| Full name | Goole AFC | ||
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| Nickname(s) | The Vikings | ||
| Founded | 1912 (Goole Town) 1997 (Goole AFC) |
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| Ground | Victoria Pleasure Grounds, Goole (Capacity: 3,000 (300 seated)[1]) |
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| Chairman | Des O'Hearne | ||
| Manager | Karl Rose | ||
| League | Northern Premier League Division One South |
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| 2010–11 | Northern Premier League Division One South, 13th |
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Goole AFC is a semi-professional English football club based in the town of Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire, founded in 1912. They currently compete in the Northern Premier League Division One South, which is at Level 8 on the English football league system pyramid.
The club has spent its entire existence in non-league football to date, where they have won various championships over the years. Perhaps Goole's crowning achievement so far was reaching the FA Cup third round in 1956–57 before going out to Nottingham Forest.
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The club was founded in 1912 as Goole Town Football Club when they entered into the Midland Football League. 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 FA Cup, but lost to Middlesbrough 9–3 at Ayresome Park.
Play was suspended because of the First World War 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 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.
In 1948, Goole Town decided to return to the Midland Football League, 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 and Boston United.
For the rest of the 1950s however, Goole lingered in the lower regions of the league, but had one very notable FA Cup run. In the 1956–57 season Goole Town reached the Third Round of the FA Cup, having previously knocked out Wigan Athletic 2–1 away and Football League Third Division North side Workington, before finally going out to Nottingham Forest.[2]
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 to a first round replay in the FA Cup.
Goole Town became one of the founding members of the Northern Premier League in 1968, where they played against the likes of Macclesfield Town, Scarborough and Stafford Rangers - alongside old rivals Boston United and Wigan Athletic. During the first-ever season of the league, they finished in 8th place.
Their best finish in the Northern Premier League 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.
Goole AFC was formed in its place during 1997, though the club is generally seen as an official continuation of their predecessor{fact}.
Recently the club have been successful, having become champions of the Northern Counties East League in 2005 and are currently playing in the Northern Premier League Division One.A re-organisation of the non-league structure during the summer of 2006 saved them from an immediate return to the Northern Counties East League, as they finished in the relegation places at the end of the 2005–06 season.
The 2006–07 season saw a major upturn in form, with a 7th place finish earned after collecting just 5 less points than was needed to reach the play-offs, and 2007–08 was much the same with Goole missing out on the play-offs again after a faltering last quarter to the season.
In 2008–09 Goole AFC started the season on -10 points for entering Administration.
Goole's best season in the FA Vase was getting to the 4th Round in 1998–99, where they lost 0–1 to Bemerton Heath Harlequins in front of a crowd of 592.
The club announced that they had changed their name to Goole Town F.C. in June 2006, however the West Riding FA rejected the name change thus forcing them to remain as Goole AFC.
Just before the start of the 2008–09 season it was announced that Goole AFC have an unpaid bill of £30,000 to HM Revenue and Customs, which issued a Winding-Up Notice on 17 July 2008. Goole AFC decided to enter into Administration to enable a CVA to agreed with HM Revenue and Customs. In the 2008–09 season, Goole AFC were deducted 11 points (-1 for an illegible player and -10 points for going into Administration.)
Prior to the 2009/10 season Goole AFC enticed Leo Fortune West to the VPG, the 38-year-old was expected to give the forward line a boost for the new season.
Due to a very poor start to the 2009–10 season which saw the club throw away large leads in games, lose heavily in the FA CUP and lose players such as Fortune-West, the management team of Nigel Danby and Mick Norbury resigned from their positions at the club; according to local press reports if they did not resign they would have been sacked. Journeyman Karl Rose replaced Nigel Danby as manager.
On Thursday 10 June 2010, Goole AFC announced that Des O'Hearne had resigned as Chairman and Chris Hoff would succeed him with immediate effect
As of August 2011, Goole AFC announced that Chris Hoff had resigned as Chairman and Des O'Hearne had once again taken the hotseat.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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They play their home games at the ageing Victoria Pleasure Grounds ("VPG"). Plans to upgrade the VPG to Football Conference standards were been drawn up but later shelved. There is an option is available to move the club to the proposed new Westfield Banks Sports Academy but the board do not feel this is right for Goole AFC in the long term.
The team's colours are red shirts, with red shorts and red socks. The away colours are yellow shirts, with yellow shorts and yellow socks.