Founded back in 1868 Harefield United
Football Club is the oldest in Middlesex.
The Club has had
a number of names throughout it’s history, one of the earliest
being Harefield Victoria where the local paper of 1891 has a
match report of a 1-0 win over Rickmansworth Rovers, the goal
being scored by G Harland. The team was D Collett (goal), C
Milton and J Varcos (backs), A Oates and J P Richardson (half
backs), C Brown jnr and G Webster (centres), W Prickett, G
Winship, C Armour and G Harland (forwards).
One of the next names was Breakspear Institute FC, who
played in the local Uxbridge leagues. The oldest copy of a
document is the minutes of their AGM held in 1897. We also
have early team photographs of Breakspear from 1903 showing
some of the many honours won at the turn of the century. There
is also a programme from 1922 when Breakspear and Harefield
played against each other in front of 1922 people. The merger
with Harefield FC was in 1934 when the team became Harefield
United. However, they are one of those longstanding clubs who
has had success on the football field but little at the senior
level.
Harefield United originally played in local leagues,
including the Uxbridge & District League, before the team
progressed to the Great Western Combination in 1947. During
the years spent in the U&DL Harefield United managed to
win Division 3, the Uxbridge Junior Cup and Uxbridge Premier
Cup.
The Club spent nearly twenty years in the Great
Western Combination league winning Division 2 in their first
year along with the Chesham Cup. The Club winning Division 1
in 1951 followed this. The Reserves had their success during
the 1960s in the Great Western Combination Reserve Divisions.
Harefield's next bit of silverware came after a move to the
Parthenon League in 1964, the Championship being won in the
debut campaign. . After two season the 'Hares' moved on to the
Middlesex League and it was in that competition that they had
their most successful period to date. The league Championship
was won on 4 occasions between 1966 and 1971 and the League
Cup was also taken twice in that period.
1975 saw Harefield accepted into the Athenian League
where they remained for nine seasons. It was period of slow
consolidation for the 'Hares' who eventually claimed the
Runners-up spot in 1983/84, so earning themselves the right to
a place in the newly expanded Isthmian League. United became
founder members of the Division Two (North) in 1984/85 and
played in that Division for two seasons before changing over
to Division Two (South), the Club being caught up in the
no-man's land where the boundaries of the regionalised
divisions met.
Harefield struggled to make an impact in Division Two
(North), finishing 18th out of the twenty clubs in both of the
two campaigns spent in that Division. However, the change to
the South section led to better performances and in 1986/7
they finished in 10th place out of 21 clubs, this was followed
by a final placing of 13th the next season and then in season
1988/89 the 'Hares' were 5th. They dropped to a disappointing
12th the following campaign, but the final year of the
regionalised leagues saw 7th place achieved. This meant that
Harefield had made the cut off point for qualification to play
in the first year of the newly formed Diadora (Isthmian)
Division Two the following season.
The new division was a
struggle for the Middlesex Club and they just missed
relegation in the first year, but the next season were demoted
along with Southall to Division 3. Despite this set back, the
achievements of the Club in recent years have been quite
remarkable considering that Harefield is a comparatively
isolated location with a small population and consequently
small crowds. The record attendance at Preston Park is 430,
for a FA Vase tie against Bashley, which the Hares won 1-0.
1995/96 proved to be the last in the Icis (isthmian)
League. Due to lack of funds to carry out ground improvements,
the 'Hares' resigned from the League in November and were
allocated to the Spartan League for season 1996/97.
The Hares spent one season in the Spartan League before
it merged with the South Midlands League. There were two
Premier Divisions in the first season, and the clubs, which
finished in the top half of each Division, formed the Premier
Division for the following season. Unfortunately the Hares
only managed 11th position so they had to play in the Senior
Division (now changed to Division 1). However, in 2002 the
Hares gained promotion to the Premier, finally missing out on
the League Championship by just one point. The consolation was
beating the league champions, Greenacres, 4-1 in the final of
the League Cup. There then followed more success during
2002/03 season, winning the Challenge Trophy, beating
Dunstable Town (the league winners) 4-1 over two legs. The
Hares also reached the final of the Premier League Cup and
finished 4th. The Club also had good runs in both the FA Cup
and FA Vase, beating Ryman sides on the way. This success
continued during 2003/04 with a SSM Premier League Cup win,
1-0 against Brook House, and getting beaten 2-1 (aet) by
Wealdstone in the Middlesex Senior Charity Cup. Season 2004/5
saw the teams consolidate their positions in near the top of
their leagues and we had the inaugural season for a U18 side
in the Allied Counties East division.
Season 2005/06 had it highs and lows. Despite the first
team finishing 4th, it’s highest place since Stuart Leavy took
over the senior side the team missed out getting promoted
under the new league structure on goal difference. However,
the ground improvements needed to get an E grading were
completed before the deadline, this puts us in good stead for
the future. The good news is that the U18 side not only won
the East Division to get promoted to the Premier but they won
the Middlesex Youth Cup. To cap off a good season for the Club
the Reserves came runners up in the North Division of the
Suburban and are now in the Premier. |