Wormley Rovers FC vs. Harlow Town FC

Welcome to our opponents

The club was originally formed in 1879, playing its first match in October of that year It is one of the oldest clubs in the County of Essex. The club moved into the Spartan League in 1932 and were granted Senior Status in 1937, competing in the FA Cup and Essex Senior Cups for the first time.

Harlow were moved into the London League in 1953. Six seasons were spent in the London League before a move into the Delphian League. In 1960 the club moved into the Sport centre ground in the new town, which was the clubs home for the next 46 years before moving to The Harlow Arena in September 2006.

With the reorganisation of the amateur game in the early 1960’s Harlow found themselves playing in the newly formed Athenian League Division Two for the start of the 1963-64 season, winning promotion at the first attempt after finishing in third place. After eight seasons in Division One, Harlow finally won their first senior championship by winning the Athenian League Division One title. The following season saw the club finish fourth in the Premier Division before joining the Isthmian League for the start of the 1973-74 Season.

Promotion was achieved six times, including lifting the Division One and Division Two (North) titles, whilst the club suffered five relegations and had to sit season 1992-93 out after severe financial problems threatened the club’s very existence.

The Club made a name for itself in season 1979-80 with a terrific FA Cup run, which saw the club progress to the fourth round proper, having started out in the preliminary round. Wins against Lowestoft, Hornchurch, Bury Town, Harwich & Parkeston, Margate, Leytonstone-Ilford, Southend United and finally Leicester City, gave the club a fourth round tie away to Watford. The BBC “Match of the Day” cameras were at Vicarage Road as Harlow eventually bowed out of the competition, although they went down fighting, losing 4-3 to Graham Taylor’s side.

In recent times the Club have got back on their feet following the problems of the early 1990’s. Having been relegated two divisions by the League for the season that the Club could not compete; the Club worked their way back to where they were before the enforced break. After a few near misses the “Hawks”, as they are now known, won back-to-back promotions from Division Three and Division Two of the Ryman League and after a poor first season back in Division One, managed to establish itself in the Division until the end of the 2003/2004 Season when the re-structuring of the non-league game saw the club switch to the Southern League. The Hawks finished 15th in the Southern League Division 1 East League table in Season 2004/2005 and 9th in Season 2005/2006.

The Club moved in September 2006 to a new ground at Barrows Farm and after awaiting clearance from the Ryman League to start playing at the new Stadium. A highly successful first term at Barrows Farm was complete when the Hawks gained promotion to the Premier Division of the Ryman Football League at the end of the season by clinching runners-up spot and then beating AFC Sudbury on penalties in the Division 1 North “Play-off” Final.

The Club’s first season back in the Premier Division since 1984 was a struggle with an epic win at AFC Wimbledon securing a second season in the top division. Unfortunately, the club failed to maintain their Premier Division place the following season, returning to Division One North for the start of the 2009-10 season.

The build up to the 2009-10 season was severely disrupted when on 21st July the Chairman resigned due to a change of ownership of the club. The manager followed along with the vast majority of the playing staff and various members of the backroom staff.

After a very difficult start to the season new owners took control of the club in January 2010, with former manager Tommy Cunningham returning to the club with his business partner John Barnett. With so much turmoil the club finished bottom of the table but were reprieved from relegation due to another club having issues with their ground grading.

There has been steady progress since the new owners took control. In the first full season the club reached the play-offs, only to lose 2-4 at Wingate Finchley in the semi-finals. During this season former player Danny Chapman was appointed manager and has since gone on to become the club’s longest serving manager.

The season finished with another place in the play-offs. This time the club reached the final after a 3-0 win away to Heybridge Swifts. However, Witham Town were victorious, with a 3-0 win at Spa Road.
At the start of the 2014/15 Harlow Town had a tightly contested league campaign, Harlow missed out the league title and automatic promotion by just 1 point, finishing behind Needham Market. Another appearance in the playoffs beckoned, but this time the Hawks fell down in the semi-final with a 3-4 defeat to Thurrock after extra time.

The 2015/16 season saw Harlow Town promoted for the first time since 2007. Again, the club missed out on the top spot but secured wins against Gray Wanderers and then AFC Hornchurch to finally become winners of the play-offs.

The Hawks return to the Premier Division had a touch of déjà vu as, after a successful first season back, the club struggled the following two seasons, before returning to Step 4 football at the end of the 2018-19.

The club were placed into the Isthmian League South Central League for the start of the 2019-20 season; however, both the 2019-20 and 20-21 seasons were cut short as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. There was another change of leagues for the start of the 2021-22 season when the club were moved sideways into the Southern League Central Division.

After resigning from The Southern League due to a pitch failure in December 2022 the club were moved to the Thurlow Nunn First Division South for the 23/24 season and the club were told that they could not gain promotion due to resigning from the Southern League, the club went on to finish third in the league and won the Thurlow Nunn League Challenge Cup.
In the 24-25 season they won the league title gaining promotion to the Spartan South Midlands League.