Coalville Town FC (England)

Coalville are based in the appropriately named mining town in Leicestershire. They were formed in 1926 as Ravenstone Miner's Athletic, one of many miner's teams to come from the vilage of Ravenstone - hence their nickname The Ravens. They pottered around in the district and county leagues for most of their history, but started doing so well in the late 1980s, that in 1991 they were invited to join the First Division of the Leicestershire Senior League. But one of the stipulations of promotions was that they had to have floodlights installed, and the local council took against this idea and flatly refused to grant them planning permission.

But the club weren't going to stand for such nimbyism and prompty upped sticks and shifted the whole operation to nearby Coalville instead, who welcomed them with open arms. And success in their new home came quickly. In only their second season they gained promotion to the Premier Division, an achievement they immediately emulatedm winning each division, and working their way up the Midland Alliance, the ninth tier of English football, where they play their football today.

Their home pitch is at the 2000 capacity Owen Street Sports Ground, which has seen some interesting times in their short time there. Perhaps the most exciting was in 2004, when they entered the FA Cup for the first time in their history. Starting in the Extra Preliminary Round - the very first stage of the competition - they worked their way though the qualifying rounds until they were beaten by Wycombe Wanderers in the first round proper. This incredible journey made them only the second club in the cup's history to achieve this feat.

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