Letchworth F.C. was 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 at Baldock Road, Letchworth in

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 ...

, that resigned from 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, ...

and folded in 2002. Originally known as Letchworth Athletic and Letchworth Town, they changed their name to Letchworth Garden City in 1976, before becoming just Letchworth in 1995.

History

After spending their early history in local Hertfordshire leagues, they moved up to the

Delphian League The Delphian League was an English amateur football league covering Greater London and the surrounding area. The league was formed in 1951 with 14 clubs and was effectively a level below the Corinthian League.Corinthian League The League of Corinth, also referred to as the Hellenic League (from Greek Ἑλληνικός ''Hellenikos'', "pertaining to Greece and Greeks"), was a confederation of Greek states created by Philip II in 338–337 BC. The League was created ...

in 1959, and when that league disbanded in 1963, joined the expanding

Athenian League The Athenian League was an English amateur football league for clubs in and around London. The league was originally to be called the Corinthian League,Athenian Football League minutes 1912-1921 (National Football Museum, Preston). but this nam ...

. In the 1974–75 season they won the Athenian League. The following season they joined 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 ...

Division Two, and for the next twelve years were consistent finishing in the top eight on six occasions.Isthmian League
in rec.sports.soccer.statistics archive Notable names to emerge from Letchworth during the late 1970s were Paul Bowgett who signed for

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

Imre Varadi Imre Varadi (born 8 July 1959) is an English former professional footballer, known as a journeyman forward who appeared for 16 different clubs at all levels of professional football in England. Playing career Varadi was born in Paddington, L ...

(

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

), Keith Larner (

),and in 1989 striker Kevin Smith who signed for

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

. Smith later rejoined the club and was top goalscorer for three seasons before moving on. Particularly memorable matches during the 1980s included a cup semi-final against local rivals

Stevenage Borough Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier o ...

when Letchworth came out 3–2 winners in front of the biggest crowd at Baldock Road for many years. By the late 1980s the club had entered a period of decline, and the established close-knit team had begun to break up, age and injuries taking their inevitable toll. From a respectable 11th in 1987–88 they finished one place off the bottom next season and were rock-bottom of Division 2 North in 89–90. Relegation was decided by a two leg play-off against Division Two South

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

played home and away on consecutive nights, they drew the home leg, lost the away leg and their relegation from the league was confirmed. In 1990–91 the team played in 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 ...

Premier Division, a step down in standards. They finished 6th in their first season, thereby missing the chance to immediately regain their previous status, and from thereon the decline continued at a dramatic rate. The next four seasons were poor, and they were relegated again at the end of the 1994–95 season. Following a brief rejuvenation with an injection of cash and under the management of ex-Chelsea and England star

Kerry Dixon Kerry Michael Dixon (born 24 July 1961) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a forward. His club career was spent most notably at Chelsea, where he won the Second Division twice. His 193 goals for the club across all ...

they reached the 4th round of the FA Vase in 1999-00,FA Vase 1999/2000
in rec.sports.soccer.stats archive but a dispute with the Hertfordshire FA saw the club go under in 2002.{{Citation needed, date=February 2008 The Baldock Road ground has undergone substantial upgrading and refurbishment to a high quality and is currently the headquarters of the Hertfordshire FA. It was announced in April 2008 that the reformed Baldock Town will play there from the 2008–09 season.

References

Association football clubs disestablished in 2002 Defunct football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in Hertfordshire Isthmian League Delphian League Corinthian League (football) Athenian League 2002 disestablishments in England Letchworth