1) Harrogate Town are nicknamed ‘the Sulphurites’ owing to the town’s famous Sulphur waters. Their playing kit – yellow and black – is sometimes referred to as ‘Sulphur and black’.
2) Harrogate was once two villages: ‘High Harrogate’ and ‘Low Harrogate’.
3) Harrogate Town was formed in 1914, but due to the outbreak of World War One didn’t actually play their first competitive match until August 1919, beating Horsforth FC 1-0.
4) Also in 1919, the famous Bettys Café Tea Rooms were established in Harrogate.
5) Elland Road was the venue for Harrogate’s first of eight West Riding County Cup titles. They beat Fryston Colliery 3-1 on May 9, 1925, in front of a crowd of 2725.
6) Harrogate Town play at Wetherby Road, now known as the CNG Stadium for sponsorship reasons. It has a capacity of 3800 and has been their home since the year 1920.
7) In July of last year a 3G artificial grass pitch was installed at the CNG Stadium. Halifax won their previous game at Harrogate on their new surface, 2-0 in the FA Cup back in October.
8) The town of Harrogate held the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest, won by Germany.
9) Prior to 2016, when it placed third, Harrogate had been named the UK’s happiest place to live three years in a row.
10) In 1958 one famous visitor, Charles Dickens, said Harrogate was “the queerest place with the strangest people in it, leading the oddest lives…”
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