The club was formed in 1964 as works outfit, Anson Sports, competing in the local Castleford Sunday League.

In 1974, an approach was made by Glasshoughton Colliery to adopt the name of the Colliery Welfare’s disbanded club and play on its Leeds Road ground. This enabled the move into senior football and entry to the West Yorkshire League, progression to the Yorkshire League and then onto the Northern Counties East Football League.

In 2007, most of the committee retired threatening the Club’s existence, but thanks to the support of former Liverpool goalkeeping legend Bruce Grobbelaar the Club entered the NCEL Premier Division for the 2007/2008 Season. However, the having had to appoint 3 Managers in as many months saw the Club struggle. Battling against all odds, Manager Dave Holmes fulfilled fixtures drawing upon youngsters from the Club’s strong Under 19’s team but for many of these players it was a difficult transition into Premier Division football and the Club ultimately ended the season in bottom place, resulting in relegation to the First Division.

In 2008/09, despite a good pre-season and some creditable performances against some of the top sides, a lack of experience was again the team’s downfall, resulting in another bottom place finish. Fortunately the Club remained in the First Division for the 2009/2010 season, but another poor start saw the Committee appoint former Harrogate Railway Assistant Manager Stuart Waddington who took the club to a comfortable 13th place come the end of the season.

With great expectations, disappointingly Stuart Waddington had to resign for personal reasons 3 weeks before the season kicked off but prompt action by the Committee saw former Glasshoughton players Craig Elliot and Paul Mattison appointed as the new management team within a week.

The pair worked hard to improve the team and succeeded in taking the club back to the NCEL Premier Division before moving on to further their managerial careers.

A number of management changes in the following seasons saw the Club experience many highs and lows. Season 2014/15 saw the club relegated to the First Division with Mick Norbury appointed manager in June 2015 but, as the club began to fall down the league, he resigned in November of that year and joint managers Simon Houghton and Craig Wilkinson were appointed to try and turn things around. The pair did well but Simon Houghton had to resign towards the end of the season and Craig Wilkinson was unable to find a suitable assistant and he too left.

Darren Holmes and Lee Vigars were appointed to management posts in early June 2016 and they had a good first season, claiming 11th place in the league and taking the side to the semi-final of the NCEL cup.

Fortunes continued to improve with the team finishing 6th in Season 2017/18 but saw a dip once again in 2018/19 back to 11th position. Darren and Lee took the team into season 2019/20 and started strongly, little knowing what strange times would be on the horizon. The Covid 19 Pandemic put a stop to the season in March 2020 with the NCE League writing off 2019 / 20 season with no promotions or relegations.

The team kicked off pre-season friendlies in August 2020 behind closed doors and with strict guidelines to follow to prevent the spread of infection. Supporters attended their first friendly in limited numbers on 25th August 2020 and the team was selected to take part in the Extra Preliminary Round of the FA Cup on 1st September 2020, losing on penalties.

September 2020 saw a black cloud descend on the club with the sudden loss of club secretary, Frank Maclachlan. Frank was well known by most of the Division One members and will be sadly missed. The work and dedication he gave to the club became evident with his passing.

Another longstanding volunteer, Colin Sanderson, passed away at the beginning of 2021. Despite being in his 90’s, Colin was a regular organiser of half-time hospitality, as well as being a long time President of the Castleford and District FA.

The League matches in 2020 / 21 season took place under varying degrees of Covid regulations, dependant on the Steps agreed by the Government, until the final games were played on Boxing Day with the team finishing in 11th position. Having closed the 2020/21 season, the FA undertook a restructure of the pyramid system with the various leagues, an onerous task to undertake although this had been the intention for a while.
The re-structure saw the club remain in Division One of the NCE League with some teams moving up to higher leagues, others moving to different area leagues and some entering NCE Division One for the first time. A total of 21 teams will commence the season and we look forward hopefully to completing a full quota of games.

MEMBERS OF:

West Riding County Football Association
Northern Counties East Football League
Honours: West Riding County Cup 1993/94, NCEL Presidents Cup 1998.
League History: West Yorkshire League; Yorkshire League, NCEL.
Records: Attendance - 350 v Ossett Albion, NCEL Presidents Cup 1998

GLASSHOUGHTON WELFARE A.F.C.

1. Programme Editor