Enfield 1893 F.C.

Enfield 1893
Full name Enfield 1893 Football Club
Nickname(s) The E's
Founded 2007
Ground Barrows Farm, Harlow
Ground Capacity 3,500 (500 seated)
Chairman Steve Whittington
Manager Matt Hanning & Terry Fogarty
League Essex Senior League
2016–17 Essex Senior League, 18th of 22

Enfield 1893 Football Club (often known as Enfield or the E's) is a football club, formed in June 2007 after Enfield F.C. were forced into liquidation due to their former chairman's debts.

The new club was based in Ware for the 2007–08 and 2008–09 seasons, then moved to Broxbourne, Hertfordshire for the 2009–10 season, before returning to the borough of Enfield 11 years after the original club had moved away when they moved to Goldsdown Road in 2010, the former home of Brimsdown Rovers who folded in 2010, In 2014, the club had to leave the borough again due to the ground falling below the grading required due to a dispute between Goldsdown Sports Ltd the ground's owner and the local council, and now play their matches in Harlow, Essex, sharing with Harlow Town.

Badge

The club badge has an Enfield beast on the left and the Saxon crown and three seaxes of the Middlesex coat of arms on the right, all in white on a blue background. At the top is a shortened version of the name of the club in capital letters, 'ENFIELD FC'.

History

Decline of Enfield F.C.

In 1999, Enfield F.C. sold its Southbury Road stadium, and began ground sharing with several nearby clubs. Eventually, the board decided on a long term ground share with Boreham Wood, 10 miles away. Fearing that the club would never return to its home borough and the team would continue to struggle near the foot of the league, a group of fans set up a supporters' trust. The trust hoped to become involved in the running of Enfield F.C. and to bring about the club's return to play in the Borough of Enfield. For months, their attempts to help were rebuffed by chairman Tony Lazarou. In February 2001 a deal to transfer control of the club to the Trust was proposed, but Lazarou stalled on the deal for several months and by the beginning of June nothing had happened.

When the club sold Southbury Road, £750,000 from the sale was placed into an escrow account, for the use of the club in building a new ground. In 2001, chairman Lazarou asked Enfield Council to hand the money over to him even though he had not identified a site for a new ground; after Lazarou threatened legal action, the Council handed over the money. After this, a group of supporters formed their own club, Enfield Town F.C., based in Brimsdown, "to keep football alive in the borough of Enfield".

After these events, Enfield F.C. struggled in the Isthmian League Premier Division, and was relegated in 2003. The 2003–04 season was even worse, finishing bottom of Isthmian League Division One North. In 2004–05 Enfield F.C had moved to Wodson Park, Ware and came second in the Isthmian League Second Division, winning promotion to the Southern League Division One East.

Lazarou owed Enfield Football Club a vast amount of money from the sale of the ground at Southbury Road. A Football Association hearing stated he should repay to the club a sum believed to be in the region of £200,000.

During the close season at the end of the 2006–07 season, Enfield had no choice but to liquidate due to the debts owed to the Inland Revenue by former chairman Lazarou, forcing the club to resign from the Isthmian League Division One North. Enfield Town F.C. approached Enfield F.C. proposing a merger, but the Enfield F.C. officials opted to remain a separate club, and formed a new club named Enfield 1893 F.C.

Phoenix Club

Enfield 1893 joined the Essex Senior League which was situated one step below the Isthmian League Division One North. Enfield 1893 retained all of the Enfield F.C. playing staff who had finished in 13th place in the Isthmian League First Division North the previous season under manager Kevin Lucas. They led the table for much of the year but missed out on promotion on goal difference. They finished second again in the 2008–09 season.

The club shared with Broxbourne Borough V&E from the start of the 2009–10 season, at Goffs Lane,[1] This groundshare lasted for one year, with the club finally moving back to the borough of Enfield in 2010, after merging with Brimsdown Rovers and moving into their Goldsdown Road stadium, which they shared with Enfield Town for the 2010–11 season, prior to Town moving out at the end of the season.

In 2010–11, the first season after the move to Brimsdown, Enfield 1893 won the Essex Senior League Championship, but were not promoted to the Isthmian League Division One North for the 2011–12 season, due to ground grading requirements. This was a bitter blow for the club and resulted in the breakup of Kevin Lucas' squad. After one more season, in which the club finished 7th, Lucas resigned to take over at Ilford FC in the Ryman League Division One North.

The Enfield 1893 committee settled on experienced manager Gordon Boateng as Lucas' replacement, but despite a promising start, the 2012/13 season petered out into a disappointing 9th-placed finish and defeat in the Gordon Brasted Trophy Final. At the end of the campaign Boateng and the club parted company, with the club announcing a week later that promising young manager Luke Giddings and his assistant Paul Norris would move from Eton Manor to take charge of Enfield 1893 for the 2013/14 season. Despite a superb campaign in which the team amassed 91 points from 38 league games Giddings saw his side finish 3rd, behind Great Wakering Rovers by a point and Haringey Borough on goal difference. Worse news was to follow when Giddings announced in June that he was standing down due to work commitments, however, the club moved to ensure continuity by promoting assistant Paul Norris into the role of first team Manager.

Timeline

Honours

Rivalries

The traditional rival of the original Enfield was Barnet, but due to the circumstances of the demise and the split in 2001, it is commonly accepted by most supporters that Enfield Town F.C. are the rivals of Enfield 1893.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Cosgrove, Sarah (26 March 2009). "New home at Broxbourne's Goffs Park for Enfield 1893 Football Club". This is local London. Newsquest Media Group. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 2009-07-08.

Coordinates: 51°46′15.740″N 0°4′4.159″E / 51.77103889°N 0.06782194°E / 51.77103889; 0.06782194

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