Rochdale AFC is an English professional football club based in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. The club was formed in 1907 following a public meeting convened by Mr. Harvey Rigg and chaired by Mr Herbert Hopkinson, held in the Central Schools Council, Fleece Street on May 14th, 1907. According to the Rochdale Observer, 15 May: "There was a large attendence. Mr. Rigg remarked that everybody interested in local football clubs must know that the juniors were playing Association football. At the present time there was no centre for these players in Rochdale, and as a result they were wandering in a wilderness. There were 1,200  juniors in this town playing Association football. Rochdale Rugby, the only junior Rugby club the borough, would probably not play Rugby football after this season. The question that had to be decided that evening was whether the time was opportune for finding home for Association football in Rochdale." It was decided that a club should be formed with a capital of £1000 playing its home matches at St Clement's Playing Fields which later became Spotland Stadium. Rochdale entered the Lancashire Combination and after securing promotion out of Division Two in 1909–10 they won the Division One title in 1910–11 and 1911–12. They then switched to the Central League, before being invited into the Football League when the Third Division North was created in 1921. Since suffering relegation from the third to the fourth tier in 1974, they have spent the past 35 years in the English league's basement division; longer than any other club in the division. The club reached the League Cup final in 1962 - the only time a club from the bottom league division has reached the final of a major competition - where they lost to Norwich City. Competing not only with the two big Manchester clubs but also with the likes of Bury, Oldham and Wigan Athletic, Rochdale’s priority is to survive.  Despite this, the club finished the 2009–10 campaign in third place in League Two, winning promotion to League One. Rochdale established themselves in League One in the 2010–11 season, finishing 9th. They were relegated back to League Two in 2011-12 but were promoted out of League One in 2014. This time they remained in the third tier of English football until relegation in 2021. Rochdale's 102-year stay in the Football League ended after they lost 1-0 at Stockport on 22 April 2023.