Heybridge Swifts 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 Heybridge, near

Maldon Maldon (, locally ) is a town and civil parish on the River Blackwater, Essex, Blackwater estuary in Essex, England. It is the seat of the Maldon District and starting point of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. It is known for Maldon Sea ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, England. They are currently members of the and play at Scraley Road.

History

The club was established in 1880 as Heybridge Football Club. After joining the Mid-Essex League they won Division One in 1908–09 and again in 1911–12.Official handbook season 2017–2018
Mid-Essex League The club subsequently became members of the Essex & Suffolk Border League and were runners-up in Division Two (West) in 1919–20. The club won the division the following season, before finishing as runners-up again in 1921–22 and 1924–25. They later moved up to Division One and were runners-up in 1928–29. The club went on to win the division in 1930–31, earning promotion to the Senior Division. The following season saw them finish as runners-up in the Senior Division,2016-2017 Official Handbook
Essex & Suffolk Border League as well as winning the Essex Junior Cup. After

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 ...

Heybridge returned to the Mid-Essex League, winning the league and the Division One League Cup in 1946–47. In 1949–50 the club joined the Premier Division of the

South Essex League The South Essex League was a football league that was held in Essex and East London. History The league was formed for the 1892–93 season. Only four clubs in the league managed to fulfill all their fixtures, with Barking Excelsior winning th ...

, but left after a single season. They returned to the Mid-Essex League and were champions of Division One (now the league's second division after the creation of the Premier Division in 1949) in 1955–56, as well as winning the Division One League Cup. The club later rejoined the Essex & Suffolk Border League and were runners-up in the Premier Division in 1965–66. After finishing as runners-up again in 1969–70 they were founder members of the

Essex Senior League The Essex Senior Football League is an English men's football league. It contains clubs from the Essex FA, Hertfordshire FA, London FA, Middlesex FA and the Amateur Football Alliance. It is a feeder league to Division One North of the Isthm ...

in 1971. They finished bottom of the league in 1973–74, but were runners-up in 1980–81 and then won three consecutive league titles between 1981–82 and 1983–84. Following their third title the club moved up to Division Two North 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 ...

. Heybridge were Division Two North champions in 1989–90, earning promotion to Division One. In 1994–95 the club reached 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, losing 2–0 to Gillingham in a home match that was moved to

Layer Road Layer Road was a Football League stadium in Colchester, England. It was only used for football matches and was the home ground of Colchester United before being replaced by the Colchester Community Stadium. The stadium held spectators and was ...

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

. In 1995–96 they finished the season as Division One runners-up and were promoted to the Premier Division. The club reached the first round of the FA Cup again in 1997–98, losing 3–0 at

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

. Another first round appearance in 2002–03 ended in a 7–0 defeat to

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

. A sixteenth-place finish in 2003–04 saw Heybridge play-off with St Albans City for a place in the new

Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

, but they lost 4–3. The club were Premier Division runners-up in 2005–06, qualifying for the promotion play-offs, in which they lost on penalties to Hampton & Richmond Borough in the semi-finals following a 1–1 draw. Heybridge remained in the Premier Division until the end of the 2008–09 season, when they were relegated to Division One North. A third-place finish in 2013–14 saw them qualify for the play-offs, but they went on to lose 3–0 to

Harlow Town Harlow Town Football Club is an English association football, football club based in Harlow, Essex. The club is a former member of the and plays at The Harlow Arena. The club is best known for its exploits in the 1979–80 FA Cup, in which it ...

in the semi-finals. In the 2017–18 season the club reached the first round of the FA Cup for the fourth time, losing 3–1 at

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

; winger Sam Bantick scored Heybridge's first goal in the proper rounds of the competition. They also finished fifth in the renamed North Division, reaching the play-offs. However, the club were beaten 2–0 by Haringey Borough in the semi-finals. The following season saw the club finish fifth in the North Division, again qualifying for the play-offs. Despite defeating

Aveley Aveley is a town and former civil parish in the unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England, and forms one of the traditional Church of England parishes. Aveley is 16 miles (26.2 km) east of Charing Cross. In the 2021 United Kingdom ...

2–0 in the semi-finals and then beating local rivals Maldon & Tiptree on penalties in the final, the club were denied promotion as only the five eighth-tier play-off winners with the best points-per-game record were promoted, with Heybridge ranked sixth.

Ground

The club played at Bentall's Sports Ground from 1890 until being evicted in 1964 so a shopping centre could be built on the site.Heybridge Swifts
Pyramid Passion After playing at Sadd's Athletic for two seasons, the club moved to Scraley Road, formerly a carrot field, in 1966. A wooden stand was soon built on the western side of the pitch, becoming the West Stand. The stand was extended during the early 1980s, with bench seating also installed.Jon Weaver (2005) ''The Football Grounds of Rural Essex'', pp32–33 In 1994 a covered terrace was erected, but it had to be dismantled and rebuilt the following year after the local council had declared it unsafe. The main stand was built on the other side of the pitch to the wooden stand in 1995 and has uncovered terraces on either side. The Scraley Road end is an uncovered terrace, whilst the other end, the South Stand, consists of a covered terrace. The ground currently has a capacity of 3,000, of which 550 is seated and 1,200 covered.

Honours

*Isthmian League **Division Two North champions 1989–90 **League Cup winners 1981–82, 2000–01 *Essex Senior League **Champions 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84 *Essex & Suffolk Border League **Division One champions 1930–31 **Division Two (West) champions 1920–21 *Mid-Essex League **Champions 1908–09, 1911–12, 1946–47 **Division One champions 1955–56 **Division One League Cup winners 1946–47, 1955–56 *Essex Junior Cup **Winners 1931–32 *East Anglian Cup **Winners 1993–94, 1994–95 *Tolleshunt D'Arcy Memorial Cup **Winners 1955–56, 1959–60, 2006–07, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17

Records

*Best

performance: First round, 1994–95, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2017–18 *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: Quarter-finals, 1996–97 *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: Fifth round, 1986–87 *Record attendance: 2,477 v

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

quarter-finals, 1997 *Most appearances: John Pollard, 543 *Most goals: Arthur "Stumpy" Moss, 193 (1948–1960) *Record transfer fee paid: £1,000 to

Grays Athletic Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Parkside in nearby Aveley. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former S ...

for Dave Rainford; £1,000 to

Chelmsford City Chelmsford City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Currently members of they play at the Melbourne Stadium. History Chelmsford Chelmsford Football Club was established in 1878 by members of ...

for Lee Kersey *Record transfer fee received: £35,000 from

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

for

Simon Royce Simon Ernest Royce (born 9 September 1971) is an English football coach and former professional Association football, footballer who is goalkeeping coach at Leyton Orient F.C., Leyton Orient, As a player he was a Goalkeeper (association footbal ...

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 51, 44, 38.699, N, 0, 42, 2.160, E, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Football clubs in England Football clubs in Essex Association football clubs established in 1880 1880 establishments in England Maldon District Mid-Essex Football League Essex and Suffolk Border Football League Essex Senior Football League Isthmian League South Essex League North Essex League