TROPHY ARTICLE SERIES: West Riding Cup
Thu 14th November 2019 | General | By Stewart Taylor
We have seen in previous articles the historical context of many of the County FA cup competitions. Our subject for this article provides a historical context to one of the more recently formed football clubs.
From time to time, football debates the wisdom or otherwise of club mergers and/or ground sharing. Particularly relevant today with increasing costs and, most certainly at non-League level, limited access to sponsorship. Debate is the right word as often, despite all of the good intentions, that’s all it is and nothing comes of it.
Step forward the town of Ossett in West Yorkshire who managed what was considered at one time to be an almost impossible task of merging two clubs into one.
Both Ossett Town and Ossett Albion were well known and, at times, successful non-League football clubs. In 2018 the merger of these two clubs was completed under the entirely appropriate name of Ossett United.
The relevance of this to the West Riding County Cup is that this was the first, and so far only, trophy to be won by the fledgling club as they defeated Guiseley AFC by two goals to one in the 2019 final played at their home ground of Ingfield – the choice of ground being decided on the toss of a coin. Well over a thousand spectators witnessed this final – a club record for the newly formed club.
And now the historical bit. 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 the demise of the Senior Cup in 1999. The first winners were Leeds United Reserves in 1927. The competition was not held between 1933 and 1950.
Entry into the competition is by invitation and we see the three NWCFL member clubs involved this season namely Barnoldswick Town, Golcar United and Steeton who are all, not surprisingly, affiliated to the West Riding County FA. Barnoldswick Town meet Steeton in the second round in a match scheduled for this week.
Since the inception of the NWCFL in 1982 the best performance in this competition by a member club was by Barnoldswick Town who were runners up to Garforth Town in the 2009/10 competition have lost 5-4 after extra time in a match played at the West Riding County FA Headquarters.
There is no readily available information concerning the trophy presented to the winners of this competition.
Main photograph from 2015, when Bradford Park Avenue won the competition, courtesy of NonLeagueYorkshire.com (James Grayson).
TROPHY ARTICLE SERIES: West Riding Cup
Thu 14th November 2019 | General
By Stewart Taylor
We have seen in previous articles the historical context of many of the County FA cup competitions. Our subject for this article provides a historical context to one of the more recently formed football clubs.
From time to time, football debates the wisdom or otherwise of club mergers and/or ground sharing. Particularly relevant today with increasing costs and, most certainly at non-League level, limited access to sponsorship. Debate is the right word as often, despite all of the good intentions, that’s all it is and nothing comes of it.
Step forward the town of Ossett in West Yorkshire who managed what was considered at one time to be an almost impossible task of merging two clubs into one.
Both Ossett Town and Ossett Albion were well known and, at times, successful non-League football clubs. In 2018 the merger of these two clubs was completed under the entirely appropriate name of Ossett United.
The relevance of this to the West Riding County Cup is that this was the first, and so far only, trophy to be won by the fledgling club as they defeated Guiseley AFC by two goals to one in the 2019 final played at their home ground of Ingfield – the choice of ground being decided on the toss of a coin. Well over a thousand spectators witnessed this final – a club record for the newly formed club.
And now the historical bit. 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 the demise of the Senior Cup in 1999. The first winners were Leeds United Reserves in 1927. The competition was not held between 1933 and 1950.
Entry into the competition is by invitation and we see the three NWCFL member clubs involved this season namely Barnoldswick Town, Golcar United and Steeton who are all, not surprisingly, affiliated to the West Riding County FA. Barnoldswick Town meet Steeton in the second round in a match scheduled for this week.
Since the inception of the NWCFL in 1982 the best performance in this competition by a member club was by Barnoldswick Town who were runners up to Garforth Town in the 2009/10 competition have lost 5-4 after extra time in a match played at the West Riding County FA Headquarters.
There is no readily available information concerning the trophy presented to the winners of this competition.
Main photograph from 2015, when Bradford Park Avenue won the competition, courtesy of NonLeagueYorkshire.com (James Grayson).
