Golcar United were established in 1904 in Huddersfield and played in the Huddersfield District League for many years. The club won their first piece of silverware in 1920, triumphing in the Huddersfield Invitation Cup and they won it again in 1923. By the 1930s, the club were popular and would often see crowds in excess of 1000, even going as far as to feature on a cigarette card back in 1935. Golcar won their third Huddersfield Invitation Cup a year later in 1936 and their fourth in 1937.

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It’s seldom known that the club entered the F.A. Cup during the 1938-39 season and were due to play Selby Town, but for reasons unknown, Golcar pulled out of the competition. Eventually, the club moved to Longfield Avenue in 1955 and it remains their home, although it was quite different in those days, it did boast a small stand.

The club achieved much success towards the end of the 1950s, achieving three promotions in three years, which began in 1956-57 with promotion from Division IV and culminated in winning the Division II title in 1958-59.

After small successes in the intervening years, such as winning the Huddersfield Invitation Cup in 1971, the Barlow Cup in 1973 and the Groom Cup in 1991, the club joined the West Riding County Amateur League in 1993.

The odd cup final appearance and league win followed; namely the Groom Cup in 1999, the West Riding County FA Cup in 2001, the West Riding Charity Shield in 2002 and the West Riding League championship in 2005. The club found then themselves experiencing success towards the end of the 2010s.

This period of success coincided with the appointment of Gavin Connor as manager in 2014, and he was quickly joined by his brother Ashley Connor as joint-manager who combined his duties with playing. In their first season at the club, they finished runners-up in the West Riding County Amateur League, just a single point behind the leaders Bay Athletic.

The 2015-16 season wasn’t as successful in the league, finishing in 7th place, but they had a shot at winning some silverware when they progressed to the Huddersfield FA Challenge Cup Final in April 2016 where they played YMCA at Huddersfield Town’s Galpharm Stadium. The game finished in a 1-0 loss with YMCA taking the trophy.

A slightly better finish was achieved in 2016-17, where the club finished 5th, but it was the 2017-18 season where success started to come as the club won the league and cup double, finishing top of the West Riding County Amateur League as well as triumphing in the Huddersfield Invitation Cup.

There was no stopping the side during the 2018-19 season as they did it all again! The club replicated their previous success by retaining both the title and the cup. The second double had seen them win 20 out of 22 league games whilst scoring 105 goals and conceding just 20.

With the continued success on the pitch, behind the scenes, the club committee made the decision to try and take the club to a new level and applied to the F.A. to gain promotion in September 2018. In order to gain promotion, the club had to undertake a great deal of development work of the infrastructure.

This included fencing of the pitch, obtaining a clubhouse, adding hard standing, installing a small stand (Now known as The Pete Gledhill & Ian Whitehead Stand), installing female changing rooms, installing floodlights and levelling the pitch due to the considerable slope across the field.

This work was completed on time and the club were accepted into the North West Counties League in April 2019. It was also around this time that the club entered into a sponsorship deal with local company, WMS Entrance Systems and Longfield Avenue became known as the WMS Entrance Systems Park for the club’s first season as a semi-professional outfit.

The ground was ready by the time the club commenced their first ever season in semi-professional football. And it was a dream start with a 2-1 home win against Prestwich Heys in August 2019. This match saw 379 spectators pack into the WMS Entrance Systems Park and saw Ben Burnett score the club’s first ever semi-professional goal.

As the 2019-20 season progressed, the club continued to attract big crowds, culminating in a match vs Huddersfield rivals, Shelley, in October 2019. This was the club’s first ever game under floodlights and then-record of 556 people turned up to watch Dan Stocker fire a 25 yarder into the top corner, which settled the local derby 1-0.

Unfortunately, the club wouldn’t play another game at home until January 2020. Pitch problems, which had plagued the club since the start of the season, forced them to call off a number of games before they finally got one in against Nelson in January. Golcar won the game 5-3 but the pitch was still in trouble and they didn’t play another game on it that season.

For the remainder of the season, the club were forced to ground share with Avro, located in Oldham. Despite the 21 mile trip to home games, over 100 Golcar fans would regularly make the journey over the Pennines until the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed the season in March 2020. Golcar sat in 5th place, 10 points behind 3rd with 3 games in hand.

The pandemic was perhaps a blessing in disguise for the club as it allowed them to get to work off the pitch to continue the development work and resolve the ongoing issues with the pitch. Firstly, a brand new 100 seater stand was installed in March and would be named The Brook Johnson Stand, in tribute to former player and supporter Brook Johnson, who passed away in 2012.

To help fund the new stand, the club’s supporters donated £100 each and their names are proudly displayed on the back wall of the stand. A new standing section was installed behind the goal and there was also a third side added to the ground, with a walkway and railing installed on the bottom touchline. The clubhouse was extended, a new toilet block was installed and finally, the pitch was dug up and completely re-laid. To top it off, the club entered into a five-year sponsorship deal with Skye Direct and from 2020 onwards, the ground will be known as The Skye Direct Stadium.

Finally, the 2020-21 season began in September despite COVID-19 still rampant and supporters in attendance limited. The club made history once again by playing in their first ever F.A. Vase tie when they welcomed Northwich Victoria in the Preliminary Round in a sell-out crowd of 300, eventually losing 2-0 to the visitors.

Their first home league game of the season saw the official opening of The Brook Johnson Stand, where former Huddersfield Town player Mark Lillis cut the ribbon. Despite a good start to the season, the pandemic interfered and the 2020-21 season was officially cancelled in early 2021.

After twiddling their thumbs for a few months, The Weavers took part in the inaugural Yorkshire Trophy. The first game saw them take on Liversedge and a club record crowd of 575 saw a 1-1 draw. A 5-2 win over Nostell Miners Welfare saw the club reach the semi-finals. Penistone Church prevented Golcar from reaching the final but a well fought third place play-off against Brighouse Town saw Golcar finish 3rd in the competition.

During the summer, the club installed a third stand at The Skye Direct Stadium, behind the goal at the Longfield Avenue end of the ground. It is known unofficially as The Longfield End. The stand came in handy in July 2021 as the club welcomed Huddersfield Town to The Skye Direct Stadium where yet another record crowd saw the match, with a total of 700 people attending the friendly. At the time, restrictions only allowed 700 so it was a unique occasion where a pre-season friendly was a complete sell-out!

As the country started to come out of lockdown and COVID-19 seemed to be under control, the 2021-22 season began and the club sincerely hoped that they’d be able to complete a full season at semi-professional level.

The campaign began well, and after offering season ticket holders a £20 renewal for the season, the club boasted over 80 season ticket holders, with many more paying at the turnstiles. After going unbeaten in their first 10 games, the club found themselves top of the North West Counties Football League Division 1. They also won their first ever F.A. Vase match beating Handsworth 2-1, with Ben Burnett getting both goals.

In November 2021, whilst still unbeaten, a memorable night at Bury AFC ensued, and although the club lost 7-3 on the night, it was memorable for the fact that Golcar took over 100 away supporters to the match. The home crowds were also particularly impressive and in January 2022, the club broke their record league crowd when 645 people watched the Weavers take on Holker Old Boys.

As the season went on, it became increasingly obvious that Bury AFC would win the league, as they refused to drop points throughout the season. And as Golcar secured their play-off spot in March, all eyes were on the final game of the regular season, where Bury AFC came to The Skye Direct Stadium. As a big crowd was anticipated, more work commenced around the ground which resulted in another standing area behind the goal and the installation of a second turnstile. This increased the maximum ground capacity to 1400.

The club took the decision to limit the away side to just 250 tickets and managed to sell the game out to home supporters and smashed the record attendance in the process, with 1204 people attending the game and around 900 home supporters. The game ended the season and it was on to the all-important Play-Offs. The average attendance of the 2021-22 season was an impressive 386, leaving Golcar United as No.176 in the top average attendances in English non-league football.

As Golcar had finished in 3rd position in the league, they were rewarded with a home draw and would take on A.F.C Blackpool, who had just recently beaten Golcar at The Skye Direct Stadium. Again, the club welcomed a bumper crowd, with 550 spectators and they witnessed Buddy Cox and Ash Flynn putting Golcar 2-0 up in the tie. The game ended 2-2 after extra-time and went down to penalties. Golcar won the resulting shootout and progressed to the North West Counties Football League Division 1 Play Off Final.

Holker Old Boys had won the other semi-final and as they’d finished above Golcar in 2nd, they got the home tie. On April 16th 2022, over 300 Golcar supporters made the long trip up to Cumbria for the final. Poised at 1-1 the game went to extra-time and Ben Burnett (yes, that man again!) scored the all-important goal which prompted fabulous scenes of celebration. Thankfully, the team held out and secured promotion to the Premier Division at the first time of asking.

Owing to Golcar United geographical location, the club were moved laterally into the Northern Counties East League Premier Division for the 2022-23 season and achieved their highest ever finish as a club, finishing 9th in the table. Golcar also reached the final of the NCEL League Cup where they lost to promotion winners Winterton Rangers at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium.

Season 2023/24 saw the Weavers finish in 12th position, with an average attendance of 322.

2024/25 saw Golcar United's most successful season to date having qualified for the West Riding FA County Cup final for the first time having defeated Northern Premier League opposition and current holders, Pontefract Collieries, at the Skye Direct Stadium after a 95th minute winner from Alfie Wilkinson and also qualifying for the NCEL Play Offs having achieved a record high league position of 3rd.

To be continued...

Golcar United AFC