Harrogate Town

Harrogate Town AFC is a football club from the Yorkshire spa town of the same name that was formed in 1914 as Harrogate AFC. It was decided that the club would play at the County Ground and enter the Northern League, but the outbreak of World War One put pay to the plans.

Once peace was restored the club joined the West Riding League playing at the Starbeck Lane Ground. The club became founder members of the Yorkshire League for the 1920-21 season playing at a new ground on Wetherby Road.

Harrogate entered the Midland Football League three years later, keeping their Yorkshire League place for the reserve side. However, after just one season the club resigned their Midland League membership with the first team playing in the Yorkshire League.

Harrogate were crowned as Yorkshire League champions in 1926-27 as Bob Morphet hammered in the goals. Despite the success, the club disbanded in 1932 before being reformed in 1935 as Harrogate Hotspurs.

After World War Two the club changed their name to Harrogate Town AFC and entered the West Riding League before re-joining the Yorkshire League for the 1957-58 season where they were placed in Division Two.

Promotion to Division One followed in 1960-61; finishing runners-up in 1962-63 before ‘The Sulphurites’ went back down in in 1966-67 and then suffered further relegation to Division Three in 1969-70 under manager Pete Gunby. 

Promotion to Division Two followed in 1971-72 before going down again in 1977-78. The 1980-81 campaign saw Town return to Division Two where they won the league title the following season with Alan Smith as manager. 

Town became founder members of the Northern Counties East Football League in 1982 where they were placed in Division One North. A friendly against Leeds United saw floodlights being turned on for the first time at Wetherby Road. 

A runners-up position in 1984-85 saw promotion to the Premier Division from where Harrogate progressed to the extended Division One of the Northern Premier League in the summer of 1987 where the club finished regularly in the middle of the table.

Former Leeds United chairman Bill Fotherby took over the same position at Town in 2000. Promotion to the Premier Division came in 2001-02 as the team finished as Division One champions with John Reed as manager and Neil Aspin as his assistant. 

Town also reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time before going out 5-1 to Farnborough Town. A fifth place finish in 2003-04 meant Harrogate were placed in the newly formed Conference North with a returning Aspin as team boss. 

In 2005-06 Town reached the Cup first round again, going out to Torquay United on penalties after a replay. The side also qualified for the play-offs where they were eliminated in the semi-final by Stafford Rangers. 

Town finished just outside the play-offs in the following two seasons before a downturn in form saw them finish bottom of the table in 2009-10 under manager Simon Wheeler. The club were reprieved from relegation owing to the financial irregularities of Northwich Victoria. 

Owner Fotherby sold Harrogate Town to Irving Wheeler, father of manager Simon in the summer of 2011. Town stayed up thanks to a final day victory over Corby in 2011-12 before an upturn of form including a fine FA Cup run in 2012-13 as revenge was exacted over Torquay United. Town went out in the second round in a replay away to Hastings United. A sixth place league finish was also achieved. Harrogate ended in ninth position and then fifteenth in 2014-15. 

The 2015-16 season saw Town reach the playoffs before going out to AFC Fylde in their semifinal. A disappointing 2016-17 campaign saw the club go full time. The move paid dividends as Town finished runners-up in the retitled National League North.

In the playoffs Chorley were defeated and then Brackley Town 3-0 in the final at the sponsorship named CNG Stadium to secure promotion to the topflight of non-league football. The run continued with a playoff place in 2018-19 where old rivals AFC Fylde once again came out victorious.

They returned to the playoffs in 2019-20 to defeat Boreham Woof and then Notts County 3-1 at Wembley with goals from George Thomson, Connor Hall, and Jack Diamond in a game played behind closed doors owing to the coronavirus pandemic. Remarkably, Harrogate Town were promoted to the EFL.

The Weaver family partnership continued to deliver results with the goals of Jack Muldoon helping to consolidate the new status. Luke Armstrong top scored in 2022-23 as the Sulphurites coped confidently in their surroundings, with thirteenth place in 2023-24 their best return to date.

Harrogate Town AFC will play in the EFL League Two in the 2024-25 season.

My visits

Tuesday 4^th November 1986

My Cardiff supporting pal Gary Griffiths was heading to Deepdale to watch his side on a freezing winters day and asked if I fancied tagging along. This seemed a good opportunity to get in a new ground, with my pilot deciding to go via Harrogate to take a look at the Wetherby Road ground.

It was a pretty basic venue in those days, with both sides open and a covered stand with bench seats at the Hospital End. The changing rooms and clubhouse stood behind the other goal.

Friday 7^th August 2009

With time to kill before meeting brother Nick and family in York I took the train through to Starbeck, where I couldn’t gain access inside the home of Harrogate Railway Athletic, before taking the walk to Wetherby Road to take a look at the home of Town.

The old cover and clubhouse facilities still stood behind the goals, with the far side having a covered seated stand and a low cover down the road side for away fans. I took photos, but I would later lose them when I had laptop issues.

Harrogate Town 1 AFC Fylde 2 (Saturday 29^th December 2018) National League (att: 1,603)

It was time to head north and spend some family time at Christmas. Nick and Stan were to take Simon, a visiting friend from Norwich who was up with his family, to a game. Harrogate ticked the boxes with Leeds United wanting a king’s ransom for Hull City tickets at Elland Road and Scarborough not having a game.

I was picked up at York station by Nick before we picked the others up and took a taxi back through streets packed with shoppers to catch our train. The journey went in no time as Stan got his Owzat table cricket game out.

It was cold and blustery as we got out and headed to The Alexandra via Greggs. I’d come up trumps with research to find a pub showing the ‘Auld Firm’ Rangers v Celtic game. Fine ales from Leeds and Ossett Breweries were among the offer in the fine Nicholson’s establishment.

The pub was getting loud as Rangers headed towards their first win in the game for many years as the pub seemed to be the local branch of their supporter’s club. We had our hands shaken and offered seasons greetings as we left to head towards our game.

It took us nearly twenty minutes to walk through town, across The Stray and down Wetherby Road to the entrance. Nick had purchased and printed our tickets online in advance. Adults were £14 including booking fees with Nick and Stans fantastic combined value all in at £18.

The match wasn’t segregated so we could go where we wanted. We opted for a place on the new Hospital End covered terrace. The pitch was artificial with the surface levelled creating natural banking in parts to give the viewing a slightly elevated view for the clash between two sides occupying play-off places.

Another new covered terrace was down the road side, while an extra seating stand had been placed between the existing structure and the changing rooms. Plans were afoot to rebuild that end of the smart mini stadium.

Fans of both sides, including several imbibed mixed without any issues. A visiting fan bought his drum near to us, but in a quirk of fate collapsed through over exuberance to save us a racket. He was fine but unable to continue his cacophony.

Skipper Josh Falkingham saw his effort for Town hit the foot of the post in the third minute. Kelvin Langmead came close to converting a Dom Knowles cross ten minutes later as the hosts made the early running before the visiting Coasters got a foothold in the game.

Fylde top scorer Danny Rowe was a handful for the Harrogate defenders. Just before the half hour mark a low fired in free kick came off the leg of Fylde captain Neil Bryne and smashed against the post.

Andy Bond went on a good run for the visitors and supplied Rowe who saw his shot come back off the bar with keeper James Belshaw beaten. The front man also saw an effort go just over the bar as half time approached.

Nick and Simon retreated to the far end to have a pint at the break; showing all the signs of two blokes desperate to enjoy their free time. I stayed in position with Stan, who’d got a good place down at the front and was thoroughly enjoying himself being close to the action.

Rowe opened the scoring a couple of minutes into the second half with a brilliant thirty yard free kick. Joe Leesley responded for Town as he provided a cross which saw a header from Warren Burrell go over the bar.

The terrific Nick Haughton broke through for Fylde with just over twenty minutes remaining, only to be brought down by Falkingham. Rowe’s poor penalty was kept out by Belshaw, which seemed to add life to Harrogate.

Pressure was applied to the visitor’s goal which led to an equaliser with eight minutes remaining. Substitute James Beck swivelled in the box before firing home past Jay Lynch into the roof of the net. Unfortunately, at that point we had to make a move to catch a bus so we could connect with the last train back to York.

It came as no shock to hear that we’d missed Fylde’s winner. Apparently Serhat Tasdemir had been upended by Burrell, with Rowe making no mistake and showing great confidence in taking the resulting penalty.

Our bus dropped us at the station, where we just had time to grab a quick half in The Harrogate Tap before jumping on the train. I was ready to alight at York just in case my connecting service to Scarborough was running a minute or two late.

I was in luck as I said goodbye to the lads before jumping onboard to meet up with Karl, Donna and Crusher for some very enjoyable beers in my home town before I turned in for the night in the North Riding Hotel.

The beer and fresh air certainly did their job as I had a good sleep before meeting the family for lunch on the seafront the following day. It was a really enjoyable couple of days in North Yorkshire.