Harrogate Railway Athletic Football Club is a
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club based in
Harrogate
Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...
, North Yorkshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Station View.
History
The club was established in 1935 by employees of the
London and North Eastern Railway
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...
depot in the
Starbeck
Starbeck is an area of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. The population of Starbeck Ward taken at the 2011 census was 6,226. It has many facilities, including Starbeck railway station, which serves the Harrogate Line. Frequent services d ...
area of Harrogate.
[History]
Harrogate Railway Athletic F.C. They joined the
Harrogate & District League, and as a railways team, they entered the British Railways National Cup, winning it in 1945–46.
[ The club moved up to the ]West Yorkshire League
The West Yorkshire Association Football League is a football competition based in Yorkshire, England. It was previously known as the Leeds League until the name change in 1939. Although it is named the ''West Yorkshire'' League, clubs from the ...
, and were runners-up in 1951–52.[The West Yorkshire League 1950 and after]
Non-League Matters They won the league in 1953–54, and after a third-place finish in 1954–55, the club joined Division Two of the Yorkshire League, with the reserves taking over in the West Yorkshire League.
In 1957–58 Harrogate finished third in Division Two, earning promotion to Division One. However, they were relegated at the end of the following season. Another promotion following a third-place finish in 1963–64 was following by another immediate relegation the season after.[ League restructuring in 1970 saw a Division Three created, which the club were relegated to, and in 1973 they left the league and dropped back into the Harrogate & District League.][ However, they rejoined Division Three of the Yorkshire League in 1980. When the league merged with the ]Midland League
The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid.
History
Th ...
in 1982 to form the Northern Counties East League
The Northern Counties East Football League is a semi-professional English football league. It has two divisions – Premier Division and Division One – which stand at the ninth and tenth levels of the football pyramid respectively.
History
Th ...
, the club were placed in Division Two North. They won the division in 1983–84 and were promoted to Division One North.
League reorganisation in 1985 saw Harrogate placed in Division One, and a fourth-place finish in 1986–87 saw them promoted to the Premier Division, a season in which they also won the League Cup with a 5–0 win over Woolley Miners Welfare. The club were relegated back to Division One after finishing bottom of the Premier Division in 1992–93, but returned to the Premier Division after winning the Division One title in 1998–99. In 2002–03 the club reached the first round of the FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
for the first time. After beating Slough Town
Slough Town Football Club is a semi-professional English football club based in Slough, Berkshire. Nicknamed "The Rebels", the team competes in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football, following promotion from the Sou ...
2–1 in the first round, they lost 3–1 at home to Bristol City
Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...
in the second round in front of a record crowd of 3,500.[ The season also saw the club win the league's Presidents Cup with a 7–2 aggregate win over ]Bridlington Town
Bridlington Town Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They were founded in 1918 and currently play in the .
History
The club was founded in 1918 as Bridlington Centra ...
.Season 2002/03
Northern Counties East League In 2005–06 the club finished third in the Premier Division, earning promotion to Division One of the Northern Premier League
The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...
. In 2007 league restructuring saw them placed in Division One North.
In 2007–08 Harrogate reached the first round of the FA Cup again, defeating Droylsden
Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester city centre and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689.
Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the ...
2–0 before losing 3–2 at home to Mansfield Town
Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...
in the second round. They remained members of Division One North until being relegated back to the Northern Counties East League's Premier Division at the end of the 2015–16 season.[ In 2018–19 the club finished second-from-bottom of the Premier Division and were relegated to Division One.
]
Ground
The club bought its Station View ground in the Starbeck
Starbeck is an area of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. The population of Starbeck Ward taken at the 2011 census was 6,226. It has many facilities, including Starbeck railway station, which serves the Harrogate Line. Frequent services d ...
area of Harrogate with a £1,500 loan from the London and North Eastern Railway, with employees paying it off at 1p per week.[ Floodlights were erected in 1991 and inaugurated with a friendly match against ]Sheffield United
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
.[ The ground currently has a capacity of 3,500, of which 300 is seated and 600 covered.][
]
Honours
*Northern Counties East League
**Division One champions 1998–99
**Division Two North champions 1983–84
**League Cup winners 1986–87
**Presidents Cup winners 2002–03
*West Yorkshire League
**Champions 1953–54
*British Railways National Cup
**Winners 1945–46
Records
*Best FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
performance: Second round, 2002–03, 2007–08
*Best FA Trophy
The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...
performance: Third qualifying round, 2010–11
*Best FA Vase
The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...
performance: Fourth round, 1988–89
*Record attendance: 3,500 vs Bristol City
Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...
, FA Cup second round, 2002[
]
See also
*Harrogate Railway Athletic F.C. players
Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa wate ...
* Harrogate Railway Athletic F.C. managers
References
External links
Official website
{{coord, 54.000593, N, 1.5050921, W, display=title
Football clubs in England
Sport in Harrogate
Railway association football teams in England
Association football clubs established in 1935
Football clubs in North Yorkshire
1935 establishments in England
Harrogate and District Football League
West Yorkshire Association Football League
Yorkshire Football League
Northern Counties East Football League
Northern Premier League clubs