Wormley Rovers FC vs. Cockfosters FC

Welcome to our opponents

The EARLY YEARS: The Club was originally formed as Cockfosters Athletic in 1921 by local residents and the ground allocated to the Club by Lady Bevan, from her family estate.
Season 1938/39 saw first of two “trebles” in the Club’s history, winning the Wood Green League’s Premier Division, League Cup and the Barnet Cup. After the war the 1st Team moved to the strong local league of that time – the Northern Suburban Intermediate, whilst the Reserves played in the Wood Green, Southgate & District League.

The 1960s saw a re-awakening of the Club. 1960/61: 1st Team win Northern Suburban League’s 1st Division and the next campaign win Premier Division. Barnet Cup and the Barnet Charity Cup finals were reached regularly with both trophies being won on a couple of occasions.

The 1970s: This decade was one of the most successful in the Club’s history. 1970/71: 1st Team win London FA Intermediate Cup and finalists in Herts County League’s Aubrey
1978/79: 1st Team win ‘treble’ of HC League Premier Division, Aubrey Cup and Herts FA Intermediate Cup; ‘A’ Team win the NSI Lge.

The 1980s:
1980/81: Former Barnet FC player Jeff Voyce appointed 1st Team Manager and the side claim their second Premier Division title.
1983/84: Colin Bell takes over as Manager and 1st Team win HSCL Premier Division for a third time. Colin decides to resign at the end of the campaign
1984/85: Former Arsenal player Glyn MacDonald appointed as 1st Team Manager. Team win the HSCL’s Aubrey Cup and are Premier Division Runners-up.
1989/90: 1st Team win London FA Intermediate Cup.

The 1990s: 1990/91 sees the Club gain “Senior Status” the 1st Team leave for the London Spartan League Premier Division, bringing an end of 25 seasons of membership in the Herts Senior County League – all, but the first having been in the top flight – a period that saw the 1st Team as Premier Division Champions 3 times, London FA Intermediate Cup winners twice, the Herts FA Intermediate Cup winners once and finalists on 3 other occasions, HSCL Aubrey Cup winners twice and finalists twice.

2000 to Present Day: Youth football was re-introduced to the Club starting with an Under 18 side and later teams at Under 13 and Under 15 age groups.
2002/03: The Club introduce an Under 18 Youth side managed by Paul Boxer and competing in the Southern Counties Floodlit Youth League.
2007/08: With the elevation into the Spartan South Midlands League’s Premier Division the Club accepted into the FA Challenge Cup for the first time in their history.

2013/14: The season proved to be another successful one, with a very creditable 8th place & both the SSML’s Challenge Trophy and the South Midlands Floodlight (Senior) Cup won.

The Under 18s, managed by Paul Boxer and assisted by Steve Foot, won the Southern Counties Floodlit Youth League’s Nemean Division and were runners-up in the League’s Divisional Winners Play-Off Final.
2013, the season saw our Youth Section enhanced with a get together with Whetstone Wanderers. The Wanderers’ Under 15 & Under 16 teams were to play under the Cockfosters FC’s name in the Eastern Junior Alliance League. This new ‘affiliation” expected to be a great benefit to both clubs and would provide a continuity of players moving up into our Under 18’s, Reserves and hopefully our 1st Team.

2014/15: The season’s one bright spot being the displays of our Youth Section. The U18s were Southern Counties Floodlit Youth Lge. Olympian Division winners, beating Luton Town in the SCFYL’s Divisional Winners Play-off Final.

2015/16: The U14’s made a clean sweep of everything, winning the EJA’s Herts (Brown) Division, the EJA U14 Divisional Play-Off Final, the EJA U14 Challenge Cup and the Middlesex FA County FA’s U14 Cup.

2016/17: After a very successful campaign, which saw the 1st Team finish 3rd (its’ highest ever position) in the SSML Premier Div. and the Reserves as R/up in the U25 Development Div.

2017/18: The U18s were Runners-up in the SCFYL’s Delphian Division. The U13s won the EJA Herts (Green) Div. and also won the AFA County Youth Cup and were runners-up in the London FA Sunday Youth Cup.

2018/19: Ryan Wade appointed as 1st Team manager with Nick Mountford assistant / coach, both having played at a higher level of football. The campaign was disappointing, but the last 15 minutes of the season’s final league game saw us score 3 times to win 3-2 & avoid the drop.
The youth sides continued to do well – Vas Chiotis’ U14s, winning the EJA division & reaching 2 County Youth Cup finals & Brett Cahill’s U17s also reached a County Youth Cup final.

2019/20 The FA moved us laterally from the Spartan South Midlands League’s top division to that of the Essex Senior League,
With the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons both curtailed by Covid19 season.

2021-2022 has been a season of change. At the end of January Ryan Wade stepped down as Manager and the highly experienced Gavin Kelsey was appointed bringing in Glenn Draper as his assistant. The 1st team reached the final of the Errington Challenge Cup Final but were unfortunately defeated 3-2 by Enfield FC.

The club continue to enter youth teams in the EJA at U13 – U18 (17). The Under 18s also continued to compete in the midweek Southern Counties Floodlit Youth League. The season brings success yet again with our U18s clinching the EJA Black Division title and the Under 15s winning the London County Cup.

Our strategy of competing in the SCFYL and the EJA at U18 continues to prove a success with many of our lads featuring in the senior squads, both representing the reserves and the 1st team

Season 2022-2023 saw Gavin Kelsey remain in charge with Glen Draper as his assistant and Phil Lovell also joining the management team. Cockfosters FC were laterally moved back to the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division and finish in 5th position.

The Reserve team continues in the Herts Senior County League with the majority basis of the squad being the youth product of our own environment. The Under 18s remain in the Southern Counties Floodlit Youth League & Eastern Junior Alliance League

The season proved to be an extremely successful one for the U18 under the guidance of club chairman Vas Chiotis. The squad clinch the quadruple, winning the SCFYL Olympian division with a 100% win campaign. They also had a clean sweep on the county cups winning the U18 Middlesex Senior Cup, U18 London FA County Cup and U17 London FA County Cup.

Season 2023-2024 continued under the stewardship of Gavin Kelsey with Glen Draper, Phil Lovell being joined by head coach Ant Burns.

The first team finished well up the table but a gruelling 11 games in 22 days ultimately cost the team a spot in the play offs.

On a positive we have reached our 2nd final in in 2 years and the players and staff will be doing their utmost to be successful on the day and secure some silverware for the club!

The U18s almost repeat the success of last season with Club Chairman Vas Chiotis guiding them to another league title. They were crowned champions on the 4th April with a 100% win record. A great achievement to secure their place in all 3 county cup finals again, only this time to be beaten on penalties in all 3 competitions.

Season 2024/2025 saw the management team of Gavin, Glen, Phil and Ant all in place and this continuity ensured a tremendous season for the first team, culminating in a third place finish in the table and a play off semi final against London Lions which went to penalties but Lions won and secured promotion beating Wormley Rovers in the final.
The Reserves again under the stewardship of Jason Hobbs finished mid table and reached a Cup Semi Final

Chairman & Under 18s Manager Vas Chiotis achieved a phenomenal success as his charges won their third consecutive League title, maintaining a tremendous feat of being unbeaten at Chalk Lane for three years running, The team rounded of the season by beating Chesham United in a great final to be crowned Champion of Champions for the season.

We go into the new season again under the management of Gavin and have welcomed Tommy Burns, twin brother of Anthony to the club as Phil Lovell has hung up his coaching boots.
Hopes are high that the 1st team will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season.