During the AGM at Harrogate Rugby Club in 1914, a Mr Oddy suggested it was time to change from the oddly shaped ball to the round ball. Not least because they rolled along the ground in a more evenly fashion. So, the rugby ball was deflated and the soccer ball pumped up. The newly formed club was admitted to the Northern League in June 1914. A couple of hours before the kick-off to their first game the match had to be abandoned, this was because the players had all marched off to fight in the Great War. The Pals Act was a clever initiative introduced to get groups of men to join up together. The government knew that if one member of a Street, Pub, or Club joined up, then there would be pressure on the others to join up too. So, football clubs were left without players and whole communities left without men, and from these so many died that they did not recover for generations.
Fast forward 106 years and Harrogate Town AFC are about to kick off their first match in the Football League, having been promoted for the first time into Division Two. The only thing that can stop them kicking off this time is a second wave of Covid 19. Fingers crossed. I emailed the club for information regarding the club’s badge, but they are far too important now to reply to little old me. Which is a shame because this confusing badge needs some explaining. (PIC 1) Introduced in the 2017/18 season, we can see it is in the roundel, in the club’s colours, and has the club’s name around the outer of the badge. The year 1919 denotes the year Harrogate reformed at the end of WWI. The white rose in the centre is the floral emblem of Yorkshire. The rest, answers on a postcard please. My guess is that it is a modern-looking interpretation of the club’s initials, inspired by the effects of a few John Smiths. Although the website suggests otherwise: “The Intertwining ‘H & T’ – The intertwining of the H and T alludes to teamwork, strategy, harmony and unity”.
Harrogate’s previous badge is the shield taken from the town’s coat of arms. Dismissed as a 10-year-old civic icon, not in the club colours, not forward-thinking, progressive and modern. (PIC 2) You have to feel for the fans when your club changes something beautiful like this badge for something so dull, but money has to be the order of the day, not sentiment, and you cannot copyright a coat of arms. Funny how throughout these pages not one club has admitted that as a reason for their progressive change. The emblems in the shield are made up of a hunting horn in the top-left quarter. This is the ancient horn from the city of Ripon. Top-right is the Yorkshire rose from the county in which Harrogate lies. The royal lion across the centre represents the Royal Forest of Knaresborough. The bottom-left quarter has a representation of the rivers Nidd, Ure and Beck, and is described as a roundel barry. Bottom-right is a castle, and is for Knaresborough. The scroll below with the club’s name finishes the badge. As I mentioned it is taken from the coat of arms belonging to Harrogate. (PIC 3) The arms were granted in August 1974, when the three towns were merged into one district. The motto to the arms reads “TO BE OF SERVICE”, and the only other addition is the crest. It alludes to the agricultural produce of the rural areas. A Ribston Pippen Apple tree, standing between two ears of wheat. Harrogate Town AFC plays at the 3,800 capacity Wetherby Road Ground, but will have to start their first season in the Football League sharing with Doncaster Rovers until the remains of their old plastic pitch is dug up and re-laid with a patch of England’s green and pleasant land. Nicknames are the “The Town” and “The Sulphurites”, and with a nickname like that they will be hoping to light up Division Two. I can only imagine the nickname comes from this Spa Town’s high level of sulphur in the waters. As far as I can make out the name of Harrogate is Norse in origin from, horgr. The name refers to a heap of stones, sometimes marking a burial site. Other early names have been, Harwegate and Harougat. For even more on Harrogate Town AFC roll away the stone to uncover www.harrowgatetownafc.com
