Ryhope Colliery Welfare Football Club was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club based in

Ryhope Ryhope ( ) is a coastal village along the southern boundary of the City of Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear, North East England. With a population of approximately 14,000, measured at 10.484 in the 2011 census, Ryhope is 2.9 miles to the centre of ...

, Sunderland, in England.

History

The club was founded by coal miners in Ryhope in 1892. It was not until 1927–28 that it won its first league title. However the club enjoyed most of its success in the 1960s, winning the

Wearside Football League The Wearside Football League is a non-league football competition based in northern England. It consists of three divisions which sits at steps 7 to 9 (or levels 11 to 13) of the National League System and is a feeder to the Northern League Divi ...

on four occasions, the Monkwearmouth Charity Cup twice as well as the Sunderland Shipowners Cup and League Challenge Cup during the decade. In the 1967–68 season, the team reached the First Round Proper 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 only time in its history, losing 1–0 at home to then Football League Division 4 side

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Locat ...

. The club's next successful season was 1977–78, finishing 3rd in the league, winning the League Cup with the season culminating in winning the Durham Challenge Cup for the only time in the club's history. Between the 1988–89 and 1991–92 seasons, the club was known as Vaux Ryhope after a merger with Sporting Club Vaux (previously South Hetton FC). In season 2009–10 under the guidance of newly appointed manager Martin Swales, Ryhope won the Monkwearmouth Charity Cup for the first time in 44 years, as well as being runners up in the league their highest position also for 44 years. Season 2010–11 however was the most successful in the club's history, winning all four competitions the Wearside League Title, Sunderland Shipowners Cup, Monkwearmouth Charity Cup and League Cup. This was only the third time in the history of the League that this has been achieved by a club. However, in season 2011–12 Ryhope repeated the feat of the previous season winning all four competitions and gained promotion to the Northern League for the first time in its history. It ended the season having only been defeated once in its last 70 Wearside League and cup games. The team continued its success in season 2012–13 finishing runners up to Crook Town and gaining promotion to the Northern League 1st Division at its first attempt, losing only three games and scoring 147 league goals. However, due to off the field ground grading issues, rather than making the step up the club was relegated back to the Wearside League. It was a decision taken by the Northern League Management Committee and endorsed by the FA. Season 2013–14 saw the team back in the Wearside League and finish runners up to Stockton Town and with the ground issues solved the team again was promoted to the Northern League 2nd division for the season 2014–15. After finishing 6th in season 2014–15 the club finished runners up to South Shields in the 2015–16 season thus gaining promotion to the Northern League Division 1 under the guidance of managerial duo Gary Pearson and Stuart Gooden. Over the next couple of seasons Ryhope CW established themselves as a stable Division 1 club. Building consistency both on and off the pitch. With Gooden parting ways with the club, Chris McCabe was brought in as joint manager alongside Pearson. Under the joint management, Ryhope CW progressed to the 3rd Round of the Buildbase FA Vase for the first time in the club's history during the 2020–21 season. Despite on the field success, and a victory in the

Durham Challenge Cup The Durham County Challenge Cup (commonly known as the Durham Challenge Cup) is an annual football competition held between the clubs of the Durham County Football Association which was first played in 1884. It is the senior county cup for the ...

in 2022, the club struggled to maintain itself in the Northern League, and after finishing fifth in the Northern League first division they resigned from the competition in June 2022. The club folded sometime later. Ryhope Colliery Welfare's last manager, Pearson, died on 30 June 2022 at the age of 45.

Honours

: 1927–28, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1965–66, 2010–11, 2011–12 * Monkwearmouth Charity Cup: 1965–66, 1966–67, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2013–14 * Sunderland Shipowners Cup: 1961–62, 2010–11, 2011–12 * League Challenge Cup: 1963–64, 1977–78, 2010–11, 2011–12 *

: 1977–78, 2022 * Northern League Div 2 Runners Up: 2012–13 * Wearside League Runners Up: 2013–14 * Northern League Div 2 Runners Up: 2015–16

Records

best performance: First Round Proper, 1967–68 * FA Vase best performance: Third Round Proper, 2020–21

References

External links

Ryhope Colliery Welfare
at the Football Club History Database
Vaux Ryhope
at the Football Club History Database {{coord, 54, 52, 13.7418, N, 1, 22, 51.4632, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Defunct football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in Tyne and Wear Association football clubs established in 1892 Association football clubs disestablished in 2022 1892 establishments in England 2022 disestablishments in England Wearside Football League Northern Football League Mining association football teams in England Sport in the City of Sunderland Sunderland