Yorkshire Amateur

Yorkshire Amateur AFC is a non-league football club that was formed back in 1918 in Leeds by a man called Kolin Robertson, before they began playing matches the following year.

The club was based at Elland Road after Leeds City FC were dissolved after being found guilty of financial irregularities. Amateur sold it to the newly formed Leeds United for £250 in 1920 after deciding that the venue did not suit their needs. They intended to play against pro teams in the north of England. 

Ammers became founder members of the Yorkshire League in 1920, sharing grounds with several clubs including Harrogate Town before they moved to their current home at Bracken Edge off Harehills Lane in 1922. In 1924 the club left the Yorkshire League before returning to the competition in 1930.

In 1931-32 holders Wycombe Wanderers were defeated in the FA Amateur Cup before Wimbledon were knocked out at the quarter-final stage after a replay at Bracken Edge watched by a crowd of 3,569. 12,000 had seen the 2-2 draw at Plough Lane.

Dreams of a Wembley final were dashed by Marine who won the semifinal tie 2-1 at Filbert Street in Leicester. The same season, saw the side reach the first round of the FA Cup before bowing out to Carlisle United. The team was so strong that England amateur international, George Hudson, could not break into it.

To round off an incredible season, Amateur ended as Yorkshire League runners-up after being defeated in a playoff by Huddersfield Town ‘A’. The side reached the first round of the FA Cup again but lost on aggregate to Lincoln City in 1945-46. Following that, the club went into decline.

The side was relegated to Division Two of the Yorkshire League in 1951-52 before regaining their status twelve months later before going down again in 1955-56. Once more, the Ammers went back up as champions in 1958-59. Another demotion followed in 1962-63.

It would take until the 1971-72 season for Amateur to win promotion before going down once more to Division Two in 1974-75 before they dropped down to Division Three in 1976-77. The team regathered and won promotion at the first attempt. 

Future West Bromwich Albion goalkeeper started his career in the late ‘70s at Bracken Edge as did Gary Strodder who went on to enjoy a fine Football League career. Amateur became a founder member of the Northern Counties East League in 1982-83, placed in Division Two North.

The NCEL format was tinkered with a couple of times in its early years with the Ammers playing in Division One North and then Division Three which was then absorbed into Division Two, with the side missing out on promotion on goal difference in 1987-88.

It was around this time Andy Watson, who would amass 352 Football League appearances came through the ranks. The club constructed a new seated stand, concrete standing and an all-weather pitch at Bracken Edge as well as new floodlights being added.

By the time Malcolm White was replaced as manager by Steve Learoyd in October 2005 Amateur played in the second-tier Division One of the NCEL after further restructuring. Pete Cusic then had a spell in charge of the team before the appointment of new manager Graham Hodder in April 2007.

Off the pitch, further improvements were made to Bracken Edge while the committee was strengthened as the club built its profile once more. Paul Lines was given the manager’s job in May 2010. He was replaced by Wayne Noteman in May 2012.

Phil Harding and Lincoln Richards, father of Premier League star Micah, were given the joint manager role in June 2013 before Richards became chairman a year later. The Ammers won promotion to the Premier Division in 2017-18.

Craig Ogilvie and Neil Sibson were joint bosses during the difficult period around the worldwide pandemic when Ammers were top of the NCEL as the 2020-21 season was curtailed. They were rewarded with a place in Division One East of the Northern Premier League in 2021-22.

Despite finishing in mid-table, Amateur were sent back down to the Premier Division of the Northern Counties East League as Bracken Edge failed to meet the criteria required. Nathan Cartman was appointed as manager in May 2022. However, he departed just two months later.

New owners had taken over, stating they were to hand the club back to the community with Mark Maspero coming in as manager. Jake Boyd and Casey O’Reilly replaced him in January 2023 as the side was relegated to Division One a few months later. 

O’Reilly was given sole charge but reappointed elsewhere in the project after a poor run of results with Ashton Campbell and Liam Willingham replacing him in August 2023 with the side anchored at the bottom of the NCEL Division One table in 2024-25.

Yorkshire Amateur AFC will play in the Northern Counties East League Division One in the 2024-25 season.

My visit

Yorkshire Amateur 1 Scarborough Athletic 6 (Saturday 8th November 2008) Northern Counties East League Division One (att: 220)

I missed out on Scarborough Athletic's first couple of visits in the league and cup so when Fred rang me and said he was having his stag do on the day of the NCEL visit in November 2008, I made sure I booked the day off work.

I got to Leeds later than the rest of the lads. Some were already well "in beer" as they'd watched the Rugby League World Cup semi-final earlier. We had a good tour of some excellent purveyors of real ale before I got a taxi with Butch to the ground to spend a bit of time in the clubhouse with the rest of the sizeable away following.

It was certainly very friendly but not the tidiest of clubrooms I'd ever used. The lads who went the previous season said it was warmer outside than in the club and it had been tidied up quite a lot since last time. The mind boggled. What they lacked in salubrious surroundings, they made up for in hospitality and service. The catering was nice and cheap.

Bracken Edge didn't seem like a bad place to watch football. It had a small strip of flat standing on three sides of the pitch with banking behind the goals towards the corner flags on the stand side. On the far side of the pitch stood an all-weather floodlit five-a-side court. 

The side where you enter has all the facilities, namely the clubhouse and dressing rooms, then a bit further up a long stand with a mixture of seats and terracing which formed excellent acoustics for the travelling Seadogs. Boro won the match 6-1. The Ammers had equalised but then were reduced to ten men almost immediately. 

One of their players was deemed to have handled on the line, which I considered to be a harsh ruling that ruined the game as a spectacle thereafter. The Ammers had knocked Boro out of the Wilkinson Sword Trophy in a shock a few weeks earlier. It was easy to see how, as they had a talented and spirited young side. Ryan Blott was the star of the show for Boro as he rattled in five goals. 

Bunner also put in a cabaret performance by rugby tackling a Boro fan, who'd been a bit of an embarrassment, down one of the banks and giving Radio York reporter, and York fan who took delight in our struggles, Barry Parker the third-degree. The moments were gladly caught on YouTube for prosperity. Watch them here and here.

We celebrated with another beer before getting a taxi back into the city to sample more imperious Tetleys, including one or two in The Templar Hotel, one of my favourite pubs in the world. With Butch and Batley flagging I went to catch up with the stag party who were in a trendy bar near the station. 

Unbelievably a group of lads from Scarborough who I used to play against came in as they'd been celebrating one of their birthdays. My train journey home was a nightmare because of engineering work. I had to go to York and then Retford, where a replacement bus transported me to Grantham before another train took me to Kings Cross.

Not that I remembered too much apart from having to get up to change modes, for some reason! It had been a very long but enjoyable day out but I was not upset to get home.