The Goole Vikings are a semi-professional rugby league club from

Goole Goole is a port town and civil parish on the River Ouse, Yorkshire, River Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The town's Historic counties of England, historic county is the West Riding of Yorkshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom censu ...

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, S ...

, England who compete in the

Yorkshire Men's League The Yorkshire Men's League is a summer rugby league competition for amateur teams in Yorkshire. The competition was formed in 2009 as the RLC Yorkshire Premier by splitting the RLC North Premier into two competitions - this and the RLC North ...

in the fifth tier of the

British rugby league system The British rugby league system is based on a five-tier structure administered by the Rugby Football League. Professional clubs The following is a list of professional and semi-professional clubs in the British rugby league system: *''*capaci ...

. From 2025, following a successful application, the club will compete in the

RFL League 1 The Rugby Football League's League One (known as the Betfred League One) is the third-highest division of rugby league in Britain. It is also the lowest level of professional rugby league in Britain. Introduced in 2003 as National League 2 i ...

History

Formation

Goole Vikings was founded in 2018 as an amateur club in the

, part of the fifth tier of the

. The club is considered the successor club to Goole RLFC which disbanded in 1902. The club's first ever professional game was a pre-season friendly on Tuesday, 14 January 2025 in a 46-6 defeat to

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Post Office Road and currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Featherstone ...

at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

, with substitute winger Callum Shaw scoring Goole's only try. One week later, in the club's first ever competitive professional match they had a stunning 10-17 victory knocking out a depleted

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, England. They play their home games at Plough Lane and currently compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of British rugby le ...

side from the

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

3rd round, played at the home of

Rosslyn Park F.C. Rosslyn Park Football Club is a rugby union club based in south west London currently playing in National League 1 - a tier 3 league in the English rugby union system. History Founded in 1879 by cricketing friends in north London, at the end o ...

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, sharing its SW15 postcode with neighbouring Putney and Kingston Vale, and takes up a far western strip, running north to south, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large counc ...

, with tries from Tom Halliday,

Thomas Minns Thomas "Tom" Minns (born 4 September 1994) is an English professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for Goole Vikings in the RFL League 1. He has previously played for the Leeds Rhinos, and on loan from Leeds at the London Broncos a ...

and Mackenzie Harman.

League 1

Following the withdrawal of

London Skolars The London Skolars are a rugby league club based at the White Hart Lane Community Sports Centre, New River Stadium in Wood Green, London Borough of Haringey, Haringey, North London. Founded in 1995, the club operated as a semi-professional team ...

from League 1 at the end of the 2023 season, the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Footb ...

(RFL) asked for applications for a replacement club for the 2025 season. Goole Vikings stated their intent to apply on 27 May 2024, and were placed on a three team shortlist along with

Anglian Vipers Anglian Vipers are an English amateur rugby league club based in Wymondham, Norfolk who compete in the East Rugby League Premier Division, in the fifth tier of the British rugby league system. The men's team was formed in 2022 and women's team in ...

(

East Rugby League The East Rugby League is a summer rugby league competition for amateur teams from the East of England. The competition was formed in 1997 as one of the two founding divisions of the Rugby League Conference. It ended its time in the conference a ...

; Division 5) and

Bedford Tigers Bedford Tigers RLFC is a rugby league club based in Bedford, England. The first team plays in the Southern Conference, with a second team in the East Premier League. As a club, Bedford Tigers have moved to their own ground in 2018 and have two ...

(

Southern Conference League The Southern Conference League is the fourth tier of the British rugby league system. It is the highest level of amateur rugby league outside of the heartlands in Northern England, operating in The Midlands, Southern England, and Wales. It was ...

; Division 4) on 3 July. On 18 September 2024, the RFL announced Goole's application had been successful and the club would join League 1 in 2025. On 1 October 2024, the club announced they had signed Scott Taylor as head coach, and Tom Halliday as their first professional player signing. In January 2025, Goole pulled off a huge upset in the second round of the 2025 Challenge Cup defeating

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

17-10.

2025 squad

Head coaches

* Scott Taylor (2024–present)

References

;General
Locations of League: Goole
;Inline

External links

Club Profile
''www.rugby-league.com'' {{League 1 Rugby league teams in the East Riding of Yorkshire Rugby clubs established in 2018 2018 establishments in England Goole