H ODD e SDON TOWN

The club was established on 14 April 1879 as Hoddesdon Football Club. In 1885 they were founding members of the Hertfordshire County Football Association and won the inaugural Herts Senior Cup in 1886–87. The club retained the cup the following season and won it again in 1889–90. They were founder members of the East Herts League in 1896, merging with Hoddesdon Wanderers and Broxbourne Club in the same year. In 1903 the club absorbed another club, Rye Park.

The club is thought to have initially played at Mansers Field, although by 1882 they had moved to Lowfield. Lowfield had previously been home to a cricket club, which continue to play there. The ground was originally an arable field owned by Robert Barclay, who donated the land and was in-volved in setting up the cricket club in 1879. The site was purchased by a trust in 1924, before being taken over the urban district council, with ownership later transferring to Broxbourne Borough Council. Between 1952 and 1954 the club played at Essex Road as the Lowfield site was being lev-elled to allow for separate cricket and football pitches.

Floodlights were installed in 1973 and inaugurated with a friendly match with West Ham United on 7 March, a game that attracted a record crowd of 3,500. The football pitch was moved further south in the early 1980s to prevent overlapping with the cricket oval, with floodlight pylons having to be moved and the original 100-seat stand now being at one end of the pitch rather than on the halfway line; in 1996 it was discovered to contain significant amounts of asbestos and was condemned. A new stand was opened the same year and seats from Burnden Park were installed the following year. A 100-capacity covered stand was opened in 2014 and another 50-seat stand was installed in 2016.

In 1908 Hoddesdon joined the Eastern Division of the Hertfordshire Senior County League. The division was renamed the Central Division for the 1909–10 season, before reverting to its former name the following season. The club finished bottom of the division in 1912–13 but were divisional champions the following season. In the interdivisional championship play-off, they finished last. In 1920 the club was renamed Hoddesdon Town. They were placed in the North-East Division for the 1921–22 season following league organisation, before the league was reduced to a single division in 1923.

Hoddesdon joined Division Two B the Spartan League in 1925. They won the division in 1928–29, but league reorganisation meant no promotion and the club was placed in Division Two East the following season. They were Division Two East runners-up in 1931–32, earning promotion to Division One. The 1935–36 season saw the club win Division One, resulting in promotion to the Premier Division. However, they finished second-from-bottom of the Premier Division the following season and were relegated back to Division One. After World War II the club were placed in the Central Division for the 1945–46 season, with a sixth-place finish seeing them earn a place in the Premier Division for the following season.

Hoddesdon were relegated after finishing bottom of the table in 1949–50 but were promoted back to the Premier Division at the first attempt. They finished bottom of the table in 1958–59, 1959–60 and 1962–63, but were runners-up in 1964–65 and went on to win the league title in 1970–71, a season that also saw them win the Spartan League Cup and the Herts Charity Shield. The club were league runners-up in the next three seasons, retaining the League Cup and the Charity Shield in 1971–72. In 1974–75 they were the first-ever winners of the FA Vase, beating Epsom & Ewell in its inaugural final at Wembley Stadium. The club left the Spartan League to the Athenian League in 1977, but when the league was disbanded in 1984, they were refused entry to the Isthmian League as they did not have use of their Lowfield ground all year round, and instead joined the Premier Division of the South Midlands League.

In 1985–86 Hoddesdon won the South Midlands League Challenge Trophy, retaining it the following season and winning it again in 1991–92. The club remained in the Premier Division until 1997 when the league merged with the

Spartan League to form the Spartan South Midlands League, with Hoddesdon placed in the Premier Division North for a transitional season; a fifth-place finish in the league’s first season saw them earn a place in the Premier Division the following season; the season also saw them win the Premier Division Plate. In 2004–05 Hoddesdon finished bottom of the Premier Division and were relegated to Division One. A third-place finish in 2012–13 saw them promoted back to the Premier Division.

Manager Paul Halsey walked out in January 2017, and after a short spell of interim management, Simon Riddle took over and was appointed for 2018/19. A final place of twelfth in the table was a relief after much player turbulence over 2 or 3 months. After the season ended, the Club learned it had been moved laterally to the Essex Senior League, thus ending a 34-year association with the (Spartan) South Midlands League. A full appeal hearing at the FA failed to have the decision reversed. Former Club Treasurer and stalwart supporter, Bob Parker, passed away at the age of 93 in May 2018.

An historic season for the Club as the First Team took its place in the 20-club Essex Senior League. Having reached the semi-finals of the Peter Butcher Memorial Trophy the First Team lost 2-1 to a very strong Barkingside Reserves side, but the Final was not played due to issues that occurred in the other semifinal.

Thanks to Covid-19 the season was declared null and void in late March, with the Lilywhites in seventh place in the table. One of the FA Vase Final stars, Les Picking, passed away in March 2020. The First Team also lost out on a chance to make the Challenge Trophy semi-finals when their thrice-postponed quarter final tie became a victim of the pandemic.

2020-21 was another season affected by Covid-19 with two lockdowns. Only thirteen League and eight cup games played, four of those in the Len Cordell Memorial Cup/Plate, the Lilywhites winning the latter 3-0 in the Final against Woodford Town. A new pitch rail was constructed around three sides of the pitch to upgrade the ground even further.

Roger Merton stepped down as Chairman after 26 years in the role, and he was replaced by Stuart Varney. After a poor Covid-19 affected start to the season, the First Team picked up in the second half and finished in 15th place. Having reached the semi-finals of the Errington Challenge Trophy they were beaten 3-0 by a very good Enfield side. Following the season end the Club was informed it was being moved back to the Spartan South Midlands League for the 2022/23 campaign following two full and two truncated seasons in the Essex Senior League.