Harrogate Railway Athletic F.C.

Football club infobox
clubname = Harrogate Railway Athletic
image
fullname = Harrogate Railway Athletic
Football Club
nickname = The Rail, The Locomotives
founded = 1935
ground = Station View,
Harrogate, North Yorkshire
capacity = 3500 (300 Seated)
chairman =flagicon|England Rob Northfield
manager = flagicon|Scotland Vince Brockie
league = Northern Premier League
Division One North
season = 2007-08 | position = NPL First Division, 12th
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
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pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=008000|socks2=FFFFFF

Harrogate Railway Athletic F.C. is an English football club based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. The club was founded in 1935 and continues on today. It currently plays in the Northern Premier League Division One North.

History

The club was founded in 1935 when workers from Starbeck LNER locomotive shed formed an adult team to play in the Harrogate & District League. In 1946 the side consisted entirely of railway men and reached the British Railways National Cup Final.

This success prompted the club to go in search of a ground of their own but they stayed at Station View when the LNER said that they would lend the club the £1,500 necessary to purchase the site, providing 300 rail workers would agree to having 1d a week stopped from their wages to finance the repayments. More than sufficient volunteers signed up and they did not have long to wait for their faith to be repaid on the pitch.

In 1949 both of the clubs sides won their respective league championships plus a full set of local cups. The first team winning all 24 league matches with a goal tally of 150 goals to 29 against.

In the 2002–03 season, they won eight games and reached the Second Round of the FA Cup. Eventually Harrogate Railway lost to Bristol City 3–1. [cite web
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/2548925.stm
title = Bristol City railroad Harrogate
accessdate = 2007-12-01
date = 2002-12-08
publisher = BBC Sport] This run was the furthest the club has gone in the FA Cup to date.

In recent years the club has reached its highest ever league position, under the management of Martin Haresign who took over in October 2003; the club were at the bottom of the NCEL Premier Division at the time. He steadied the ship at the club and lead Railway to a promotion in 2005–06, into the Northern Premier League First Division. In 2007, Harrogate will play in the inaugural season of the Northern Premier League Division One North.

This will be the highest the club had ever reached in the league pyramid system. In early 2007, Harseign resigned to focus on his business. Vince Brockie who had served as assistant manager during Harseign's reign took over as manager.

In 2007–08 Railway once again reached the second round proper of the FA Cup after beating Harrogate rivals Harrogate Town 2–1 in the fourth preliminary round followed by a 2–0 win over Droylsden. Railway lost 3–2 to Mansfield Town in the second round, which was televised live on "Match of the Day". [cite web
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/7110736.stm
title = Harrogate Railway 2-3 Mansfield
accessdate = 2007-12-02
date = 2007-12-02
publisher = BBC Sport]

Current squad

Honours

Northern Counties East League Premier Division
*Promoted: 2005–06 [ [http://www.fchd.info/HARROGRA.HTM Football Club History Database] ] Northern Counties East League Division One
*Champions: 1998–99
*Promoted: 1986–87Northern Counties East League Division Two North
*Champions: 1983–84"'Yorkshire League Division Two
*Promoted: 1957–58, 1963–64West Yorkshire Football League Division Two
*Champions: 1950–51

References

External links

* [http://www.harrogaterailway.com/ Harrogate Railway Official Website]
* [http://www.unibondleague.com/ Northern Premier League Official Website]