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.

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.

2021/22 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.

2022/23 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.

2023-24 continues under the stewardship of Gavin Kelsey with Glen Draper, Phil Lovell being joined by head coach Ant Burns.

The hunt for a play-off position fell short due to a huge challenge of playing 11 games in 22 days. The final standing resulted in us finishing in 8th position, 5 points shy of the play-off spot.

We reached the Premier Division Cup Final but unfortunately fell short of clinching any silverware on the day, defeated by 1-3 by league champions Real Bedford.

2024-25 Gavin Kelsey and his staff remain in charge for the campaign and have a very strong season, finishing 3rd and reaching the play off semi-final. The team were reduced to 10 men early on and then to 9 men towards the end of the fixture. A heroic display pulled the score level on 3 occasions and to penalty shoot-out. Unfortunately it was not our day and London Lions progressed through to the final and eventually gained promotion.

2025-26 Phill Lovell takes a well-earned rest and is replaced by Tommy Burns who joins his brother Ant on Gavin Kelsey’s coaching team.

The 1st team secure a play-off spot. They defeat Risborough Rangers
0-1 on the road but unfortunately lose 2-0 to Winslow United in the final.

The 1st team are defeated 1-2 by champions Haringey Borough in the league Premier Div Cup Final. A great performance, unfortunately unable to hold on to a 1-0 lead after being reduced to 10 men following the dismissal of our Goal Keeper Connor Sansom early on in the second half.
Our chance to end this magical season on a high also ends in defeat at Wembley stadium, as we narrowly lost on penalties to AFC Stoneham in the FA Vase final. We may have fallen short on securing non-league football’s greatest honours on the biggest stage we gained something equally as special. Over 4000 supporters travelled to Wembley to stand proud behind our club, creating memories that will last a lifetime.

Following the heartbreaking defeat at Wembley, manager Gavin Kelsey and his coaching staff departed the club. Chairman Vas Chiotis acted swiftly to appoint Terry Spillane as the club’s new 1st team manager, entrusting him with leading the club into its next chapter.

Terry wasted no time in assembling his team, bringing in Jason Hobbs, who had spent the previous four years successfully managing the reserve side, along with Ben Bukowski, who has held previous managerial positions with Northwood, Harrow Borough and Hendon FC.

With the new managerial positions in place, preparations for the new campaign began immediately, with full attention turned to the rebuild of the squad and laying the foundations for another exciting season ahead.