Harrogate Railway Athletic Football Club is a football club based in

Harrogate 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 w ...

, 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 depot in the Starbeck 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 T ...

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 T ...

, 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 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

, 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

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2–1 in the first round, they lost 3–1 at home to

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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. 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

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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 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

performance: Second round, 2002–03, 2007–08 *Best FA Trophy performance: Third qualifying round, 2010–11 *Best FA Vase performance: Fourth round, 1988–89 *Record attendance: 3,500 vs

, FA Cup second round, 2002

References

External links