Halifax is in Yorkshire, close to Huddersfield, Bradford & Leeds.  It is a journey of 185 miles via the M6 and M62, taking around 3 and a half hours if all goes smoothly.

By Supporters Coach – This is by far the cheapest and easiest way to travel.  For the rest of this season away travel is £5 per person for everybody.  Away travel is subsidised by FGR and the Supporters Club.  For full details go to Away Travel Offer – Remaining games (24/25) | WE ARE FGR.  Coaches leave the New Lawn at 1400 (Sainsburys at 1415, Stonehouse at 1430).  For more details of coach pick-up points etc go to FGR Away Travel – Forest Green Rovers Supporters Club (fgrsc.com)

Book your coach ticket from FGR Tickets | WE ARE FGR or by phone on 0333 123 1889 Monday to Friday, between 9am and 3pm. (Closed Wednesdays)

Please try to book as early as you can as seats will be on a first come first served basis..

By Car – The address is the Shay Stadium, Halifax, HX1 2YS (HX1 2YT for sat navs).  Parking at the stadium is limited.  There is some street parking but only if you arrive early. Otherwise, it is a case of parking in one of the nearby town centre car parks.

By Train – Train travel for this one looks long and expensive.  It isn’t possible to get back home by train after this evening kick-off so, unless you are planning to overnight in Halifax, this isn’t an option.  On the plus side the station is only a 7-minute walk from the stadium.

Shay Stadium can accommodate over 10,000 spectators, though average gates this season are only about 1,750.  Away fans are usually put in the older covered all-seater Skircoat Stand on one side of the pitch (opposite the newer Main (East) Stand).  Occasionally, away fans are put in the north end of the Main Stand.  There is a large area for wheelchair users halfway up in the Main Stand.  The North Stand isn’t usually opened.

The ground is built into the side of a hill which gives it something of a rural feel in spite of being only a short walk from the town centre.

Match day prices for the 2024/25 season are:

Adult               £22.00

Concession      £19.00

12-17s            £10.00

U12s               £4.00

It looks as though you are encouraged/have to buy tickets with cash on the turnstiles. 

Shay Stadium – the Skircoat Stand is on the left of the picture.

AFC Halifax Town are in a good run of form with 14 points from their last 8 games (only Barnet & Atrincham are doing better).  This has elevated the Shaymen to 6th in the National League, and firmly in the play-off places.  They are 12 points behind Rovers with a game in hand and have recorded 14 wins, 10 draws & 8 defeats so far.  They have often favoured a 3-4-2-1 formation.

Halifax have the 4th meanest defence in the National League (just 32 goals conceded in 32 games).  Scoring goals has been more of an issue with just 40 goals in their 32 games.

Halifax have been playing appreciably better away from home this season than they have at the Shay Stadium (only Oldham have better away form).  The return game at the New Lawn in late November finished 1-1 with an 86th minute equaliser cancelling out Kyle McAllister’s 63rd minute strike.

With 2 good defences coming up against each other this may be a game of few chances.

Midfielder Jack Evans is a favourite for Halifax fans and is, arguably, the heartbeat of their midfield.  You may remember Jack from when he was at FGR between 2020 – 2022.  Released in 2022, he moved to Hereford, suffered a serious training injury, but recovered to join the Shaymen in 2023.

Jack Evans in his FGR days – now a fan favourite orchestrating Halifax’s midfield.

Jamie Cooke, Halifax’s attacking midfielder, is their current top goalscorer with 7.

Cooke’s fellow striker Andrew Oluwabori (who scored against Rovers at TNL in November) was sold to Exeter City in February.

FC Halifax Town were formed in 2008 when the club’s predecessor, Halifax Town FC, was buried by huge tax debts after almost 100 years of existence.  The old club had jogged along mostly in the 3rd and 4th tiers until their demise.  The new club started back in the Northern Premier League Division 1 North.  By 2013, after promotions, they were back in the National League.  They were relegated for a single season in 2017 but, in their last 6 seasons in the National League they have been in the play-offs 3 times.  They finished in 7th place in the league in 23/24 but lost 4-2 to Solihull Moors in the play-off eliminator.

The club are known as the Shaymen – they play at The Shay Stadium, a ground they share with the Halifax Panthers rugby league team.

Halifax play at The Shay Stadium, which has been their home for over 100 years.

Halifax is in West Yorkshire, in the eastern foothills of the Pennines.  It’s about 4 miles off the M.62 and is close to both Bradford & Huddersfield.

Evidence of Halifax’s links to cotton, wool and carpets are all over the town.  Dean Clough Mill is impossible to miss – once one of the world’s biggest textile factories, it is half a mile long.

Halifax became a thriving mill town in the Industrial Revolution.  Confectionery became important at the start of the 20th century, as John Mackintosh’s business boomed.  The Halifax Building Society grew into the world’s biggest Building Society until it demutualised in 1997 and then became part of Lloyds Banking Group.

More recent times perhaps give the appearance of having been less kind to Halifax.

Grade 1 listed Piece Hall is one of the ‘must-sees’ for visitors to Halifax.

Halifax has been a wool town since the 15th century and evidence of mills and other buildings associated with the industry are all over the town.

The Wainhouse Tower is the tallest structure in Calderdale and is the world’s tallest folly.  Originally built to be an ornate chimney from a dye works, it never got used as such and became an observatory.  It cost £14,000 to build in 1875 (about £1.7 million today!)