AFC North Kilworth - North Kilworth Sports Club

AFC North Kilworth

North Kilworth Sports Club

5 South Kilworth Road

South Kilworth Road

Lutterworth 

Leicestershire

LE17 6HJ

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Ground Number: 1473
Wednesday 10th September 2025

AFC North Kilworth 1-0 Lutterworth Athletic

Midland D1

AFC NORTH KILWORTH - A BRIEF HISTORY

There is not a lot of information I could find about the club, with no formation date on their badge. After playing in the Leicester & District League, North Kilworth joined the Leicester Senior League Division 1 in 1987, finishing bottom in their first season. However, by 1992, they finished as runners-up to Burbage Old Boys and won promotion to the Premier Division. After four seasons of struggle, they were relegated in 1996. They continued to struggle on for several years in Division 1, finishing bottom in 2006 when they were relegated without winning a game all season. They re-emerged for a single season in 2018, winning Division 2 under the name North Kilworth Sports. The club remained in that Division, however, under the name of North Kilworth Town, but records have been scrubbed from existence due to the pandemic. They played in Division 2 South West the following season under their current name of AFC North Kilworth, but lost all seven games before that season was also aborted. The following season couldn't be any more of a contrast with AFC North Kilworth winning all 18 games and promotion to Division 1. The 2022/23 season saw a 3rd place finish and promotion to the Premier Division. After a mid-table finish in 23/24, they finished 3rd last season and were accepted into the Midland D1 for this season.

North Kilworth is a village and civil parish in the Harborough district, in south Leicestershire, north of South Kilworth. The population is just 200. Largely bypassed by the A4304 road, the village comprises a mix of old and new housing, including a primary school and the parish church of St. Andrew's, which dates back to the 13th century. There are no shops in North Kilworth; however, a petrol station serves basic amenities. An all-weather tennis court area is situated opposite the school, along with a large football pitch. The White Lion pub serves food and is popular with people attending the Kilworth House hotel theatre. The Parish of North Kilworth also contains the Kilworth Springs Golf Club, Kilworth House Hotel and Outdoor Theatre.

MY VISIT

AFC North Kilworth became my closest ground that I needed to visit when they were promoted to step 6 at the start of this season. I had previously known about them from other hoppers recommending a visit, and I could see why, as it was a decent town. Along with New Milton Town, Wincanton Town, Mendip Broadwalk and Stapleford Town, they were the only grounds that were close enough to visit in midweek, thanks to my early starts. This game represented an ideal opportunity to tick it off, although I'd have preferred it to be on a Tuesday. There would also be a diversion needed for food. As Colin & I are into ticking Wetherspoons, visiting the Daventry one would be a sensible option as we were unlikely to return to that town, having visited Daventry Town FC as recently as August.

From our game in Wokingham, it was a 45-minute drive back to Colin's, with him sleeping most of it. Though it was a lengthy detour to drop him off, splitting the costs meant that it only cost us a fiver each for the day out. I had a bath and dinner before typing my blog. Colin left me in suspense about whether he would be up for Wednesday's suggestion at AFC North Kilworth. Normally, he'd be well up for it, but he had cash flow issues with us having a big trip coming up. It was a tiring Monday, but a fairly pleasant one at work. I was glad of my day off on Tuesday, though, and it was my usual walk to town and back. I got everything I needed apart from a new pair of trainers, as there was nothing I fancied. I came home and ordered a decent pair on Amazon for far cheaper than they were in the shops. I also cooked a decent Thai Green Curry for lunch. I tried to help my Mum out with her landline issue, but BT were absolutely hopeless and over two hours were wasted going round and round in circles, repeating the same steps over and over again. The greedy bastards wanted her to shell out for a new handset just to keep the antiquated landline that had been switched to digital.

It used up valuable time for researching my trip away, though at least I can do things on the move. I had a nice chilli for dinner and went up to see Colin and Amersham Town v Holmer Green in the evening. I'd seen Holmer Green lose 8-0 At Amersham in a league game a few years ago, although both teams had progressed since then. In Amersham's case, they'd been promoted and were up near the playoffs in the division above. Therefore, it was great to see Holmer Green lead 2-1 at halftime. They had to weather a storm at the start of the second half, but made it 3-1 on the break. Despite Amersham making it 3-2 and dominating the second half, Holmer held on for a great victory, much to Colin's chagrin. Ideally, I'd have gone to bed and got straight to sleep, but it was 90 minutes before I was ready to drop off.

I was fine the next morning, though, and it was my short shift at work. I came home and had an hour or so of poor sleep in advance of a late night. I left at 3.45 and drove to Colin's. He was there waiting for me, but was asleep within thirty seconds. At least it was better than me having to go up to his flat to get him or him sleeping due to the game. Cadent were still out in force with their abandoned holes in the road, and so we were sent a peculiar cross-country route up to the M1 at Hemel. The roads at the start were dreadful, but we were at Wetherspoons in Daventry by 5.45. It was a nice little town with easy, free parking. A lot of councils could learn from their good example. The Saracens Head Inn was my 435th Wetherspoons, and it was a bargain for a spicy meat feast pizza with a Monster Strawberry Ultra for £7.96. It was all good, save for the drinks taking fifteen minutes and the food arriving before them. It was half an hour to the ground, where it was a very reasonable £6 to get in. With the dismal weather, pretty much everyone took shelter in the only stand at the ground.

 

AFC North Kilworth had adapted well to life at the higher level and sat 7th, having won five, drawn three, and lost two of their games so far. In their last game, they'd drawn 1-1 at leaders Gornal Athletic and were unbeaten in three. Lutterworth Athletic were 14th and had won four, drawn one and lost five of their games. They had suffered a heavy 5-1 defeat at Birmingham OJM last time out. There were just five miles or 12 minutes separating the two teams. It was an end-to-end game but with no real chances in front of a bumper crowd. North Kilworth had the better of the opening stages, but it was all square at the break. They went ahead just before the hour, an excellent corner evading the defence and in via Reece Hookway, much to the delight of the home fans. The hosts had another chance, a great shot that forced the keeper into a smart save. Lutterworth then had a good spell of pressure, but without really testing the keeper. It ended 1-0 in favour of the home side in front of a great crowd of 283.

1-0 to AFC Kilworth from the corner. Great support and crowd considering the village only has a population of 600. pic.twitter.com/EC398DJ33p

— ⚽Russell Cox💙 (@RussWWFC) September 10, 2025

THE GROUND 

NORTH KILWORTH SPORTS CLUB is a decent venue that only needs a seated stand to bring it up to step 6 standard. As it is, the only cover is a good-sized terrace that should be sufficient for most crowds. There is also an excellent bar, although I didn't check out the drinks selection. There were also nachos and burgers for sale. Parking is fairly plentiful, although there is barely anything by the ground, so public transport might be sporadic on Saturdays and nonexistent for midweeks.