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| Full name | Worksop Town Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Tigers | ||
| Founded | Disputed[a] | ||
| Ground | Sandy Lane, Worksop | ||
| Capacity | 2,500 (200 seats)[6] | ||
| Owner | Philip Argyle | ||
| Chairman | Peter Whitehead | ||
| Manager | Craig Parry | ||
| League | Northern Premier League Premier Division | ||
| 2023–24 | Northern Premier League Premier Division, 5th of 21 | ||
| Website | http://www.worksoptownfc.com/ | ||
Worksop Town Football Club is an Englishfootball club based inWorksop, Nottinghamshire. The team play in theNorthern Premier League Premier Division. They are nicknamedThe Tigers and play their home games at Sandy Lane in Worksop.
The club claims it was originally founded in 1861, which would make it the fourth oldest association football club in the world, however, no contemporary evidence to back up this claim has yet been found.[1] As of 2023[update], the earliest record of a game of association football being played in the town comes from December 1875, when theSheffield Daily Telegraph reported that a Worksop team had won its opening match against Harthill.[4] The earliest record of the club using the "Town" suffix comes from 1882, when Worksop played Eckington on 18 February.[7]
The Town club joined theSheffield & District Football League in 1892 and also played in theSheffield Association League during the late 1890s after an unsuccessful one-year spell in theMidland League. Worksop re-joined the Midland League in 1900 and became a prominent member of the competition before theFirst World War. It finished third in the league in 1903 and, in 1908, reached the first round of theFA Cup for the first time, losing 1–9 atStamford Bridge toChelsea in front of 18,995 spectators.[8]
After the First World War put a halt to football activity in the town, the game returned in 1919 when Worksop Town and Manton Athletic merged to becomeWorksop and Manton Athletic,[9] although the Worksop Town name remained in popular usage. The club joined the Midland League and in 1921 won the competition for the first time. The 1920s provided the club with its best spell in the FA Cup, reaching the first round in four out of six seasons from 1921. In 1923, it drewTottenham Hotspur atWhite Hart Lane – the Tigers pulled off a shock by holding Spurs to a goal-less draw. The Worksop board decided against hosting the replay at Central Avenue, and it was beaten 0–9 in the replay two days after the original tie, again at White Hart Lane. In 1926, it reached the second round for the first time after beatingCoventry City at Central Avenue in the first round – eventually losing by one goal to three toChesterfield in the next round.
In 1930, the club withdrew from the Midland League and disbanded, with a newWorksop Town club being formed a week later.[10] The new outfit initially played in theSheffield Association League and Central Combination, before joining theYorkshire League in 1935. This latest incarnation lasted less than a decade, being wound up during theSecond World War.
After the end of the Second World War, another new club was formed by the name ofWorksop Town Athletic, although the Athletic suffix would soon fall out of use. They initially competed in the Sheffield Association League, but later joining the Midland League. In 1956, it progressed to the third round of the FA Cup for the only time in its history, beatingSkegness Town andBradford City before losing toSwindon Town at theCounty Ground. Worksop won up its second Midland League title in 1966 before becoming a founder member of theNorthern Premier League (NPL) two years later. It returned to the Midland League after just one year, however, as the Tigers finished bottom in the NPL's inaugural season.
Worksop won its third and last Midland League title in 1973 and, a year later, re-joined the NPL, eventually finding its feet at this higher level. In 1978, it once more reached the first round of the FA Cup, losing 1–5 toBarnsley atOakwell. In 1989, it was relegated to Division 1 of the NPL, and had to move to play inGainsborough when it was evicted from its Central Avenue home. It spent three years in Gainsborough before returning to the newly built Sandy Lane ground in Worksop in 1992.
The Tigers regained NPL Premier Division status in 1998, by which timeChris Waddle was playing for Worksop, and, in 1999, it finished as runner-up in the NPL, only just missing promotion to theFootball Conference. In 2004, it was a founder member of theConference North, but it only lasted three years in the division before being relegated back to the Northern Premier League. It was around this time that the club fell into financial difficulties and lost ownership of its home ground at Sandy Lane, being forced to rent the grounds ofHucknall Town,Ilkeston Town andRetford United for three years.
In 2011, the club finally returned to Sandy Lane, but this time as tenants ofWorksop Parramore, which had bought the ground and allowed the Tigers to play there. The 2013–14 season almost saw Worksop promoted back to the Conference North but it was beaten in the league play-off semi-finals. At the end of the season, the club's owner, Jason Clark, revealed that he would no longer be funding the club, plunging it into a financial crisis, and shortly afterwards the decision was taken to resign from the Northern Premier League and to join theNorthern Counties East League (NCEL), entering the NCEL's Premier Division.[11]
The drop to the ninth level of theEnglish football league system also meant a first foray into theFA Vase, having previously competed in theFA Trophy. Worksop were crownedNorthern Counties East League champions at the end of the 2018–19 season, winning promotion back to the Northern Premier League.
On 18 March 2023, the club won the Division One East title in the Northern Premier League with seven games of the season remaining, the first team in English football to secure promotion in the2022–23 season.[12]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Worksop initially played at two different grounds on Netherton Road before, along with the cricket club, it moved to Bridge Meadow, also known as Newcastle Avenue, in 1891. This had separate cricket and football pitches along with a quarter-mile track. In 1901, it moved across the River Ryton to Central Avenue, staying there until 1988, when it was forced to move, and play in Gainsborough. It returned to its home town in 1992 when a new ground was built on Sandy Lane. It lost ownership of Sandy Lane in 2005 and again had to groundshare elsewhere before returning to Sandy Lane in 2011, this time as tenants ofWorksop Parramore.
A series of pictures taken at the Worksop Town vs. Sheffield Wednesday friendly match in July 2011.
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53°18′41″N1°07′53″W / 53.3115°N 1.1314°W /53.3115; -1.1314
