About The Poachers

The Club was formed in 1974 and played their football in the Lincolnshire League. The original base was at the Dolphin pub, with the football being played at Fred Gough School. The Club moved to its current Birch Park
home in 1983. The senior side experienced a successful period during the early 90’s winning a number of Cup competitions and the Lincolnshire League in three successive seasons, In 2000 the 1st team entered the Central Midlands League gaining promotion in 2005 to Division 1 in the Northern Counties East Football League. In 2016 they won the ‘play-off’ final to gain promotion to the Premier League where they have played for the last 5 seasons.
The Club has for many years supported the local Scunthorpe and District adult Football Leagues, The year 2000 saw the amalgamation of the Junior and Senior Clubs clearly demonstrating that players starting with the Club at the age of 6 could be encouraged to stay with the Club for their progress in football. The Club today has 25 teams both boys and girls playing mini-soccer in the local Saturday Kalson League, 11 a-side teams in the Sunday Kalson League, Youth football being played in the Junior Premier League, & the Lincolnshire Intermediate League, and a Development Squad playing in the Central Midlands Football League. A newly formed Veterans team who will play in the Humber Veterans League In 2018 a new addition to the Club was the introduction of the DSActive team for individuals who are Downs Syndrome, the team has grown from
strength to strength and they now perform in the Ability Counts League. The Club’s proudest achievement was in 2003 when they became a FA Charter Standard Community Club, being one of the first Clubs in the
Country at that time to get the achievement. The Club had to work very hard to meet all of the FA criteria and is now reaping the benefits and rewards.
In 2009, the Club achieved the distinction of being awarded by the Lincolnshire Football Association as the FA Charter Standard Club of the year, a reward for the efforts of the members of the Club. This massive involvement in ‘grass roots football’ and its development has seen the provision of enhanced facilities to support the same, with the introduction of a magnificent Changing Room & Meeting Room facility in 2009 for the use of all those who play their sport at Birch Park. Developments continued in 2019 with the aid of grant support from both the North Lincolnshire and Bottesford Town Councils together with the Football Foundation, with the addition of a new tractor and grass cutting maintenance equipment plus the replacement of the floodlights for the main pitch with a modern LED installation which was designed for the future provision of a new Stadia Facility incorporating a 3G playing surface.
2020 also saw through the efforts of number of volunteers & sponsors, a new Catering Facility to serve the needs of everybody who visits Birch Park. Proudly, the Club today is able to announce that after many years of
preparation and with the financial support from predominantly the Football Foundation, the North Lincolnshire Council and the S.S.E. Sustainable Community Fund, together with other supporting groups, the new £1.5m Barrett Steel Stadium facility was officially opened in July 2023 Exciting times lay ahead with our next development focusing on a number of improvements for the Bottesford Sports Hall.