Barton Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in

Barton-le-Clay Barton-le-Clay is a large village and a civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire Borough in Bedfordshire, England, bordering Hertfordshire. The village has existed since at least 1066 and is mentioned in the ''Domesday Book''. History Ancien ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

, England. The club are currently members of the and play at Sharpenhoe Road. They are affiliated to the Bedfordshire Football Association.

History

The club was established in 1898, and played in village football until

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

.History
Barton Rovers F.C. After the war the club joined the Luton & District League for the 1946–47 season, where they played until joining Division Two of the

South Midlands League The South Midlands League was a football league covering Bedfordshire and some adjoining counties in England. It was founded in 1922 as the Bedfordshire County League and merged with the Spartan League in 1997 to form the Spartan South Midland ...

in 1954. They won Division Two at the first attempt, earning promotion to Division One. The following season saw them finish as runners-up in Division One, resulting in promotion to the Premier Division. In 1962–63 the club finished bottom of the division and were relegated back to Division One. However, they returned to the Premier Division two seasons later after winning the Division One title in 1964–65. This saw the start of a decade-long spell of success for Barton Rovers; their first five seasons back in the Premier Division saw them finish third on four occasions and runners-up once. They then went on to win three successive titles between 1970–71 and 1972–73, and after a third-place finish in 1973–74, they won five consecutive titles. The club also saw success in the FA Vase; in 1975–76 they reached the quarter-finals, and the following season saw them reach the semi-finals, where they lost 3–1 to

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

. They went one better in 1977–78, reaching the final, where they lost 2–1 to Blue Star. Barton Rovers moved up to Division Two of the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

in 1979. The 1980–81 season saw them reach the first round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

for the first time, eventually losing 2–0 at

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

. The following season they reached the semi-finals of the FA Vase again, losing 2–1 to Rainworth Miners Welfare. League restructuring saw the club moved into Division Two North in 1984, before Division Two was restored in 1991. After finishing as runners-up in 1994–95, Barton were promoted to Division One, where they remained until finishing bottom of the division in 2000–01. After returning to Division Two, league restructuring saw them placed in Division One North in 2002, before they were transferred to the Eastern Division of the Southern League in 2004. More restructuring saw them join Division One Midlands in 2006 and Division One Central in 2010. In 2014–15 the club finished fifth, qualifying for the promotion play-offs. However, after beating

Royston Town Royston may refer to: Places Australia *Royston, Queensland, a rural locality Canada * Royston, British Columbia, a small hamlet England *Royston, Hertfordshire, a town and civil parish, formerly partly in Cambridgeshire * Royston, South Yorks ...

5–4 on penalties in the semi-finals following a 0–0 draw, they lost 2–0 to

Bedworth United Bedworth United Football Club is a football club based in Bedworth, Warwickshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Oval. History The first club from which the modern Bedworth United traces its lineage was Bedworth ...

in the final. The 2016–17 season saw the club finish third; in the subsequent play-offs they beat Marlow 2–0 in the semi-finals before losing 2–0 to Farnborough in the final.

Ground

Barton Rovers play their home matches at Sharpenhoe Road in Barton-le-Clay. The ground has a capacity of 4,000, of which 160 is seated and 1,120 is covered. All 160 seats are in the main stand, opposite which is a covered terraced that runs the length of the pitch.

Honours

*South Midlands League **Premier Division champions 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79 **Division One champions 1964–65 **Division Two champions 1954–55 * Bedfordshire Senior Cup **Winners 1971–72, 1972–73, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1989–90, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2014–15, 2015–16 *Bedfordshire Intermediate Cup **Winners 1953–54

Records

*Highest league position: Third in Southern League Division One Central, 2016–17 *Best

performance: First round, 1980–81 *Best

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

performance: Third round, 2000–01 *Best

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

performance: Finalists, 1977–78 *Record attendance: 1,900 vs

Nuneaton Borough Nuneaton Borough Football Club is an English football club that is based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The men's 1st team competes in the , the seventh tier of English football. In 1889, Nuneaton St. Nicholas FC was the first team in Nuneaton t ...

, FA Cup fourth qualifying round, 1976 *Most appearances: Tony McNally, 598 (1988–2005)Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2012) ''Non-League Club Directory 2013'', p487 *Most goals: Richard Camp, 152 (1989–1998) *Record transfer fee received: £2,000 from

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

for Paul BarnesIlford 0 Barton Rovers 2
Barton Rovers F.C. *Record transfer fee paid: £1,000 to

Hitchin Town Hitchin Town Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. They are currently members of the . Founded in 1865 and known as 'The Canaries', Hitchin Town have been based at Top Field since their fou ...

for Bill Baldry, 1980

References

External links