Yellowhead FC

Yellowhead Football Club is a professional association football club based in Tete Jaune Cache, Valemount, British Columbia presently playing in the British Columbia Football League's Division Two. Yellowhead FC's home matches are played at the Ash Street stadium owned by the city of Valemount and shared with Valemount City FC.

Rivalries
Yellowhead's arch-rivals are Valemount City FC of the city of Valemount; the town of Tete Jaune Cache is immediately adjacent to Valemount and is part of the Greater Valemount Regional District, making the two clubs effectively cross-town rivals in what is known as the Valemount Derby. However, since Yellowhead's promotion to the League in 1978 the two clubs have not met in League or Cup competition, though Valemount have been promoted to Division Three several times during that period. The rivalry is made the more intense due to Yellowhead's success in League play, and the club's claims to being the Football League's representative for all of Greater Valemount; indeed, many Yellowhead supporters are from the City of Valemount proper, a fact resented by many Valemount City supporters.

There is also a strong rivalry between the Bees and nearby McBride AFC; this is called the Grand Trunk Derby, as both Tete Jaune Cache and McBride are located along BC Rail's Grand Trunk Line; the two clubs have met several times in both League and Cup competition since the early 1980s.

There is also a lesser rivalry between Yellowhead and Barriere Railway FC.

* PL = penalty shootout loss; shootout wins are counted in wins column

History
Yellowhead FC was established in 1917, initially playing in the Kootenay Football League and from the following year in the Mainland Football League after the KFL was merged with the other two football leagues in mainland BC.

Yellowhead FC played at a field on Glacier Road in Tete Jaune Cache from its inception, gradually expanding it with terraces until reaching a capacity of 4,000 by 1939. When Yellowhead earned promotion to the Football League in 1941, the FA ruled the Glacier Road ground to be unsatisfactory for league play, and that the club would need to find a new home in order to compete in Division Three. Since it was impossible to build a stadium during the war years, Yellowhead were still training and playing at Glacier Road through 1945; during the suspension of professional sport during the Pacific War, Yellowhead and Valemount City jointly organised an unofficial league in the area known as the Mount Robson Football League. With the resumption of competition for the 1946 season, Yellowhead still needed a suitable venue for their matches, and they entered into an agreement with their arch-rivals in Valemount for the use of the latter's Ash Street stadium; after failing to secure permission from the municipality of Tete Jaune Cache to expand and rebuild the Glacier Road facility, in 1956 the club opted to raze the terraces and convert it into a training site, and the arrangement to use Ash Street was made permanent in 1960. In 1962, the City of Valemount took over the Ash Street ground and expanded it to fit 18,000 standing spectators; in 1979 it was converted to the 6,232 seats, and in 2017 it was again expanded to seat 10,115. In 2018 Yellowhead FC finally found a site for a new stadium of its own on Cardinal Ranch Road in Shere, Tete Jaune Cache, nearby the Shere railway station. Construction of the new 21,600-seat stadium with undersoil heating and covered stands began in 2020 and is expected to be completed in time for the 2023 season; it will be the largest football-only stadium in BC.

League competition
After the establishment of the BCFL in 1929, Yellowhead, along with other MFL clubs, moved to the new BCFA Regional Championship Northeast. Finishing third in the 1934 season the club qualified for that year's Division Three Qualification Competition, in which they finished last. The Bees reached the D3 Qualification Competition in five consecutive seasons, winning the Northeast Championship in 1935, 1937, and 1938, and finishing runners-up in 1936. However, it wasn't until the 1941 D3QC that promotion to Division Three was finally achieved; however, due to the outbreak of the Pacific War and suspension of professional football in BC for the duration, it wasn't until 1946 that the Bees played their first season of League football. Yellowhead were immediately relegated, but in 1960 returned to Division Three for a short spell, once again dropping out of the League in 1964. A Regional Northeast third-place finish in 1977 qualified the club for the D3QC again; failing to finish amongst the top four meant they had to play through the D3 Relegation Playoff, earning promotion to Division Three the hard way. The Bees have remained in the League ever since, making brief appearances in Division Two in the 1980s and 1990s, and between 1994–1999 and 2002–2004 playing in Division One. That stay in Division Two lasted only a single season as the Bees finished second and won the promotion playoffs to return to Division One for the 2006 season, where they have remained ever since. They have mostly been a middle-table side, finishing as high as fifth twice, and in 2017 achieving their best performance thus far by securing third-place honours.

Season-by-season
This is a complete listing of the club's performances in British Columbia Football League competition.

FA Cup
Yellowhead first qualified for the First Round proper of the British Columbia FA Cup in 1919, and appearing again in 1921, 1923, 1924, 1926, and 1928 prior to the establishment of the Football League and the restructuring of the FA Cup. After 1929, the Bees' first appearance in the competition was in 1935. Since the end of the Second World War Yellowhead have been an FA Cup constant, the club's high point so far being two appearances in the semi-finals, the first in 1998, losing 0:3 on aggregate to Royal City, the second in 2014, in which the Bees lost 2:4 on aggregate to Wellington.

Season-by-season
This is a listing of the club's performances in British Columbia FA Cup competition since 1929.

Honours and records

 * Division One
 * Third placed: 2017


 * Division Two
 * Winners: 1993
 * Runners-up: 2000, 2002, 2005
 * Third placed: 1992


 * Division Three
 * Winners: 1983
 * Runners-up: 1987


 * Regional Championship Northeast
 * Winners: 1935, 1937, 1938
 * Runners-up: 1936
 * Third placed: 1934


 * Highest league position: 3rd
 * D1 (2017)


 * Lowest league position: 12th
 * D3QC (1934)


 * Most points in a season: 71
 * D2, 1993


 * Fewest points in a season: 19
 * D1, 2004


 * Most goals scored in a season: 73
 * D3, 1983


 * Fewest goals scored in a season: 16
 * D1, 2004


 * Most goals conceded in a season: 77
 * D1, 1999


 * Fewest goals conceded in a season: 14
 * D1, 2016


 * Most wins in a season: 22
 * D3, 1983


 * Fewest wins in a season: 5
 * D1, 2004


 * Most draws in a season: 16
 * D2, 1984


 * Fewest draws in a season: 4
 * D3, 1983
 * D1, 1999
 * D1, 2004


 * Most losses in a season: 23
 * D2, 1986
 * D1, 1999


 * Fewest losses in a season: 4
 * D3, 1983
 * D3, 1987
 * D3, 1991


 * Most games won in a row (to 2001): 11
 * D3, 1980


 * Most games lost in a row (to 2001): 18
 * D1, 1999


 * Most games without losing (to 2001): 15
 * D2, 1992


 * Most games without winning (to 2001): 19
 * D1, 1999


 * Biggest win: 4 goals
 * 4:0 v Connaught Hill, D3, 1978
 * 4:0 v Keremeyus Albion, 1984 FA Cup 2nd Round
 * 5:1 v Field CPR, D3, 1987
 * 4:0 v Grand Forks, D2, 1988
 * 4:0 v Cassiar City, D2, 2000


 * Biggest league win: 4 goals
 * 4:0 v Connaught Hill, D3, 1978
 * 4:0 v Keremeyus Albion, 1984 FA Cup 2nd Round
 * 5:1 v Field CPR, D3, 1987
 * 4:0 v Grand Forks, D2, 1988
 * 4:0 v Cassiar City, D2, 2000


 * Biggest defeat: 6 goals
 * 0:6 v Vancouver Utd, D1, 1999


 * Highest scoring game: 10 goals
 * 4:6 v Port Moody, D3, 1962


 * Highest scoring league game: 10 goals
 * 4:6 v Port Moody, D3, 1962


 * Deepest cup run: semi-finals - 1998, 2014