Shay Engine

After years of struggle to remain in it, Halifax are finally enjoying life outside the League.

- Charlie Adamson

It’s been 15 years since Halifax Town became the first team to be relegated from the Foot-ball League for a second time, and ten years since mounting debts led to liquidation. This was followed by the formation of a new club who began in the Northern Premier League Division One North. Three promotions in four years were followed by relegation in 2015-16, but the 2-1 win over Chorley in May’s National League North play-off final saw an instant return to the National League.

The club were formed in the town best known for its textiles and building society in 1911, and played their early seasons in the Yorkshire Combination and the Midland Counties League before joining Division Three North in 1921-22. That they finished second bottom and failed to win consecutive matches in that debut season were perhaps indicators that life would not be easy, particularly in a town where rugby league was well established. Few towns of similar population (around 90,000) have managed to sustain both sports. In football, Halifax has always suffered from its proximity to bigger clubs in Bradford, Burnley, Huddersfield and Leeds (let alone Manchester). And although Town occasionally found themselves in the same division as some of these clubs, only another frequent struggler, Rochdale, were considered real (and realistic) rivals.