Oxhey Jets

Oxhey Jets FC is a non-league football club located in the Watford suburb of South Oxhey that was formed in 1972 by John Elliott, initially as a youth team having previously competing as the 2nd Oxhey Boys Brigade.

Having grown past youth age groups, Jets became members of the Watford & District League, winning Division One at the first attempt. An application to join the Herts County League was rejected as the team played in open playing fields.

Oxhey moved to the West Herts League and took up home at an old school ground on Chilwell Gardens which enabled progression to the Herts County League for the 1981-82 season. The side won Division One in 1983-84, to go up to the Premier Division.

Oxhey were relegated in 1985-86 before regaining their Premier Division status in 1988-89. Jets used the Met Police Bushey ground for a season, winning the league title in 2000-01 before they moved into the new Boundary Stadium on Altham Way.

Further Herts County League titles followed in 2001-02 and 2002-03 to make it three in a row as the Jets were promoted into the South Midlands League they won the Division One title at their first attempt to be promoted into the Premier Division.

The Jets continued to consolidate their place in the top flight, going on to become only the second Spartan South Midlands League club to reach the final of the Herts Senior Cup in 2011-12. They were defeated 7-2 by Bishop's Stortford in the final.

The following 2012-13 season the Jets finished in third place in the Premier Division in the league. However, much of the squad moved on, with Wayne Gladdy coming in as the new manager, remaining in charge until September 2015. 

Lee Stedman arrived as manager for the 2016-17 before he was replaced by Tim O'Sullivan in April 2018 after the team had a series of finishes close to the relegation zone. A marked improvement saw Jets finish ninth in 2018-19.

The team sat in fifth in the Premier Division table when the 2019-20 campaign was ended early owing to the outbreak of Coronavirus. Stuart Atkins was named as the new manager in April 2020 with his side second with games in hand when the pandemic again ended the 2020-21 season. 

Oxhey Jets FC will play in the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division in the 2020-21 season.

My visits

October 2007

I had been to Chesham United one afternoon after work on a pleasant Autumn afternoon. I got the train to Hatch End station and walked about ten minutes to the ground which is grandly called Boundary Stadium, having been plain old Altham Centre before that. It has another pitch alongside with swimming baths and community facilities in the same complex.

The ground was being developed on my visit. It was surrounded by high fine green mesh fencing. There was just grass and some path around the pitch on three sides before bank was on the fourth. On the half way line there was a section of terracing and then a small seated stand. The players emerged onto the pitch down some steps from the clubhouse and changing rooms a few meters across the grass.

Boundary Stadium was basic in the extreme but could be developed down one side. It no doubt served the clubs ambitions adequately.

Kentish Town 1 Oxhey Jets 5 (Tuesday 15th February 2011)  Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division (att: 38)

Jets hosted Kentish Town's home fixture at Boundary Stadium owing to their own Copthall Stadium being unavailable. Click here to read all about it.

Oxhey Jets 3 Crawley Green 1 (Tuesday 30th August 2016) Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division (att: 69)

It was a pleasant late summer’s afternoon as I listened to the England v Pakistan ODI while travelling up to Carpenders Park on the London Overground.

The set up was quite nice at Boundary Stadium as I paid my £6 admission, which included a programme & teamsheet. There were other options in the newly redesigned and much maligned EFL Trophy, but I decided to stick to more deserving clubs. Thankfully I’d picked up my new staff railcard to replace the old faulty one; meaning free travel once more!

Opponents for the Jets came in the form of newly promoted Crawley Green. The teams came out with the weather still warm, the playing surface hard and tufty and midges in abundance for the welcome 7.30pm kick off.

Jets too an early lead as Adam Lowton put away a downward header from Josh Noyes. Despite the very reasonable admission prices, some locals decided to watch for free from over the fence. There’s no wonder some clubs struggle to make ends meet.

I wandered around the pitch during a very entertaining first half, collecting even more insect bites for my growing collection. Just the one goal separated the sides at the interval as I headed into the bar across the car park to purchase a bottle of water.

Soon after the restart Crawley Green took over the attacking initiative, with Jets keeper Rob Partington pulling off a couple of fine saves to deny one on one scoring opportunities as Henry Mungwira and Dean Dummett were denied. 

The match grew in action, as the temperatures took their toil on the players. Brandon Pickard in the visitors net pulled off a fine save to deny Lee Armitt, with the follow up being cleared off the line.

The referee Robert Trinder had done relatively well up until this point but he started to get flustered and handing out yellow cards at will, which produced plenty of feedback from players of both sides along with the benches and supporters.

Astonishingly the game remained at 1-0 despite the amount of saves and chances created, but it would be Armitt who doubled the home sides’ advantage when he pounced on a poorly directed header to slot past Pickard with eleven minutes remaining.

Two minutes later Jets were awarded a contentious penalty. Justice was probably done as Pickard kept out Lowton’s spot kick.

Oxhey quickly regretted the missed chance as Green’s Charlie Clayton put away Mungwira’s cross with seven minutes left on the clock. His side continued to pour forward trying to force an equaliser.

They forced two very late corners, the second of which was run out of danger by Martin Netzer. His mazy run reached the edge of the Green box, where he played a perfect weighted pass for Luke Wells to secure his sides three points in the third minute of stoppage time.

I’d earlier been in two minds whether to miss the last couple of minutes so that I could catch an earlier train back to Kenton, but I’m glad I hung around. The match was an absolute credit to the SSML and certainly enjoyed my post match pints in Kingsbury.