Garforth Town Association Football Club is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in Garforth,

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. They are members of the and play at Wheatley Park.

History

The club was established in 1964 as Miners Arms, a Sunday league team based at the pub from which they took their name.History
Garforth Town F.C. They joined the Elmet Sunday League, where they played until joining the Leeds Sunday Combination in 1972.Garforth Town
Northern Counties East League In 1976 the club switched to Saturday football, joining the West Yorkshire League. They applied to join the Yorkshire League for the following season, and after being advised that pub teams were not allowed in the league, adopted the name Garforth Miners. In 1978 Garforth were elected to Division Three of the Yorkshire League. They finished second-from-bottom of the table in their first season, but were Division Three runners-up in 1979–80, earning promotion to Division Two. When the league merged with the

Midland League The Midland Football League, officially known as the Capelli Sport Midland Football League since January 2025 for sponsorship reasons, is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midl ...

in 1982 to form the Northern Counties East League, the club were placed in Division One North. In 1985 they were renamed again, becoming Garforth Town. League reorganisation saw them placed in Division Two in 1985 and they went on to finish as runners-up, earning promotion to Division One. Although they were Division One runners-up in 1996–97, also winning the League Trophy, the club were not promoted to the Premier Division. However, they were Division One champions the following season, and were promoted. They also won the

West Riding County Cup The West Riding County Cup is an annual association football, football competition held between the clubs of the West Riding County Football Association which was first competed in 1927. It is the senior county cup for the historic West Riding o ...

for the first time with a 1–0 win over Liversedge in the final. In 1999–2000 they both won the League Cup (beating Glapwell 3–1 in the final) and the West Riding County Cup (winning 2–0 against Eccleshill United in the final). Garforth finished bottom of the Premier Division in 2001–02, but avoided relegation after Denaby United folded. However, the following season saw them finish bottom again, and they were relegated to Division One. In 2003 the club were taken over by Simon Clifford, who stated that his ambition was to take the club into the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

. He took over as manager early in the 2004–05 season and made several high-profile signings, including Brazilian

Sócrates Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira (19 February 1954 – 4 December 2011), simply known as Sócrates , was a Brazilian footballer who played as a midfielder. His medical degree and his political awareness, combined with s ...

(who made one appearance as a substitute) and Lee Sharpe. They finished as Division One runners-up, earning promotion back to the Premier Division. Another Brazilian, Careca, played for the club in a friendly that summer. In 2006–07 a fourth-place finish was enough to earn promotion to Division One North of the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

. In 2008–09 Garforth won the West Riding County Cup for a third time, beating Bradford Park Avenue in the final. They retained the cup the following season, defeating Barnoldswick Town in the final. In 2011–12 they finished fifth, qualifying for the promotion play-offs, but lost 4–1 on penalties to Curzon Ashton in the semi-finals after a 2–2 draw. They were bought by former

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

chairman Rupert Lowe in December 2012, but the 2012–13 season saw the club finish bottom of Division One North, resulting in relegation back to the Northern Counties East League. Lowe left the club in 2015. In 2023–24 Garforth finished third in the Premier Division. In the subsequent play-offs they defeated Rossington Main on penalties in the semi-final and then beat Albion Sports on penalties in the final, earning promotion to Division One East of the Northern Premier League.

Ground

The club initially played on a council pitch in nearby

Swillington Swillington is a village and civil parish near Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough. It is situated east from Leeds city centre, north of the River Aire, and is surrounded by streams including Fleaking ...

as there were no facilities available in Garforth. When they joined the West Yorkshire League in 1976 they bought land at Brierlands Lane, a former council rubbish dump, to build a new ground. A clubhouse was built in 1991 and floodlights erected in 1995. In 1998 they moved to Wheatley Park. The ground has a capacity of 3,000, of which 278 is seated and 200 covered. The record attendance of 2,428 was set for a Northern Premier League Division One North match against

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

on 29 April 2011.

Honours

*Northern Counties East League **Division One champions 1997–98 **League Cup winners 1999–2000 **League Trophy winners 1996–97 *West Riding County Cup **Winners 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2008–09, 2009–10

Records

*Best

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

performance: Second qualifying round, 1991–92, 1997–98, 2008–09 *Best FA Trophy performance: First qualifying round, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12 *Best

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...

performance: Quarter-finals, 1985–86 *Record attendance: 2,428 vs

, Northern Premier League Division One North, 29 April 2011 *Most appearances: Philip Matthews, 1982–1993Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2012) ''Non-League Club Directory 2013'', p398 *Most goals: Mark SimpsonGarforth retain key quartet, including Simpson
Non-League Yorkshire, 25 June 2019

References

External links