Great Harwood Town F.C.
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Great Harwood Town F.C. was a football club based in Great Harwood, Lancashire, England. They were established in 1978 and joined the Lancashire Combination League in 1979. In the 1990-91 season, they reached the Quarter-Finals of the FA Vase. The Showground was their home stadium, but they have recently played home games at Accrington Stanley's Interlink Express Stadium.
Town resigned from the North West Counties Football League in June 2006, when it became clear that the club would be unable to raise the money to buy back the Showground and repair its dressing rooms, which were destroyed in a fire 18 months earlier. They officially folded in July 2006, but chairman Bill Holden has not ruled out the possibility of the club being relaunched in the future. The Showmen's record home attendance was 5,397 for a match v Manchester United in 1980. However, 6,023 watched them play at Gigg Lane, Bury in an away match against FC United of Manchester on 22 April 2006. [1]
Great Harwood Town F.C. were originally named after a pub in Great Harwood the Duke of Wellington. So the team was named Harwood Wellington.
Their predecesoors were Great Harwood FC who played at the Showground. They joined the Northern Premier League in 1969 after previously playing in the Lancashire Combination. They had many famous stars in the late 60's such as England internationals Ronnie Clayton and Bryan Douglas, who both joined the club after retiring from long spells with Blackburn Rovers. In 1970 Great Harwood won through to the FA Cup First Round proper, but they were trounced 7-0 by Rotherham United.
Umfortunately Great Harwood suffered financial problems and they folded in the summer of 1978. At this point Harwood Wellington were re-named Great Harwood Town and took on the mantle of senior football club in the town, moving in to the Showground.
The two football clubs should not be confused. Although both played in red and at the Showground, they were two entirely separate entities.
A point of interest is that when Wellington/Town stepped up to take over from Harwood FC, their team manager was Eric Whalley who in 2006 was the chairman who led Accrington Stanley back into the Football Leage after 44 years away.
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