Crook 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

Crook Crook is slang for criminal. Crook or Crooks may also refer to: Places Canada * Crooks Inlet, former name of Kangiqturjuaq, Nunavut England * Crook, County Durham, a town * Crook, Cumbria, a village and civil parish * Crook Hill, Derby ...

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Sir Tom Cowie Millfield. The club won the

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of professionalism within footb ...

five times.

History

Crook Town Football Club was formed in 1889 by a merger of Crook and Crook Excelsior. They initially only played friendly and cup matches until Crook Cricket Club took over the club in 1894. A successful application was then made to join the Bishop Auckland and District League, with the club's first league match played on 15 August 1894, a 1–1 draw with Shildon United. They were league runners-up in 1895–96, and at the end of the season they joined the Northern League. In 1897–98 the league gained a second division, with Crook becoming members of Division One. They finished bottom of the division and were due to take part in promotion/relegation play-off matches. However, an outbreak of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

in the Middlesbrough area had prevented the club finishing their league fixtures. The club refused to enter the play-offs, but as two of the clubs that were supposed to play in the play-offs were also from the Middlesbrough area, the matches were called off and there was no promotion or relegation. They finished bottom of Division One the following season, but there was no relegation. In 1900–01 the club won the

, defeating

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

3–0 in a replay at Ipswich after a 1–1 draw at Dovercourt in Essex. In 1908 Crook successfully applied to join the

North Eastern League The North Eastern League was an association football league for teams in the North East of England. The league was founded in 1906 and was initially successful, with teams defecting from the rival Northern Football Alliance to play. Although ...

. However, shortly before the start of the 1908–09 season the club decided to remain in the Northern League.Club History 1905-1925
Crook Town A.F.C. In 1913 the club made the first of three tours to Spain where games were played against

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. Subsequent tours were undertaken in 1921 and 1922. In all Crook played Barcelona ten times, winning two, drawing four and losing four.

Jack Greenwell John Richard Greenwell (2 January 1884 – 20 November 1942) was an English football manager and former player. He is Barcelona's longest serving manager, having coached the club for ten consecutive seasons (initially as player-coach, then as ma ...

, a native of Crook who played on the first tour, stayed on to play for Barcelona. Jack went on to manage Barcelona and the Spanish national team before coaching all over the world during the 1930s. In 1914–15 Crook won their first Northern League title. In 1919–20 they were one of three clubs to finish joint top of the table on 38 points, alongside

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham, England, Durham. M ...

and

South Bank The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial area on the south bank of the River Thames, in the London Borough of Lambeth, central London, England. The South Bank is not formally defined, but is generally understood to be situated betwe ...

; a three-way play-off was held, in which each club won one match and lost one match, with South Bank declared champions on goal scored. In 1926–27 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 Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

for the first time. After beating

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2–1, they lost 2–0 at

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

in the second round. The season also saw them win the Northern League for a second time, but after an investigation into illegal payments to amateur players the following season, the club was suspended by the

Durham County Football Association The Durham County Football Association (also simply known as the Durham FA) is the governing body of football in the county of Durham, from grassroots to professional level. The Durham FA was founded on 25 March 1883. They run a number of cups ...

on 7 January, and their league record was expunged. They had also reached the first round of the FA Cup, losing 8–2 at Third Division North

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

. Crook were re-constituted in the summer of 1928 and after being refused entry to the Northern League, spent the 1928–29 season in the Durham Central League. They were accepted back into the Northern League in 1929, but a year later decided to turn professional and joined the

under the name Crook. In 1931–32 the club reached the first round of the FA Cup again. After beating

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

3–1 in the first round, and then defeating

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

1–0 in a second round replay, they were drawn against First Division

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

in the third round, eventually losing 7–0 at

Filbert Street Filbert Street was a football stadium in Leicester, England, which served as the home of Leicester City F.C. from 1891 until 2002. Although officially titled the City Business Stadium in the early 1990s, it remained known almost exclusively b ...

. With the club virtually bankrupt after finishing bottom of the North Eastern League in 1935–36 a special meeting was called and the decision to revert to amateur status and rejoin the Northern League as Crook Town was made. The club struggled on until

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the Northern League closed down in 1940. In 1943 Hole in the Wall Colliery and Peases West Welfare merged to form Crook Colliery Welfare. When the Northern League resumed in 1945, the new club took the place of Crook Town, whose name they adopted in 1949. In 1952–53 they won the Northern League, and the following season they won the FA Amateur Cup again, defeating

in a second replay in the final. In 1958–59 they won the league and reached the FA Amateur Cup for the third time, winning 3–2 against

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

. They won the Cup again in 1961–62 with a 4–0 win over Hounslow Town in a replay, and the following season won the Northern League title. A fifth Amateur Cup was won in 1963–64 when they defeated Enfield 2–1, but thereafter the club went into decline. After thirteen seasons of finishing in the top six in the league during the 1950s and early 1960s, the early 1970s saw the club finishing near the bottom of the league. In 1976 they became the first English club side to tour

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, when they played six matches there, including a 1–0 defeat to the Indian national side, a match was watched by a crowd of 100,000. In 1988–89 Crook finished bottom of Division One of the Northern League and were relegated to Division Two. They returned to Division One after finishing as runners-up in 1994–95, but were relegated back to Division Two after finishing bottom of Division One in 2000–01. In

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

the club won Division Two, earning promotion back to Division One.Congratulations!
Northern League, 27 April 2013 However, they were relegated to Division Two again at the end of the 2014–15 season, having finished bottom of Division One. In 2021 the club were promoted back to Division One based on their results in the abandoned 2019–20 and

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

seasons.

Ground

The club initially played at their current Millfield ground, which was then owned by Crook Rugby Club. The rugby club's matches took priority, and when there were fixture clashes, the football club played at the Dawson Street cricket ground.Club History 1889-1905
Crook Town A.F.C. In 1895 the football club moved to the Bankfoot Sports Ground on Peases West. In 1898 the club returned to the Millfield ground after purchasing it for £625, subsequently building a 300-seat grandstand and purchasing two nearby cottages to use as changing rooms.
Pyramid Passion During the 1925–26 season a new main stand was built, costing £1,300; grassed banks were also created all round the pitch using coal mine spoil.Club History 1925-1945
Crook Town A.F.C. Terracing was installed in the 1960s and floodlights erected in 1968; the first match under the lights was a friendly against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

on 16 December that year.

Honours

*FA Amateur Cup **Winners 1900–01, 1953–54, 1958–59, 1961–62, 1963–64 *Northern League **Champions 1914–15, 1926–27, 1952–53, 1958–59, 1962–63 **Division Two Champions 2012–13 **League Cup winners 1936–37, 1945–46, 1960–61 *

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

**Winners 1926–27, 1931–32, 1954–55, 1959–60 *Durham Benevolent Bowl **Winners 1913–14, 1919–20, 1921–22, 1925–26, 1954–55 *Captain G. Wright Trophy **Winners 1963–64, 1964–65

Records

*Best

performance: Third round, 1931–32 *Best

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

performance: Third round, 1976–77 *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, 2005–06 *Record attendance: 17,500 vs Walton & Hersham, FA Amateur Cup, 1952

References

External links