Harpenden Town Football Club is a

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

Harpenden Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,240 in the 2011 census, whilst the population of the civil parish was 29,448. Har ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. They are currently members of the and play at Rothamsted Park.

History

The club was established in 1891 as Harpenden Football Club.Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2016) ''Non-League Club Directory 2017'', Tony Williams Publications, p528 They were founder members of the Herts County Senior League in 1898, but left after two season. They also played in the Mid-Herts League, winning the league on several occasions.A brief history of Harpenden Town Football Club
Harpenden History In 1908 the club adopted their current name and rejoined the Herts County Senor League, becoming members of the Western Division. They won the Western Division in 1910–11, but were runners-up in the subsequent three-team championship play-off. They retained the Western Division title the following season, this winning the championship play-offs. They were Western Division runners-up the following season. In 1920–21 Harpenden were Western Division champions again, but finished bottom of the championship play-off. The following season saw the club finish bottom of the Mid West Division, after which they left the league.
Non-League Matters In 1948 the club returned to the league and were placed in Division One.
Non-League Matters They were league champions in 1950–51, 1952–53 and 1954–55, finishing runners-up in the seasons in-between. The club was placed in Division 1A in 1955–56 for a transitional season, and finished as runners-up before being placed into the Premier Division the following season due to a reorganisation of the league. In 1957 the club moved up to the Premier Division of the

South Midlands League The South Midlands League was a association football, 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 ...

. Harpenden were South Midlands League champions in 1961–62 and again in 1964–65. They won both the League Shield and the Herts Charity Shield in 1967–68, and although they finished as runners-up in 1969–70, the club were relegated to Division One after finishing bottom of the Premier Division in 1972–73. The following season saw them make an immediate return to the Premier Division, as a third-place finish saw them promoted. They were relegated to Division One again at the end of the 1981–82 season. In 1989–90 the club were Division One champions, earning promotion back to the Premier Division. In 1997 the league merged with the

Spartan League The Spartan League was a football league in England covering London and adjacent counties. Established in 1907, it merged with the South Midlands League in 1997 to form the Spartan South Midlands League. History The Spartan League was establish ...

to form the

Spartan South Midlands League The Spartan South Midlands Football League is an English football league covering Hertfordshire, northwest Greater London, central Buckinghamshire and southern Bedfordshire. It is a feeder to the Southern Football League or the Isthmian League, ...

, with Harpenden placed in the Premier Division North. An eighth-place finish in 1997–98 saw them gain a place in the Premier Division for the 1998–99 season. However, after finishing second-from-bottom of the table in their first season in the division, they ended the 1999–2000 season bottom of the table and were relegated to the Senior Division, which was renamed Division One in 2001. Harpenden were Division One runners-up in 2002–03, earning promotion to the Premier Division. However, they were relegated back to Division One after finishing bottom of the Premier Division in 2005–06. The club ended the 2016–17 season as Division One runners-up, earning promotion to the Premier Division. The following season saw them win the Premier Division Cup, beating

Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948). It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and ...

3–1 in the final.Harpenden claim league cup win as Welwyn Garden City rue late penalty decision
Herts Advertiser, 25 April 2018

Ground

The club play at Rothamsted Park on Amenbury Lane. During the 1990–91 season the Centenary Stand was built and floodlights installed.

Honours

*Spartan South Midlands League **Premier Division Cup winners 2017–18 *South Midlands League **Premier Division champions 1961–62, 1964–65 **Division One champions 1989–90 **League Shield winners 1967–68 *Herts Senior County League **Champions 1911–12, 1950–51, 1952–53, 1954–55 **Western Division champions 1910–11, 1911–12, 1920–21 *Herts Charity Shield **Winners 1967–68

Records

*Best

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 ...

performance: First qualifying round, 1998–99 *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: Second round, 1976–77, 1981–82

References

External links