Only way is up for Kinsley Boys as promotion dream to NCEL is realised

The Boys will take their place in Division One next season after finishing top of the Central Midlands Alliance Premier Division North.

They ended with a tally of 77 points from their 30 league matches, winning 25 of them, losing only three and finishing with a massive goal difference of plus 73.

Dinnington Town pushed them all the way, but were three points adrift at the season’s conclusion.

For Kinsley it was the culmination of a three-year plan and a fantastic story of success after they started out as Sesku Miners and won promotion from the Sheffield County Senior League Division Two to Division One.

"We then decided to give ourselves a three-year plan to reach semi-professional football at the NCE League level and changed to Kinsley Boys as they had the facilities to take us there,” explained Darren Brown, assistant to manager Craig Hobson.

"We joined the Central Midlands League in Division One and again we won promotion to move up to the Premier League.

"Onto this season we were in the mix all season and we went on a 15-game winning streak to take us to the league title with three games to spare and make history.

"Nobody has won back to back promotions in the Central Midlands League before and we have smashed our three-year plan in two seasons.

"We are now looking forward to the next challenge as we go semi-professional football in the NCE League.

"We can look forward to matches against Wakefield and Doncaster City who are in there.”

Kinsley clinched the league title away at SJR Worksop at the end of last month when goals from Bradley Dockerty and Lucas Stubbs gave them a 2-1 victory.

A draw and a loss since then did not matter as the championship was already in their grasp and they could look back on a brilliant April that brought six successive league victories despite the hectic spell they had to cope with.

They opened the month with a 5-2 win at AFC Phoenix then followed up with 6-1 and 5-4 successes against RHP Sports & Social and Staveley MW Reserves respectively. Rossington Main Reserves were beaten 2-0 before another 5-2 result against Teversal set up the clincher at Worksop.

With the league won the players were greeted by a guard of honour when they played their last home game against Burngreave United.

Captain Lucas Stubbs received the trophy from local councillor Steve Tulley who is a long time supporter from the club’s first years as Sesku Miners.

The coaching staff behind this success have consisted of coach Craig Hobson and assistants Darren Brown, Scott Peart, Matt Tate, Colin Stubbs and Dave Boyle while Ian Horobin (chairman) and Tracy Lucas (secretary) have been doing a good job running and maintaining the club.

Kinsley are looking for new sponsors to help them on their journey and anyone wishing to follow them on socials can do so at the New Kinsley Boys Football Club Facebook page where open trials and plans ahead will be advertised shortly.

Kinsley are expected to take the place of Glasshoughton Welfare in the NCE after their 41-year stay in the league came to a likely end when they finished bottom of Division One.

Welfare are now awaiting notification from the FA as to which league or division they will be members of next season, but the committee has announced that they have invited expressions of interest for the position of the club's first team manager/coach for the 2026-27 season.

Interested parties are asked, in the first instance, to send their contact information, along with details of previous experience, qualifications and what their ambitions for the club would be, should they be selected, to the secretary Trish Slater by email to [email protected]

Closing date for applications is 18th May, 2026.