Harpenden Town

[Rhodes]

Harpenden Town travel to Bedfont Sports FC this evening (Tuesday 20 July) to take on CB Hounslow United in a pre-season friendly fixture having had a rough ride of it thus far including defeats to Hitchin Town, Saffron Walden Town, Hendon and Ware. The new Reserve side are also in action this evening at Bedmond United having lost at home to Buckingham United on Saturday so there is a lot of work still to be done at Rothamsted Park prior to the start of the new 2021/22 campaign:

[Rhodes]

There was an article in the Herts Advertiser recently indicating that Harpenden Town were delighted with their pre-season campaign thus far however with heavy defeats to Ware, Hitchin Town, Saffron Walden Town and Hendon, and only two wins against Athletic Newham and CB Hounslow United, I'm not sure how they can say that. It's going to be a difficult 'pipe-opener' to the new campaign for Micky Nathan and his men at Arlesey Town next Tuesday evening:

https://www.hertsad.co.uk/sport/football-pre-season-round-up-harpenden-colney-heath-8162722

[Rhodes]

Another article in the Herts Advertiser ahead of Harpenden Town hosting Arlesey Town tomorrow evening in their eagerly awaited SSML Premier Division opener. It has been a disappointing pre-season for Micky Nathan with some heavy defeats at Rothamsted Park, albeit against higher oppostion, and Arlesey Town will be a stiff test to kick off with particulary with their new Chairman Dave Kitson looking on from the Centenary Stand and being given the red carpet treatment: 

Harpenden Town looking to capitalise on football's return on and off the pitch

While most clubs have their eyes on one target in a season, Harpenden Town have their eyes on advancement on three fronts.

Off the field, Rothamsted Park is going through a number of changes and they are hoping that the return of football and a more public face in the town, attracts more support to the picturesque ground.

Underpinning them all though is a stellar year on the pitch and coach Steve O'Reilly, a former skipper at the Harps, believes they can be successful in all their pursuits.

He said: "We’ve got a squad that is good enough to go and compete at the top of this league. 

There is a lot that goes in to that and there will be a lot of other teams thinking the same but ever since I’ve come back to the club, it’s been about moving on from that little Harpenden Town mentality that we had at times, that underdog mentality. 

We want the expectation and we want people to be excited about the club and about what we can do. 

We’ll embrace that but from our perspective we know it doesn’t mean anything unless you put the hard work in and go and get results on the pitch."

That is the first link with building their support and attendances and the two have to go hand in hand according to O'Reilly.

He said: "The good performances that we have been putting together for the last few years has got people excited and now we’re getting the facilities and with the ideas or pushing the club forward, it is all stitching together. 

It is a lot of hard work though and as soon as you drop off from that and that willingness to work hard, it can all unravel a little bit. 

As a club this is the most connected I’ve ever seen it and we’re really feeling part of the community. 

There’s a lot of people in Harpenden who didn’t know the club before but know it a lot better now and we need to maximise that. 

But we have to put a product out on the pitch and hopefully we’ll see even more people coming along." 

To do that they have opted to stick with the vast majority of last year's squad that were sitting eighth in the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division, scoring 28 times in 11 entertaining outings. That was a deliberate plan.

O'Reilly said: "We spoke [about retaining more of last year’s squad] and for us, that means more than going out and making some flashy signing that would grab the headlines. 

We’ve had 18 months of working one way as a management team, and yes it has been a bit disrupted but it is about getting a group who understands how we play, understands the application we expect and that will stand us in better stead than going out and making loads of new signings."

https://www.hertsad.co.uk/sport/harpenden-town-fc-season-preview-steve-oreilly-8178828

Edited August 2, 2021 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

On 16/05/2020 at 14:14, Rhodes said:

Some links from when anoraks have visited Harpenden Town's Rothamsted Park over the years:

 

https://footygrounds.blogspot.com/2015/02/harpenden-town-rohamsted-park.html

https://dannylast.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/non-league-day-at-harpenden-town-fc/

https://worldgroundhop.blogspot.com/2009/06/harpenden-town.html

https://europeanfootballweekends.blogspot.com/2010/09/non-league-day-at-harpenden-town-fc.html

https://www.botp.co.uk/blog/ball-games

https://weallstandtogether.blogspot.com/2019/01/late-harpenden-goal-secures-herts-derby.html

http://pieandmushypeas.blogspot.com/1995/05/harpenden-town-fc.html

http://thecoldend.blogspot.com/2017/04/harpenden-town-secure-all-important.html

http://thecoldend.blogspot.com/2013/01/controversy-at-rothamsted-park.html

 

An additionaI visit to Rothamsted Park by a groundhopper and an interesting one from Tuesday 16 September 2014 when Stony Stratford Town came to town:

Football Grounds visited by Richard Bysouth: Harpenden Town FC (flysouthbysouth.blogspot.com)

 

[Rhodes]

Here's an interesting match programme folks from back in the day, Harpenden Town's Youth team visiting White Hart Lane in an FA Youth Cup First Round proper tie on Wednesday 6 October 1968, I believe Harpenden Town gave a very good account of themselves on the night and only lost 3-1:

[Rhodes]

On 17/09/2023 at 17:30, Rhodes said:

Here's an interesting match programme folks from back in the day, Harpenden Town's Youth team visiting White Hart Lane in an FA Youth Cup First Round proper tie on Wednesday 6 October 1968, I believe Harpenden Town gave a very good account of themselves on the night and only lost 3-1:

The picture of the programme seems to have disappeared, Harpenden Town enjoyed success in the late sixties winning both the South Midlands League Shield and the Hertfordshire FA Charity Shield in the 1967/68 season and were runners up to Baldock Town in the South Midlands League Premier Division in 1969/70, no doubt with a number of these Youth team players from the previous campaign:

[Rhodes]

On 13/10/2023 at 14:36, Rhodes said:

The picture of the programme seems to have disappeared, Harpenden Town enjoyed success in the late sixties winning both the South Midlands League Shield and the Hertfordshire FA Charity Shield in the 1967/68 season and were runners up to Baldock Town in the South Midlands League Premier Division in 1969/70, no doubt with a number of these Youth team players from the previous campaign

Again this interesting team sheet has disappeared:

[Rhodes]

Over 100 photographs and match report from Harpenden Town's FA Cup Preliminary Round tie at Maldon & Tiptree last season, on Saturday 20 August 2022, Maldon & Tiptree won 2-0:

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/maldonandtiptreefc/teams/102582/match-centre/2-11201726/report

Edited December 22, 2023 by Rhodes