Crowle Colts F.C.

Pre–World War II, there were three main football clubs in Crowle: Crowle Brickworks, Crowle Institute, and Crowle Town. After the war, the Sun Engineering side was formed and became the main team in Crowle. It had a secondary team named Axholme Wanderers, which was formed for younger players who had played football only intermediately during the war. All of these sides competed in the Scunthorpe League.

In 1966, Crowle Sports, the reformed Sun Engineers side, unexpectedly resigned from the Scunthorpe League a week prior to the start of the season.^[1] As a result, all of the remaining Crowle Sports players joined Axholme Wanderers, which left just one main football team in Crowle. Ahead of the 1967–68 season, Axholme Wanderers side reformed as Crowle United. United went on to have great local success, with their most notable achievement coming in the 1970–71 season when they completed a treble, being crowned champions of the Scunthorpe League, as well as winning the Scunthorpe Challenge Cup and the Lincolnshire FA County Junior Cup. In 1973, United joined the Lincolnshire League. They would go on to compete in the league for seventeen seasons, before leaving it at the end of the 1988–89 season due to ground issues, having left their Potts Lane ground to play at North Axholme School, which was deemed unsuitable.

In 1992, Crowle United folded, and the following year, two new clubs were formed: Crowle United Junior Colts, and Crowle FC, the latter of which took Crowle United’s place in Division One of the Scunthorpe League. The two ultimately decided to merge, resulting in the formation of Crowle's current team: Crowle Colts.

Crowle Colts began life in Division Five of the Scunthorpe League in the 1997–98 season, and with the exception of three seasons in the Gainsborough and District League in the early 2000s, the club stayed in the Scunthorpe League until 2018.

At the start of the 2018–19 season, the Colts left the Scunthorpe League after being crowned champions and joined the Central Midlands Football League.^[2] They secured successive promotions the following season, narrowly missing out on the title only on goal difference. In the 2022–23 season, after three seasons in the Central Midlands League, the club joined the Lincolnshire League, following in the footsteps of the Crowle United side that had left the league 33 years prior. That season saw the Colts match Crowle United’s best ever finish in the Lincolnshire League. The 2023–24 campaign saw that record surpassed, as the Colts finished runners-up to Nettleham despite scoring a record-breaking 149 league goals. They also won the Lincolnshire FA County Junior Cup that season for the first time in 53 years.

In the 2024–25 season, Crowle Colts were promoted to the Northern Counties East League Division One for the first time, after finishing second in the Lincolnshire League. They won the Lincolnshire FA County Junior Cup again that season, completing back-to-back triumphs in the competition.^[3]

Crowle Colts' home ground is Windsor Park, which is located on Godnow Road in Crowle. It was opened by then-Scunthorpe United manager Brian Laws in September 2005. The ground has a maximum capacity of around 500 and is equipped with floodlights, fencing, a pavilion, and other facilities. In October 2025, a 50-seater stand was added to the ground.

The majority of the various Crowle teams of the past played their football at the Sunfield Sports Ground (later renamed Crowle Sports Club), which was located on Potts Lane, Crowle. It closed in 1989 and United moved to North Axholme School, which required the club to resign from the Lincolnshire League, as it was deemed below the league's standards. Crowle Colts initially played at the school before moving to Windsor Park when it was opened in 2005.