Gresley Rovers Football Club is an English football club from Church Gresley, South Derbyshire. Gresley is a member of the and plays home games at the Moat Ground. They were known as Gresley Rovers until 2009, when they were reformed under the name of Gresley F.C. In July 2020 the club readopted their original name, Gresley Rovers.
History
Early years
Gresley Rovers were formed in 1882 in a small mining village of Church Gresley, near Swadlincote, Derbyshire. The club's first ground was at Mushroom Lane in Albert Village.
Gresley played only friendlies and cup games before joining the Burton Junior League for the 1892–93 season, winning their first title in 1894–95. Rovers acquired a new home, the Church Street Ground, in time for the 1895–96 season. Despite the ground's lack of facilities - with teams even having to change at the nearby Boot Hotel - the club was accepted into the Midland League for the 1903–04 season. At the end of the 1907–08 season, the Church Street Ground was acquired for building, so the club moved across the road into the current home, Moat Ground.
Gresley were promoted twice and joined the Central Alliance, before entering the powerful Birmingham Combination in 1925.
Despite reaching the FA Cup First Round Proper in 1930–31, financial difficulties forced Gresley to exit the Birmingham Combination and return to the more local Central Alliance in 1933.
Rovers then moved to the Leicestershire Senior League and succeeded in the immediate post-war years; winning the league twice (1946–47, 1947–48) and finishing runners-up once (1948–49).
West Midlands League; six league titles, four Derbyshire Senior Cups, and a FA Vase final Following brief stints in a number of divisions, Gresley rejoined the Central Alliance (later renamed East Midlands Regional League) at the start of the 1959-60 campaign. There they would embark on a period of major success winning the title on four occasions. In fourteen seasons from 1961 to 1975, the lowest Gresley finished was fifth (4x 1st, 4x 2nd, 3x 3rd, 2x 4th, 1x 5th).
From 1975–76, the club moved to the West Midlands (Regional) League. The Moatmen initially struggled in a stronger league than before but a runner-up spot in 1985–86 began a run of 4th, 4th, 2nd, 3rd, 1st, 1st in six consecutive seasons. The team also claimed the Derbyshire Senior Cup on four successive occasions in the same period. In 1990-91, Gresley earned the right to compete at Wembley in the FA Vase final. Opponents, Guiseley, lead 3-0 after 31 minutes but Gresley fought back to strike an injury-time equaliser. The Rovers then went 4-3 ahead in extra time before Guiseley scored an injury-time equaliser of their own to take it to a replay. Some national newspapers reported it as 'the most exciting Wembley Cup Final ever'. The replay at Bramall Lane saw Gresley lose 3–1 and denied a treble-winning season.
Southern League
Successful application placed Gresley in the Southern League Midland Division for the 1992–93 season, achieving promotion to its Premier Division at the first time of asking as well as reaching the FA Vase semi-final.
Life in the Premier Division began as Derbyshire Senior Cup winners and Southern League Cup finalists in 1993–94, an FA Cup First Round Proper appearance against Crewe and the appointments of Paul Futcher (and ex-England international Garry Birtles as assistant) in 1994-95, a Derbyshire Senior Cup win yet again in 1995-96.
1996–97 records the current highest ever league position achieved by Gresley as Southern League Premier Division champions. Rovers were unbeaten in their first seventeen league games (won 10 drawn 7) and were league leaders for 31 weeks. The title was finally won with a 3–1 home victory against Gloucester City on 26 April 1997. Gresley Rovers became the first Derbyshire side and first village side to win this prestigious trophy but ground grading meant that they were unable to gain promotion to the Football Conference. The game was also notable for serious crowd disorder between the two sets of fans after Gresley's opening goal led to the game being suspended for 25 minutes as fighting spilled onto the pitch. Derby County were willing to lend Gresley their recently vacated Baseball Ground until the required standards could be met but this was rejected by the footballing authorities. This disappointment of not being promoted to the Football Conference saw many Gresley players leave the club. Manager, Paul Futcher, also left and replacement Garry Birtles (former Assistant Manager) could only achieve a bottom half finish in 1997–98.