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| Full name | Harrogate Town Association Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Sulphurites | ||
| Founded | 1914; 112 years ago (1914) | ||
| Ground | Wetherby Road | ||
| Capacity | 5,000 (2,000 seated) | ||
| Chairman | Irving Weaver | ||
| Manager | Simon Weaver | ||
| League | EFL League Two | ||
| 2024–25 | EFL League Two, 18th of 24 | ||
| Website | www | ||
 Current season | |||
Harrogate Town Association Football Club is a professionalassociation football club inHarrogate,North Yorkshire, England. The team competes inLeague Two, the fourth level of theEnglish football league system.
Harrogate Hotspurs were founded in 1919 and changed their name to Harrogate Town after football returned at the end of theSecond World War, joining theWest Yorkshire Association League. They entered the Yorkshire League again in 1957. In 1982 the club became founder members of theNorthern Counties East League and a founding member of theNorthern Premier League's First Division in 1987. They won the Northern Premier League Division One title in 2001–02 and became founder members of theConference North in 2004. They won the National League North play-offs in 2018 and secured a place in theFootball League for the first time with victory in the2020 National League play-off final. The team won the2019–20 FA Trophy after defeatingConcord Rangers. The club is nicknamed the Sulphurites, due to thespa town's sulphur springs. The club's colours are black and yellow and they play home games atWetherby Road.
People in the town ofHarrogate had tried to put together a football team as far back as 1907 but it took until 1914 forHarrogate A.F.C. to be founded. They were entered into theNorthern Football League in 1914, and were set to play their home fixtures at the County Ground, but theFirst World War meant all fixtures were postponed.
After the First World War, Robert Ackrill Breare instigated a meeting to discuss putting the club back together. Breare later became the secretary of the club, which entered into the West Riding League.
Harrogate played their first competitive fixture on 30 August 1919 at Starbeck Lane Ground against Horsforth. They won the game 1–0 and the scorer was L. Craven with a headed goal. They were entered into theFA Cup the same year, losing to South Kirkby Colliery 4–0 in a 1Q replay. Harrogate also won their first trophy, the Whitworth Cup, with a 4–0 victory against Ripon City.
For the 1920–21 season Harrogate were one of the founding teams in the newYorkshire League, yet they also continued to field a team in the West Riding League. The club had relocated to a new ground: Wetherby Road. Around the holiday periods, they took part in friendlies against higher league opposition includingLiverpool at theirAnfield ground, and another at fellow Yorkshire sideSheffield United in front of 15,000 fans.
They moved league once again for their third season, leaving the West Riding League and moving into theMidland Football League. It included the reserve teams ofNottingham Forest,Sheffield Wednesday andBarnsley. The club remained in the Yorkshire League, fielding a reserve team. However, the club resigned from the Midland League after only one season and reverting to fielding a first team in the Yorkshire League. The West Riding County Challenge Cup was won by Harrogate in 1925, with their 3–1 victory against Fryston Colliery atElland Road.
League victory was secured in 1926–27, as Harrogate became the Yorkshire League champions, with Bob Morphet scoring 44 goals. The club then moved into theNorthern Football League. Their second West Riding County Challenge Cup was won the same season againstSelby Town. The team disbanded in 1932.
A football club was brought back to the town in 1935 withHarrogate Hotspurs. After theSecond World War, the club was renamedHarrogate Town and played in theWest Yorkshire Association Football League. Harrogate Town joined the Yorkshire League again in 1957. They spent many years in the Yorkshire League during the 1960s and 1970s, and then became a founding member of the newNorthern Counties East Football League in 1982. On 4 September 1976, they fielded a black player for the first time when Denver Mitchell played in goal for them against Rawmarsh Welfare. Denver made 29 appearances for Harrogate between 1976 and 1978.[1] The club was looking to climb the newly instatedfootball pyramid and so began to improve their ground, installingfloodlights. They played a friendly to mark the occasion againstLeeds United, withEddie Gray being the first to switch the lights on.
After a West Riding County Cup win in 1986, and five seasons in the Northern Counties East League, they became founding members of theNorthern Premier League's new First Division in 1987–88, after having been invited to join the new league. In 1990 the club became a limited company to fund construction of a new main stand, and in the same year the club won the Northern Premier League First Division Cup. They spent 15 seasons in this league, twice narrowly avoiding relegation back to the Northern Counties East League. However, they won promotion to the Premier Division in 2001–02 after finishing as champions. During their first season in that division they finished sixth, and for the first time in the club's history they reached the first round of theFA Cup, losing 5–1 toFarnborough Town of the Football Conference. Town also won the West Riding County Cup in both the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons.
After finishing fifth in the Premier Division in 2003–04, the club became founders of the newly establishedConference North in 2004. During their FA Cup run in the 2005–06 season, Harrogate were drawn to play atTorquay United, their first cup game against Football League opposition. After drawing 1–1 atPlainmoor, they lost 6–5 on penalties after a 0–0 draw in the replay.[2] At the end of the season the club finished fifth and qualified for the promotion play-offs, but lost 1–0 to eventual winnersStafford Rangers.
At the end of the 2009–10 season the club finished bottom of the Conference North and were due to be relegated. However, afterNorthwich Victoria were demoted due to financial problems, the club were reprieved.[3]
Before the start of the 2011–12 season, Bill Fotherby handed control of the club to Irving Weaver, father of managerSimon Weaver. Tad Nowakowski, father of player Adam, also joined the board to help improve community links. The 2011–12 season ended in a relegation dogfight, Harrogate survived on the final day thanks to a 5–0 away win atCorby Town. The 2012–13 season saw the team's best run in the FA Cup. On 3 November 2012 they beat League Two team Torquay United 1–0 to go beyond the first round for the first time.[4] AgainstHastings United in the second round, they drew 1–1 at Wetherby Road, and the replay at Hastings also finished 1–1 but they lost 5–4 on penalties.
After a good start placing them in the top five at the beginning of the 2016–17 season, the team went on a long run of bad form. As a result, Weaver and other club officials decided that the players at the end of the season should be given full-time contracts to improve chances of promotion. The club began training full time from 3 July 2017. They won theNational League North play-offs for the 2017–18 season beatingBrackley Town in the play-off final earning promotion to theNational League.[5] The club finished sixth in their2018–19 National League campaign, qualifying for the play-offs. They were beaten 3–1 byAFC Fylde in a play-off eliminator.[6] As the2019–20 National League season was curtailed due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, table positions were determined on average points-per-game, of which Harrogate Town had 1.78, placing them second and meaning they again qualified for the play-offs, this time in the semi-finals. In the semi-final, they beatBoreham Wood 1–0.[7] On 2 August 2020, atWembley Stadium, the club facedNotts County in theplay-off final and won 3–1, earning promotion to theEnglish Football League for the first time in their history.[8] They also reached the2020 FA Trophy final, defeatingHartlepool United,Darlington,Eastleigh,AFC Fylde and Notts County on their route to the final.[9] Harrogate won the final againstConcord Rangers on 3 May 2021. As a result of the almost 12-month delay in staging the final, caused by theCOVID-19 pandemic, Harrogate Town became the first EFL side in history to participate in the competition.[10]
On 12 September 2020, Harrogate played their first English Football League game, winning 4–0 away atSouthend United.[11] In September 2020, Harrogate played their firstEFL Cup match, away toTranmere Rovers which they won.[12] In the second round, Harrogate were eliminated byPremier League sideWest Bromwich Albion 3–0.[13] In2020–21, Harrogate finished their first Football League season in 17th place.[14] In2021–22, Harrogate did enough to survive in the League again, finishing in 19th place and reached the third round of theFA Cup for the first time.[15][16] In the 2024–25 season, Harrogate reached the FA Cup third round again, losing 1–0 away toLeeds United.[17]
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The club play atWetherby Road. Opened on 28 August 1920, it has a capacity of 5,000 of which 2,000 is seated.[19] The ground is situated on the A661 Wetherby Road adjacent toHarrogate District Hospital. It has covered accommodation on all four sides, as well as a hospitality lounge in the south-east corner. The club shop and a function room called the 1919 Venue are on the south side. Harrogate Town's academy also play most of their home games at Wetherby Road.
On promotion to theFootball League in August 2020, the club confirmed that in order to comply with the League's regulations, they would replace Wetherby Road's synthetic pitch with a grass one. This was not completed by the time that the 2020–21 season commenced and the club arranged a temporary groundshare atDoncaster Rovers'sKeepmoat Stadium.[20] The first Football League match played at Wetherby Road was on 17 October 2020 when Harrogate beatBarrow 1–0.[21]
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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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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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Board of directors
Coaching staff
Other staff
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League
Cup
53°59′30″N1°30′52″W / 53.99167°N 1.51444°W /53.99167; -1.51444
