Ashton Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Greater Manchester, England. Affiliated to the Lancashire County Football Association, they are currently members of the and play at Brocstedes Park.
The club was formed in 1968, initially as a Sunday league club playing in the Wigan Sunday League. After winning every division in the league in successive seasons, they switched to playing Saturday football, joining the Warrington & District League.
Success in the Warrington League saw the club join the Lancashire Combination in 1978. However, the move up saw the club struggle, finishing bottom of the league in 1978âÂÂ79 and 1981âÂÂ82. When the league merged with the Cheshire County League to form the North West Counties League in 1982, Ashton were placed in Division Three, which they finished bottom of in both 1982âÂÂ83 and 1983âÂÂ84. After a fourteenth-place finish in 1984âÂÂ85, they finished bottom of the table again in 1985âÂÂ86.
At the end of the season the club were expelled from the league due to Brocstedes Park failing to meet the ground grading criteria. They subsequently dropped into Division One of the Manchester League. They continued to struggle in the Manchester League, with several lower-half finishes before finishing bottom of Division One in 1989âÂÂ90. They finished bottom again in 1994âÂÂ95,
The 2005âÂÂ06 season saw them finish fourth in Division One, and after applying for rejoin the North West Counties League following improvements to Brocstedes Park, the club were accepted into Division Two, bypassing the Premier Division of the Manchester League. In 2007âÂÂ08 a third-place finish saw them promoted to the renamed Premier Division of the league. Although they finished bottom of the division in 2010âÂÂ11, they were reprieved from relegation after New Mills were promoted from the division and Formby were relegated due to a breach of the rules. In 2013âÂÂ14 they won the Challenge Cup, defeating Maine Road 1âÂÂ0 in the final. The 2016âÂÂ17 season saw them win the Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy with a 2âÂÂ1 win over Radcliffe Borough in the final.
In 2022âÂÂ23 Ashton finished bottom of the Premier Division and were relegated to Division One North.