Brighouse Town

Brighouse Town FC is a non-league football club who were formed in 1963, as a representative side of the Blakeborough Valve Company of Brighouse and their home games were played on the Woodhouse Recreation Ground.

The club come from the town of Brighouse in West Yorkshire a few miles to the east of Halifax with a tradition of producing fine brass bands, with the team starting out life as members of the Huddersfield Works League playing at a ground on Green Lane for ten years from 1965.

In 1975 a new ground was provided on St Giles Road as the club joined the West Riding County Amateur Football League. 1988 the demise of the Blakeborough Company saw the club adopt their current name.

It was the turn of the 1990s which saw real success arrive at the club as they became league champions on five occasions with the final triumph arriving in 2001-02. Work on their home ground saw 'Town' were accepted into the Northern Counties East League for the 2007-08 season.

Mark Brier managed the team who consolidated their position before they finished second in Division One in the 2009-10 season and won promotion to the Premier Division behind champions Tadcaster Albion.

The club suffered a setback when arsonists burnt down some of the facilities at St Giles Road, but the club stayed strong and with the help of other clubs it maintained its status. Brighouse stabilised once more at their higher level.

Mick Couzens had a spell of four competitive matches after being appointed as manager in May 2011 before he was succeeded by Paul Quinn, whose side finished fourth at the end of the 2011-12 season.

Town put in a spectacular effort in an assault on the NCEL title in the 2012-13 season, as they finished runners up to Scarborough Athletic. However, the experience made the group stronger as they lifted the league title twelve months later.

Their reward was promotion to Division One North of the Northern Premier League where ninth place was achieved in 2016-17 at which point manager Quinn departed to be replaced by Vill Powell to oversee a new era.

He led the team to third place in 2018-19 and the playoffs where Sheffield and then Pontefract Collieries were defeated. Non-league football was being restructured at the time with Brighouse missing out on promotion on points per game across the country.

The two seasons abandoned owing to Covid-19 saw Town placed in Division One North West of the competition, before they returned to the East for the 2021-22 campaign where they ended the season in seventh spot.

The side backed up their performance the following season before a torrid 2023-24 which saw Powell replaced by Grant Black before its conclusion. The club was reprieved from relegation because Marske United withdrew months earlier.

Brighouse Town FC will compete in the Northern Premier League Division One East in the 2024-25 season.

My visit

Brighouse Town 1 Scarborough Athletic 2 (Saturday 19th March 2011) Northern Counties East League Premier Division (att: 222)

I had travelled up the afternoon before the game to stay in Scarborough and attend the Fans Forum at the Bowls Centre. The evening was its usual honest self and manger Paul Olsson was good enough to attend and answer questions from the fans. If anything he was a bit too honest in telling us that he was struggling to attract new players to the club.

The next morning I was up first thing, which wasn't ideal after some fine ale, but I'd promised I'd go through to York to see my borther Nick and his family. My niece Sally had a game for Heworth Girls and I wanted to go along and offer her some support. They picked me up at York station before we set off to Poppleton for the match.

After a run around giving Stanley a kick about we cheered Sally and her team to another predictable defeat before getting back to pick up Rachel for their afternoon out after they'd dropped me in the car park of the Hop Grove. My kind driver for the afternoon Jamie Nunns was already waiting with Bunner and Badger.

We set off down the A64 and then the M62, arriving outside the ground on St Giles Road at just gone 2pm. The small car park was full so we parked on the road side outside, which turned out well because it was on the way to The Old Pond pub. 

This was a fine old Tetley's house and the beer was spot on. We had time for a quick couple of pints before we had to walk five minutes back to the ground. We entered into the grandly named Dual Seal Stadium, which had been re-named after a sponsorship deal. In truth the ground was pretty basic, but it covered all the requirements. 

One side had a long low cover with accommodation for both standing and seating. The rest of the ground was flat open grass and hard standing. The far side had the dug outs and a practice pitch beyond, with the entrance end having the changing rooms set back from the pitch and a portacabin that served as a clubhouse, bar and refreshment outlet.

Boro were in the middle of an indifferent spell under Paul Olsson. Their inconsistency was causing a bit of dissatisfaction amongst the support although he did a good job of placating some at the previous evenings gathering. We didn't imagine at the time that he was close to being dismissed. He only lasted another three three games after this encounter.

There were lots of youth players at the game and they ran a collection for a young player who had tragically died when playing the week before. As ever, the Boro fans were ever generous. Brighouse seemed a nice club and the warm welcome and complimentary words about our club were certainly appreciated.

Seadogs went behind despite being on top when Lee Burgess volleyed past Tom Woodhead to put Town ahead. Boro fielded youngsters Callum Reid and Josh Clayton who showed some promise. Towards the end of the first period Ryan Blott struck twice to put Boro ahead and was then unlucky not to complete his hat trick.

The second half saw Boro generally on top, but they couldn't add to their lead. It had been an improvement on previous performances without being totally convincing. It still meant the beer tasted better when we got back to Scarborough!