Tow Law Town A.F.C. - History

History

There was a football team operating in Tow Law as early as 1881, when a vicar captained the team. However, the club still playing today was founded as Tow Law in 1890. The club became one of the founding teams of the Auckland and District League in 1892, and won the Durham Amateur Cup the following year. They then joined the Northern League in 1894. In 1896 they won the Durham Challenge Cup. They left the Northern League, and played in the South Durham Alliance from 1900 to 1905. In 1905 the club changed its name to Tow Law Town which they have stuck with ever since. The club played in the Crook and District League from 1912 until 1914. After the end of World War I in 1918, the club again played in the Auckland and District League until 1920, when they returned to the Northern League where they have played ever since. The club were league winners two seasons in a row, in 1923–24 and 1924–25. They were runners up in 1928–29. In the Second World War they resigned from the Northern League on 20 March 1940 and their record of the season was deleted. They rejoined the league in 1945 on its resumption after the War.

In the 1967–68 season, the club had their best ever run in the FA Cup. After reaching the first round proper, they beat Mansfield Town 5–1 at Ironworks Road, and took Shrewsbury Town to a second round replay after a 1–1 draw at home. The team went into the third round draw and were drawn against Arsenal at home. However this never happened because they were beaten 6–2 by Shrewsbury in the replay. Arsenal were said to be "saved from a fate worse than death – a trip to Tow Law in January."

In 1974, they won the Northern League Cup, beating Ashington 2–1 in the final at Crook. In the summer of 1978, Chris Waddle started playing for the club. In the summer of 1980, while Waddle was working in a sausage factory, he was sold to Newcastle United for the fee of £1,000. Tow Law Town were runners-up in the 1988–89 season, before finally winning the league again in 1994–95, sitting 14 points clear at the end of the season. They missed out on the runners up spot the following year on goal difference. Harry Hodgson had long served as Chairman of the club, but stood down at the end of 1995–96, but as of 2011 he still remains a member of the committee. John Flynn took over as Chairman. At the end of 1996–97, Harry Dixon, another long standing official at the club, stood down as treasurer, but stayed on as the club's president. Kevin McCormick took over as treasurer.

The club made their first and so far only visit to Wembley Stadium on 9 May 1998, by winning through to the final of the FA Vase, under the management of Peter Quigley and his assistant Tony Heslop. They reached the final, beating Taunton Town 5–4 on aggregate in a two legged semi-final. In reaching the final, Tow Law, with its population of only 2,200, became the smallest town to ever reach a Wembley final. The team took around 4,000 supporters with them down to London, about twice the population of Tow Law at the time. They were beaten in the final 1–0 by Tiverton Town.

They finished second in the league in 1998–99 and 2001–02. With Harry Dixon's death in 2002, Harry Hodgson took up the post of President. In 2004, John Flynn stood down as chairman, and so for a year long period, Hodgson took up the title of club chairman as well. At the end of the 2004–05 season, he retired from the club. His replacement, Sandra Gordon, is still Chair at the club. She is the first ever female Chair of the club, and only the third in the history of the Northern League. In 2007, Bernard Fairbairn, who had followed his father and grandfather into the job, stood down as club secretary, a post he had held since 1961, giving him a total of 46 years in his position. Stephen Moralee has now taken over as club secretary.

Sir Bobby Robson was raised a few miles away from Tow Law, in the village of Langley Park. He had held the title of life president at the club, and had helped them out when they hit financial difficulties after the 2001 foot and mouth crisis, which devastated the local area. He was known to spend a lot of time on the club, attending fund raisers and giving talks. On 1 August 2009, the club held a minute's silence before their game with Workington, following his death the day before.

At the end of the 2009–10 season, manager Dave Hagan and his assistant Eric Tate left the club. Hagan felt he could not operate a competitive team on the team's small budget, and so took up an assistant job at Consett. Ian Davison, a player at the club, took up managerial duties, acting as a player-manager, and appointing Gary Innes as his assistant.