Frickley Athletic FC is based in the former coal mining village of South Elmsall. Recent research has shown that the first South Elmsall football team was formed in 1905 but was superseded in 1908 by the newly formed Frickley Colliery Athletic Club and joined the South Yorkshire league which comprised of works, church, and village teams. In 1910, the football club moved to the Sheffield Association League and first played in the FA (English) Cup.

The club remained in the Sheffield Association League (except for the war years) until 1922, finishing runners up in 1911/12, and winners in 1920/21, our only league title ever.

In 1922/23 Frickley joined the Yorkshire league and after finishing runners up in 1923/24, the club were elected into the Midland League, Although the Club had to apply for re-election several times pre-war (and didn’t play in any league in 1933/34) it was kept going by the support of the mineworkers and the sale of players.

1936/37 was Frickley’s worst ever league season when the club finished bottom with only 8 points, but amazingly reached the FA Cup 1st round proper for the first time.

Post war, Frickley remained in the Midland league gaining its best finish, 7th, in 1945/46, but left the league on its breakup at the end of 1959/60.

From 1960/61 to 1969/70, Frickley Colliery played in the Cheshire County League, However, financial considerations led the club to join the Midland Counties League for 1970/71. They finished runners up in 1972/73 and were eventually elected into the NPL for the 1976/77 season as Frickley Athletic.

After finishing 3rd in the League in 1979/80, the club was promoted into the Alliance Premier League, now the National League. Here they remained for 7 years, the most successful in the club’s history, and in 1985/86 reached the FA Cup 3rd round proper, after beating a Football League club, Hartlepool Utd, only to lose 3-1 at home to Rotherham Utd. The club also finished as Gola league runners up.

The following season saw a reversal as we were relegated back into the NPL.

From 1987/88 to 1991/92 the club consistently finished around mid-table in the NPL. but did manage to reach the league cup final in 1991/92, losing 1-0 to Marine at Maine Road.

The next few seasons saw Frickley finish in the lower reaches of the table. Then, in 2005/06 the Blues enjoyed their most successful league season for 20 years as they finished runners up to Blyth Spartans. Unfortunately, though, the Blues were defeated on penalties in the play off semi.

In the following seasons Frickley returned to finishing in the lower half of the table, but 2015/16 saw the club have an excellent season to finish in 7th place.

This was not repeated in 2016/17 as most of the players who had brought this success were attracted to join other, more affluent clubs. The club were relegated from the NPL Premier division after being members for 30 years.

2017/18 saw the club enter the NPL Division 1 South, finishing 3rd in the league scoring record 117. Additionally, Jacob Hazel broke the Club record for individual goals in a season with 47 strikes. The season ended disappointingly with playoff semi final defeat at the hands of Stamford.

2018/19, in the new NPL East Division, was less successful one, seeing managerial changes and a 12th place finish. However, the season was not without highlights, with victory at eventual champions, Morpeth and a mighty 10-1 win against Liversedge in the FA Cup.

More change followed prior to the start of 2019/20. A further league reorganisation which put the Blues into the NPL South East Division was accompanied by a new manager. An inauspicious start led to the appointment of Dave Frecklington in September 2019.

‘Frecks’ is yet to complete a season, thanks to Covid, but he will be looking to make a push for the top half of the league and promotion back to the NPL Premier Division from the newly formed NPL East Division in 2021/22.