Rochdale A.F.C.

Rochdale Association Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Rochdale in Greater Manchester. The club plays in the Football League One, the third tier in the English football league system. The club's colours are black and blue and they play their home games at Spotland Stadium, which has a capacity of 10,249. Formed in 1907 and nicknamed the Dale, they were accepted into the Football League in 1921. Since then, the club has remained in the bottom two professional divisions of English Football.

The team has achieved promotion three times – in 1969, 2010 and 2014. Although the club has never won a competition since joining the League, they have the distinction of playing in the final of the League Cup in 1962, the first of only two teams from the lowest tier to have done so.

History

Rochdale played 36 consecutive seasons in the Football League's bottom division from 1974 to 2010, the longest time any team has been in the bottom division of the League, with some even derisively calling it "the Rochdale Division". The club has the lowest average position of all the clubs which have existed continuously in the Football League since its expansion to four divisions in 1921–22 (76th) and since its expansion to 92 clubs in 1950–51 (79th). Additionally, the club shares with Hartlepool United the distinction of having played the most seasons in the Football League without reaching the top two tiers (82 seasons through 2009–10).

Rochdale A.F.C. (1896)

Rochdale A.F.C. were a football team from Rochdale, Lancashire, which existed for five years around the turn of the 20th century. The club have no connection with the present day Rochdale A.F.C. other than the name and ground, which thus makes the current club a spiritual successor.

History

In the late 19th century the predominant team sport in Rochdale was rugby, in contrast to nearby towns such as Bury and Bolton where association football was the dominant code. The town did not have an association football club until 1896, when the Rochdale Athletic Club and the Rochdale Athletic Ground Company formed Rochdale A.F.C. The club joined the Lancashire Combination for the 1896–97 season, finishing sixth. The following year they transferred to the Lancashire League, but met with less success, finishing twelfth out of fourteen teams in 1897–98. The club also entered the FA Cup for the first time, reaching the second qualifying round. During this season future Huddersfield Town and Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman played for the club, before moving on to Grimsby Town

Rochdale

Coordinates: 53°36′49″N 2°09′40″W / 53.6136°N 2.1610°W / 53.6136; -2.1610

Rochdale /ˈrɒtʃdeɪl/ is a market town in Greater Manchester, England, positioned at the foothills of the South Pennines on the River Roch, 5.3 miles (8.5 km) north-northwest of Oldham, and 9.8 miles (15.8 km) north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, population 211,699. Rochdale is the largest settlement and administrative centre, with a total population of 95,796.

Historically a part of Lancashire, Rochdale's recorded history begins with an entry in the Domesday Book of 1086 under Recedham Manor. The ancient parish of Rochdale was a division of the hundred of Salford and one of the largest ecclesiastical parishes in England comprising several townships. By 1251, Rochdale had become important enough to have been granted a Royal charter. Subsequently, Rochdale flourished into a centre of northern England's woollen trade, and by the early 18th century was described as being "remarkable for many wealthy merchants".

Rochdale (disambiguation)

Rochdale is a town in England.

Rochdale may also refer to:

Places

Geography

Housing developments and higher education institutions

Sports

Transportation

Rochdale (car)

Rochdale cars were a series of mainly glass fibre bodied British sports car made by Rochdale Motor Panels and Engineering in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England between 1948 and 1973. The company is best remembered for the Olympic coupé made between 1959 and 1973.

History

The Rochdale company was founded in 1948 by Frank Butterworth and Harry Smith in an old mill building in Hudson Street, Rochdale. They performed general motor repairs and made themselves some alloy bodies, usually single-seaters, for racing Austin 7s and other cars. They went on to sell the bodies as the Mk II.

Rochdale Mk IV

In 1954 Rochdale launched the Mark IV, using a glass fibre, two-door, two-seater body that was supplied as a bare shell. It was offered with several wheelbases, ranging from 81 inches, primarily intended for the Austin 7 chassis, up to 108 inches. In addition to a suitable chassis, the purchaser/builder had to provide all the interior fittings and the brackets to locate the mechanical components. The body cost £47 10 shillings (£47.50) and was available until 1961. About 150 were made.