The club’s base has always been at St Albans Rd in St Annes On Sea, initially in a wooden hut when founded in 1922.

In the mid 1960s a brand new brick building was built to replace the wooden hut then in 2000, with the help of a lottery grant, a fantastic £3.4m facility was opened. The YMCA acquired its William Pickles Sports Ground in Lytham, where all its teams play, in the late 1960s with the pavilion being built and officially opened in 1972.

Over the years the YMCA Football Club has produced many youngsters who have progressed into the professional game. Even though the FA Premiership was only formed around 15 years ago no fewer than four ex YMCA boys have played at this top level. Three of them made 1st team appearance for Everton, Gavin McCann, John Hills and Jamie Milligan. The other was former Leicester City skipper Steve Walsh and all four played their entire youth careers at the YMCA. Altogether no fewer than 17 former YMCA Juniors have played at 1st level for professional clubs in England.

The YMCA FC achieved FA Charter Mark status in 2004 and is now the largest club in the Blackpool & Fylde area. It has 10 boys’ teams between Under 8 and Under 17 and three girls’ teams also and the club has nearly 200 children registered with youth leagues.

There is a wealth of experience at the helm of the club. ‘Lozz’ Rose has been secretary for 36 years, Deputy Chairman Lyndon Moore has been connected with the club for 34 years, President Mark Cowburn, a former Football League referee, has had almost 40 years of continuous involvement since he played for the

club as a 10 year old and our Chairman Steve Spencer has had a 16-year connection with the YMCA, including 7 years as a junior player.

The YMCA Football Club have staged tournaments in various forms regularly by for over 35 years. It held indoor 5-a-side competitions every Christmas for 27 years in the sports hall at St Annes YMCA until they ceased in 1999 and also, May-Day Bank Holiday tournaments for the past 20 years at our Seafield Rd Sports Ground.

The YMCA FC is members of four youth leagues, The Blackpool & Dist Youth Football League, The Poulton & Dist Primary 7-A-Side League, The Preston LEP Youth League and the North Valley Girls League. The club used to have open-age teams in the West Lancashire League for many years up until the late 1970s and in the past have also fielded teams in the Blackpool & Fylde Sunday Alliance. The Club has won three Lancashire FA County Cups over the past 25 years. The Under 14 Youth Cup in 1992, the Under 16 Youth Cup in 2006 and the Under 14 One-Day Competition in 1982.