Our journey around the villages, towns and cities that have rugby league running through their veins heads to the newest home of the game.
IT’S ALL systems go for Goole Vikings – more than 120 years after the first professional rugby league team from the inland port town in the East Riding of Yorkshire last handled a ball.
The Vikings, of course, are the new name in League One, aiming to make their mark under coach Scott Taylor, the former Hull forward who has assembled a squad pretty much from scratch.
Ex-Hull fullback Jamie Shaul, another former Super League star in forward Brett Ferres and Misi Taulapapa, the one-time Samoa back from Doncaster, are among those recruited.
Other than Tom Halliday, the experienced back who turned out on dual registration from Doncaster, from the side who competed in the Yorkshire Men’s League last season, only centre Ben Hodder has stepped up.
Goole entered the YML as recently as in 2018, the club having been formed by Tony Whiteley and Andy Barras, now president and vice-chairman respectively.
So it’s a clear sign of the ambition of current Vikings owner-chairman Mark Richardson and his colleagues that third-tier membership has been achieved.
The businessman has big plans to further grow Goole, who in September became the 36th professional club by beating rival applications from Anglian Vipers and Bedford Tigers.
Their successful bid, bolstered by the input of former Hull chief executive James Clark, followed an application process which had been running for several months.
It initially involved 11 interested parties, with the trio on the final shortlist revealed back in July.
The Rugby Football League, seeking a new club as part of the process of creating three divisions of 12 from next year, visited each of the three, who then made formal presentations.
The Vikings’ move into the paid ranks means the competition is expanding for the first time since 2022, when Cornwall entered to become the 37th club. But since then, both West Wales Raiders and London Skolars have left the scene.
Goole, who will continue to run a team in the YML and have junior sides in the City of Hull and District League, are among an 11-strong 2025 League One line-up (up from nine in 2024).
They will remain at the council-owned Victoria Pleasure Ground, a multi-use town-centre venue on Carter Street which dates back to the 1880s, which has a current capacity of around 3,000 and is undergoing a £7-million redevelopment to make it a state-of-the-art sporting facility.
That’s part of a wide-ranging project to regenerate the town, which lies on the River Ouse and just off the M62, roughly equidistant between Castleford to the west and Hull to the east.
“This is a very exciting time for both the town of Goole and the Vikings,” said Richardson on confirmation of League One entry.
“The amateur club have done a fantastic job in re-establishing the sport locally, and we should recognise the outstanding contribution of Tony Whiteley and Andy Barras in delivering that, as well as a number of dedicated volunteers.
“James Clark advised the board throughout the application process and was an integral part of it.
“He is a fantastic, experienced operator. His Super League mindset has driven our professional standards and commercial acumen as we strive to improve the club for the next level.
“I am delighted James will continue working closely with the board in a strategic capacity, alongside his other endeavours in sport and business, which will bring further benefits over the long term.”
The Vikings’ make their league bow at home to Midlands Hurricanes on Sunday, 23rd February.
The first professional Goole team also played at the VPG, situated in the shadow of the town’s well-known 150ft water tower, at the turn of the 20th century.
That club was formed as an amateur organisation in 1879, making them almost as old as the inland port itself, which was built to serve the terminus of the Aire & Calder Canal Company, with coal from the Yorkshire mines transferred to larger vessels for further transport.
Nicknamed ‘The Seaporters’, Goole joined the Northern Union in June 1898, listing their office as the Sydney Hotel in Aire Street, not far from the VPG, and featured in the Yorkshire Second Competition before admittance to the Yorkshire Senior Competition for the 1901-02 campaign.
That season, there were 41 sides split into three divisions, with two county-based sections (14 in Yorkshire, 13 in Lancashire) below the 14-strong top flight, which was known as the Northern Rugby League.
While they managed to reach the third round of the Challenge Cup, defeating Radcliffe and Kirkstall before a 67-0 loss at eventual beaten finalists Salford, Goole finished third-bottom of the YSC, with five wins and three draws from their 26 matches.
For 1902-03, the league structure was again changed, this time into two 18 strong Northern Rugby League sections, and when Goole failed to win a place in the Second Division, the club disbanded.
An amateur team from the town appeared in the 1936-37 Challenge Cup, going down 14-2 to Salford-based Broughton Rangers in front of 2,500 at the VPG, but disappeared at the end of the season after.
The venue also hosted Scarborough Pirates’ second team during the club’s sole season of 1991-92, while it has also been used for athletics, cricket, tennis, wrestling, heavy horse shows, sports days and galas as well as being a regular arena for football.
Goole Town existed from 1905 until 1996, reaching the third round of the FA Cup in 1956-57, when they were eventually eliminated by Nottingham Forest, and in 1968 became founder members of the Northern Premier League, then among the highest-ranked non-league competitions.
After that club folded due to financial difficulties, the current Goole AFC were later formed and now play in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division (level nine on the football pyramid).
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 505 (February 2025)