Goole Town F.C. was a semi-professional football club based in the town of

Goole Goole is a port town and civil parish on the River Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The town's historic county is the West Riding of Yorkshire. According to the 2011 UK census, Goole parish had a population of 19,518, an increa ...

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire t ...

, England. Established in 1912, they folded in 1996. The club spent its entire existence in

non-league Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is s ...

football, where they won various championships over the years. Perhaps Goole's crowning achievement was reaching 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 competit ...

third round in 1956–57 before going out to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

History

The club was founded in 1912 as Goole Town Football Club when they entered into the

Midland Football 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 ...

. Town played in that league for three seasons, finishing each season respectably and with a highest position of 4th place in 1914–15. That same season they reached the First Round of the

, but lost to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

9–3 at

Ayresome Park Ayresome Park was a football stadium in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, England. It was the home of Middlesbrough F.C. from its construction in time for the 1903–04 season, until the Riverside Stadium opened in 1995. It was demolished in 1997 and ...

. Play was suspended because of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

and Goole did not re-enter the Midland League afterwards. However, just after the war, as Goole Shipyards Football Club they became founding members of the

Yorkshire Football League The Yorkshire Football League was the name of two football competitions. The first lasted three seasons in the late 19th century and the second lasted 62 years until merging with the Midland League in 1982 to become the Northern Counties East L ...

for the 1920–21 season. In 1924 the club had reverted to the Goole Town name and were back in the Yorkshire League. By the late 1920s Goole had proved themselves at this level, their pinnacle in this period being their championship-winning season in 1927–28. Goole continued in the Yorkshire League throughout the 1930s and 1940s, picking up the championship during both the 1936–37 and 1947–48 seasons.

Return to the Midland League

In 1948, Goole Town decided to return to the

, which they had not competed in since the start of the First World War. At the end of 1950–51, they finished in 3rd place above the likes of

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standin ...

and

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is know ...

. For the rest of the 1950s however, Goole lingered in the lower regions of the league, but had one very notable

run. In the 1956–57 season Goole Town reached the Third Round of the FA Cup, having previously knocked out

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 193 ...

2–1 away and

Football League 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 ...

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. Loca ...

, before finally going out to

.FCHD.info
/ref> The 1960s for Goole Town was largely uneventful in the league; the majority of the time they finished around mid-table, with a decent 5th-place finish in 1967–68 being the highlight. That season they had also taken

Spennymoor United Spennymoor United Association Football Club was an association football club based in Spennymoor, County Durham, England. History Spennymoor United Association Football Club was formed in 1904 as an amalgamation of Spennymoor Town and Weardale ...

to a first round replay in the FA Cup.

Northern Premier League

Goole Town became one of the founding members of the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, 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 ...

in 1968, where they played against the likes of

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was wound-up after a High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 and ...

, Scarborough and

Stafford Rangers Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Premier Division. The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts. Stafford Rangers' rivals include T ...

– alongside old rivals

and

. During the first-ever season of the league, they finished in 8th place. Their best finish in the

was 6th place on two occasions these were the 1976–77 season and then again in the 1988–89 season, while their worst finishes were in 1970–71, 1985–86 and 1992–93 seasons when they finished in last place on each occasion. They reached the quarterfinal of the FA Trophy in the 1974–75 season, losing at home to Matlock Town 1–0 before a crowd of 3,500. The club folded at the end of the 1995–96 season due to financial difficulties. A new club,

Goole A.F.C. Goole Association Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Victoria Pleasure Grounds. History The club was established by Mike Norman i ...

, was formed in its place.

Records

*Goole Town's top attendance in any game was against

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

in the 1949–50 season, when 8,700 packed into the Victoria Pleasure Ground for this important league match.

Honours

*Northern Premier League **Challenge Cup winners: 1988–89 *Yorkshire League **Champions 1927–28, 1936–37, 1947–48 *

West Riding County Cup The West Riding County Cup is an annual 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 of Yorkshire since t ...

**Winners 1950–51, 1951–52, 1956–57, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1988–89, 1991–92

References