Ilkley Town living best life in North West Counties Football League

The club were first founded in the late 1960s as Ilkley Town, but due to the lack of interest from the local population, they struggled to gain any sort of traction on and off the field and were disbanded in the 1980s.

They reformed as Ilkley Town AFC in 1995, but it is only in the last few years that the club have kicked on and made their mark in semi-professional football.

For most of their life, Ilkley Town AFC have played their football in the lower regions of English football, starting in the Harrogate and District Senior League.

They had immediate success there, gaining promotion to the Premier Division at the first time of asking.

From that bright start, Ilkley went from strength to strength, even with the club undergoing a change in leadership.

That change came in the form of an ex-player of theirs, Richard Giles, who was one of the main driving forces towards their move to semi-professional status in the North West Counties Football League.

Kevin Gonzalez Mele (jumping) has already hit double figures for Ilkley this season.

Giles is a proud local man and speaks very highly of Ilkley.

He said: “I’ve lived here for 25 years.

“Ilkley’s got a great community and that’s the most important thing for me.

“The football club is the perfect example of that, a group of aspirational people who want to do something positive for the town, all pushing towards the same direction and who want success for Ilkley.”

Giles spent five years as a player at the club between 1997 to 2002 before becoming chairman.

After spending most of their time in Division One, Ilkley Town won promotion to the West Yorkshire Association Football League Premier Division at the end of the 2015/16 season.

That meant they were only one step away from the semi-professional leagues, but they initially found it tougher than expected in the top flight of the WYAFL and struggled in their debut season, surviving by the tightest of margins.

After this slow start, Ilkley eventually started pushing for promotion and were going strong in the 2019/20 season.

Covid set them back though, as the FA voided the season with games left to play.

That meant Ilkley had to wait until the following season to be promoted to the semi-professional leagues, after finishing second in the division and succeeding in their application to the FA to make the move up.

Town even went viral with an online video of one of their players being chased by llama on the field of play in early September of the 2020/21 promotion campaign against Carlton.

The resulting footage caught the attention of not just the national media but also reached America, and Ilkley were even featured on Match of the Day 2.

Giles said: “It was brilliant. I had newspapers from all over the country asking me for an interview and the New York Times.

“It’s amazing how a small video has gained so much attention from all over the world.”

This is now Ilkley’s second season in the NWCFL First Division North, and after finishing 15th in their debut campaign, narrowly avoiding the drop, they have turned things around spectacularly.

Christmas action as Ilkley Town beat Steeton (green) 2-0 on December 27, which was part of a run of five consecutive league wins. Picture: Ian Meachin.

The club are on the verge of a play-off finish this term under manager Sam Dexter, sitting third in the division after Tuesday night’s narrow 1-0 defeat to fellow high-flyers Chadderton.

It has been a steady rise for the West Yorkshire club and it does not seem to be slowing down.

With the club’s current business model, Giles wants them to be self-sustainable, promoting from within if possible and not buying into the premise that money brings you success.

In the last few years, Ilkley have had plenty of success spending very little, and that approach looks to still be working.

Ilkley Town boss Sam Dexter has not needed to splash out to make the first team into a successful side.

Giles wants success beyond that though, to give the Ilkley community a club to be proud of.

He said: “Its great to talk about the men’s team, but it’s much more than that.

“We are a community club that everyone can feel a part of, whether the men, the women or the kids play, and with the aim of getting both the men's and women's teams further up the divisions.”