 1982 and 1985 three stands were erected and floodlights installed. Another new stand was built in 1986. When Dynamoes folded, the ground was used by the Colne Royal British Legion football club until they folded in 1995, after which the modern Colne club became tenants when they formed the following year. The ground has a capacity of 1,800, of which 160 is seated and 1,000 covered.