Kiveton Park Football Club is a football club based in Kiveton Park, South Yorkshire, England. They are currently members of the and play their home games at Hard Lane.
History Although a team representing the village played two games with a side from Anston during the 1877–78 season,Sheffield Independent, 23 November 1877, page 4 Kiveton Park FC was not formed until 1881. Two years later, the club affiliated with the Sheffield Football Association.Sheffield Independent, 13 September 1883, page 4 Its first club colours were believed to be red and black quarters.Sheffield Evening Telegraph, 3 November 1906, page 4
In 1891–92 they were founder members of the Sheffield & District Football League (being Chesterfield F.C.'s first ever league opponents on the first day of that season) and lifted their first trophy after beating Sheepbridge in the final of the Sheffield Minor Cup.Sheffield Independent, 18 April 1892, page 8
For 1893–94 the Minor Cup changed from a knockout competition to a league, and Kiveton moved to join, also entering the Hatchard League at the same time. They were the first winners of the latter in 1894Sheffield Independent, 30 April 1894, page 8 and repeated the success two years later,Worksop Guardian, 10 October 1896, page 6 remaining in the competition until the outbreak of the First World War.
Kiveton spent the majority of the time between the two world wars in the Sheffield Amateur League, with the exception of brief spells in the Sheffield Association League and the Holbrook & District League. They made their FA Cup debut in 1920, and reached the 3rd qualifying round of the competition two years later, losing to Rotherham Town at Clifton Lane. In 1923, the club was renamed as Kiveton Park Colliery, reflecting its close ties with the village pit.
The club, like most others in the country, did initially break up when the Second World War broke out, but in 1942 they joined the Worksop & District League, remaining in this competition until the end of the war. The 1945–46 season saw the club come close to winning two prestigious competitions – going out in the semi-finals of the Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup and finishing as runners-up in the Sheffield Invitation League play-offs, after beating Sheffield United reserves in the semi-final at Hard Lane.Worksop Guardian, 3 May 1946, page 4
They spent the first four post-war years in the Sheffield Association League, before joining the Yorkshire League in 1949. After suffering two disastrous campaigns at this higher level, they moved back to the Worksop & District League, where they were renamed as Kiveton Park United. They stayed in Worksop football until 1959, when they moved to the East Derbyshire League, and before long they were finding great success - in the 1961–62 season they won seven trophies.Worksop Guardian, 11 May 1962, page 4 In 1963 the club successfully applied to re-join the Yorkshire League, and was accepted by the name of Kiveton Park.
In 1967 they won promotion to Division One and two years later finished in third place – the club's highest ever league finish. A year later however they were relegated back to Division Two. In 1972 they completed a league and cup double, winning the prestigious Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup for the first time, and gaining promotion back to the Yorkshire League's top flight. Their yo-yo existence would continue however – up to 1982 they flitted constantly between Division One and Two, winning the Division Two title in 1978.
A year after Kiveton reached the 4th Round of the FA Vase in 1981, the Yorkshire League merged with the Midland League to form the Northern Counties East League (NCEL), and Park were among the founder members of the new competition. They spent the first three years in Division Two South before being moved to Division One South when the competition went through a restructure in 1985, a year after the club's reserve team had won the last ever Wharncliffe Charity Cup final. They were promoted to Division One in 1986, but were relegated back again in 1990 because of ground grading issues. At the end of the 1990–91 season they left the NCEL to join the Central Midlands League (CMFL)
Park finished as Premier Division North runners-up in their first season, and a year later won promotion to the CMFL's Supreme Division. In 1994 the village's colliery closed, and two years later, after losing its biggest financier, the club went into hibernation. The club was reformed in 1999, re-joining the CMFL Premier Division. In 2003 they finished as runners-up, gaining promotion back to the Supreme Division, but were relegated back again two years later because of their failure to install floodlights. This blow came just days after they had won the Sheffield & Hallamshire Association Cup for the second year running. It wasn't until the league restructured in 2011 to form North and South divisions that the club regained Step 7 status in the English football league system.
In 2013 the club decided, due to the cost of travelling to away games, to leave the CMFL, and join the more local Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior Football League (S&HCSL).Rotherham Advertiser, 23 August 2013, page 28 Kiveton entered the Second Division of the S&HCSL for the start of the 2013–14 season. After four years in Division Two, Park won promotion to Division One of the S&HCSL in 2017, and in 2025 they returned to the eleventh tier of the pyramid after a twelve-year absence by winning the Division One title.
Season-by-season record