|
Harlow Town Football Club are an English football club based in Harlow, Essex. The club are members of Division One North of the Isthmian League, and play at The Harlow Arena. The club is best known for its exploits in the 1979–80 FA Cup, in which it reached the fourth round, eliminating two Football League sides Southend United and Leicester City before losing to Watford at Vicarage Road. ==History== The club's date of formation is unknown, but the first match was played on 18 October 1879 against Saffron Walden. In 1896 the club joined Division One of the East Herts League, but left at the end of the 1896–97 season. In 1898 the club merged with Netteswell and Burnt Mill and were renamed Harlow and Burnt Mill F.C. and rejoined the East Herts League. The merger was reversed in 1902. In 1907 the club joined the new Stansted & District League. In 1910 they also began entering a team into the East Herts League. In 1911–12 they won Division One of the East Herts League,〔 but were relegated to Division Two the following season. They also finished bottom of the Stansted & District League, withdrawing their team at the end of the season. After World War I the club rejoined both leagues in 1919, being placed in Division One in the East Herts League. They won Division One of the East Herts League in 1922–23 and the Stansted & District League in both of the following two seasons.〔(Honours ) Harlow Town FC〕 In 1925 the club withdrew their team from the East Herts League and entered the Herts & Essex Border League, before returning to the East Herts League in 1927. In 1927–28 the club won its third Stansted & District League title, and the following season won both the Stansted & District League and Division One of the East Herts League. After withdrawing from the Stansted & District League, they won Division One of the East Herts League and the League Challenge Cup in 1929–30, retaining the League Cup for the following two seasons.〔 In 1932 the club joined Division Two East of the Spartan League. In 1954 the club joined the Premier Division of the London League. In 1960 they won the League Cup,〔 and moved to the Sportscentre from the Green Man playing fields, where they had played since 1879. In 1961 they switched to the Delphian League. In 1963 it merged into the Athenian League and the club were placed in Division Two. After finishing third in 1963–64 they were promoted to Division One. Due to Harlow's facilities at the Sportcentre, the club attracted well-known teams to the area during the mid- and late 1960s. In July 1966 Harlow Town arranged a friendly match against Uruguay, who were staying nearby in preparation for the World Cup (held in England that summer). Uruguay defeated Harlow, 6–1. In 1968, Benfica reached the European Cup final against Manchester United at Wembley. Benfica prepared for the final at Harlow's Sportcentre; their team included the top scorer from the 1966 World Cup, Eusébio. In 1971–72 the club won Division One, and were promoted to the Premier Division of the Athenian League. In 1973 the club switched to Division Two of the Isthmian League, renamed Division One in 1977. In 1978–79 they won Division One and were promoted to the Premier Division. The 1979–80 season saw the club make its best-ever run in the FA Cup. They reached the first round proper for the first time, where they defeated Leytonstone/Ilford 2–1. In the next round they drew 1–1 at Southend United before winning the replay at the Sportscentre 1–0 in front of 5,000 spectators. The club were then drawn away at Second Division leaders Leicester City. After a 1–1 draw at Filbert Street with Harlow scoring a last minute equaliser, Harlow won the replay at the Sportscentre 1–0, with a record attendance of 9,723 set by the game. In the fourth round the club were drawn away to Watford, but lost 4–3.〔 In 1981–82 the club were relegated, but returned to the Premier Division after a single season in Division One. However, two consecutive relegations in 1984–85 and 1985–86 saw the club drop into Division Two North. In 1988–89 they won the division and returned to Division One. The club's plans to leave the Sportcentre for a new stadium on Roydon Road collapsed during the 1991–92 season, and the Isthmian League closed down the Sportcentre after it no longer met league requirements. The team played the rest of their home games at local venues including Sawbridgeworth, Bishop's Stortford, Ware and Aveley. The club dropped out of football for the 1992–93 season. When they were voted back into the league for the 1993–94 season after upgrading the Sportscentre, the club were forced to drop into Division Three. In 1997–98 they were promoted to Division Two, and the following season were promoted to Division One. In 2004 the club were transferred to Division One East of the Southern League, but returned to the Isthmian League in 2006. In October 2006 the club moved to its new ground at Barrow's Farm. After finishing as runners-up in Division One North in 2006–07 they won the promotion play-offs and were promoted to the Premier Division after defeating AFC Sudbury in the play-off final. However, they were relegated back to Division One North at the end of the 2008–09 season.〔 The buildup to the 2009–10 season was severely disrupted when on 21 July the Chairman resigned due to a change of ownership of the club. The manager followed along with the vast majority of the playing staff and various members of the backroom staff. The club wasted no time in appointing a new manager in Anthony Anstead and in just eighteen days he managed to put a squad together to start the new Ryman League season. With the Hawks rooted to the bottom of the division Anstead resigned from his position at the end of November 2009, with former Hawks favourite Marvin Samuel being appointed as the new manager. In January 2010 new owners took control of the club, with former manager Tommy Cunningham returning to the club with his business partner John Barnett. After many months of turmoil the club can finally look forward to a much brighter future, under Barnett and Cunningham's leadership. The first full season with the new owners in control 2010/11 saw Kevin Warren become the Hawks manager, but a run of defeats led to Danny Chapman replacing him at the helm. Chapman then turned the tide and took the club to the Ryman Division One North play Off Semi-finals after finishing fourth, but they failed to reach the final after being defeated by Wingate & Finchley, whom went on to gain promotion. In 2011/12 saw Chapman lead the Hawks to 7th in the Ryman Division One North, after sitting in the play off race for most of the season, but a dip in form at the business end of the season left the Hawks just short of a play off position. 2012/13 Season was one to forget for the Hawks, after the two previous seasons when Danny Chapman’s team just missed out on promotion, the Hawks had a mixture of both experience and youth in the squad. Early exits in both the FA Cup and Trophy were disappointing for Chapman and the owners, during the campaign the Hawks were hit with a further blow, a ten-point deduction for an administration error. With this and a squad of young inexperienced players gave Harlow a battle to stay out of the one relegation place. The Hawks managed to do that by five points and have spent the close season rebuilding the team. The owners have also spent money on a new 3G pitch that was laid during the summer ready for the start of the 2013/14 season. Along with the new pitch comes the integration of several youth teams under the Harlow Town banner. The 2013/14 season saw a new era for The Hawks. We started the season playing on our newly laid 3G artificial surface, in the newly named Harlow Arena. The owners Tom Cunningham and John Barnett also announced a new shirt sponsorship with Opt FX. While on the pitch Manager Danny Chapman got himself a great squad together to battle out on all League and cup fronts. The first competitive fixture on the 3G surface was on Tuesday 13th August 2013 against newly promoted Barkingside, The Hawks won the game 8-3. New signing Alex Read was hit with the fans as he became the Hawks all-time leading goal scorer, netting 52 times in all competitions. His goals helped Chapman’s side to finish Fourth in the league, thus earning themselves a place in the play offs. In the Semi-Final we travelled to Heybridge Swifts, where we comfortably won 3-0, this victory saw us into the play off final and another away trip to 2nd placed Witham Town, unfortunately The Hawks never got going in front over 800 spectators at Spa Road, many following The Hawks and we fell to a 3-0 defeat. The season also saw the hawks reach the Robert Dyas League Cup Quarter Finals and also the Essex Senior Cup Quarter Finals. 2014/15 This saw the Hawks Second season playing on our 3G surface, and the start of The Harlow Academy set up which incorporated 21 youth teams playing at The Harlow Arena, and turned out to be a great success. Danny Chapman was again in control of the first team and was looking for promotion, unfortunately we missed out on automatic promotion by 1 point from Needham Market in a season where The Hawks lost only 5 league games all season. Once again Alex Read became The Hawks top scorer with 42 goals in all competitions, and took the Ryman Division One North golden boot award for the second season running. With The Hawks finishing 2nd this meant another appearance in the Play Offs, but this time we failed in the Semi-Finals going down 3-4 after extra time to Thurrock in front of over 900 supporters. The end of the season also saw The Harlow Arena host The under 12’s international Youth Tournament, which saw sides from England, Holland, Germany & Denmark take part in a very successful event. Next Season will see an Under 12 side from Harlow travel to Germany to take part. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Harlow Town F.C.」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|