St. Margaretsbury

St. Margaretsbury FC

Ground: Recreation Ground

Capacity: 1,000

Club Founded: 1894

League: Herts County League Premier Division - Step 7/11th Tier (current level)

St. Margaretsbury FC continue to provide the local community of Stanstead Abbots with a football club playing at county standard after years in the non-league system.

A Potted History of St. Margaretsbury FC

Early Years

Based in the small Hertfordshire village of Stanstead Abbots, about five miles from Harlow, the football club was formed in 1894 as Stanstead Abbots FC. They played local football before joining the Herts County League in 1947. In 1962, the Club moved to their present location, St Margaretsbury Recreation Ground, on condition that it changed its name to St Margaretsbury FC. 

The 60s to the Millennium

St Margaretsbury Cricket Club has used the ground since 1946, with the St Margaretsbury Tennis Club founded in 1962. The Croft family, the previous owners, agreed to sell it to the local community. However, it had to be used for sports and recreation and retain its name.

The 'Bury', as the team is nicknamed, spent many seasons in the Premier Division of the Herts County League. The Bury progressed to the Spartan League in 1992, finishing as runners-up in 1994-95 and then going one better by becoming league champions the following year. 

The club joined the Spartan South Midlands League in 1997-98 as a Premier Division club. The team finished third in 2003-04 before a succession of mid-table placings. The side finished fourth a couple of times after that. The club was moved to the Essex Senior League for the 2018-19 season.

Ray Bartlett and Paul Holding took charge during the difficult pandemic period. St Margaretsbury were relegated at the end of the 2021-22 season to Division One South of the Eastern Counties League. In 2024-25, the team was relegated again, this time to the Herts County League Premier Division.

My visits

Monday 10th August 2009

I was putting a Herts Bus Explorer ticket to good use on a day off from work, visiting as many football clubs as possible. I was aboard a bus from Ware to Hoddesdon to visit my next club when I passed the St Margaretsbury Recreation Ground. I saw a pitch and floodlights I didn't know about.

I checked my non-league annual, and it confirmed it was the home of the Spartan South Midlands League club. I rang the bell and backtracked up the main road. The pitch I saw was a practice field with a clubhouse behind it. It was next to a couple of cricket pitches where a school game was being played in front of a reasonable crowd. 

I saw a shelter behind the sight screen at the far end, presuming that it was the football ground in the winter. Indeed, it was, but only for a reserve side. The main ground was behind the groundsman's house, changing rooms and the cricket scoreboard.

Wire and green mesh fencing surrounded the pitch to stop people from watching for free. It was a basic venue, with a small bank along the side containing the facilities and entrance. A small stand on top of the bank covered its red tip-up seats and room for standing spectators. 

All in all, it was ideally suited to the villagers with sports facilities to please most sportsmen, although the sign on the main road needed tidying.

St Margaretsbury 1 Colney Heath 1

Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division - Tuesday 11th March 2014

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My aim for the 2013-14 season was to visit as many clubs as possible where I'd visited for photos without seeing a game. I mistakenly put my trust in East Anglia Trains for the evening, which added to the fun, once I'd made the journey from Kingsbury to Seven Sisters by tube.

Because a train ahead failed, I missed my connection at Cheshunt, meaning that I arrived in the pretty village of Stanstead Abbots at 7.44. I hurried up the main road trying to miss as little of the game as possible. Fortunately, for me, one of the linesmen had arrived late, so I got inside the ground for kick-off. 

The game took place on a dry pitch. The action was fast and physical, with bits of skill and plenty of errors; ideal entertainment. Colney missed a great chance from a set piece when an unmarked player headed wide at the far post, then crashed into it as he continued. 

A few minutes later, St Margaretsbury were awarded a penalty. Colney keeper Ricky Perks brought down a forward. The ball went into the net. After conferring with his linesman, the ref awarded a spot-kick, which was scored by Steve Barker. 

Colney's players must have had a bad day at work, as they whined incessantly at the official. He probably didn't help matters as he was a little too theatrical for my liking. He reminded me of a cross between Brian Glover in Kes and cricket umpire Billy Bowden with his exaggerated running and gesticulating, but at least he tried to communicate. 

Someone in the seats in an FA coat was taking notes. Probably a dreaded assessor? The visiting keeper was charmless personified when he told an older home fan to "F**k off back to his coffin" after the fan suggested he should calm down. The centre-back also offered verbal feedback with the same group later in the half. 

I enjoyed a steady pint of Greene King IPA at the interval for £2.90 before taking a seat in the cold stand. If Colney Heath had any complaints about decisions going against them before the break, they had no cause upon resumption, as the ref gave them every call for the following twenty minutes. 

The home players began to question the decisions. Shouts of "ref, ref, ref", along with several expletives, echoed around the ground at regular intervals. The play followed a similar pattern, with forward play broken up by uncompromising defending or errors. It was not an encounter for the purists.

Unfortunately, because of the late kick-off and a lengthy break in play, I had to leave a few minutes before full time to catch the 9.47 train, thus missing the equaliser. To be honest, I was slightly shocked there'd been one. S Lyon scored it in the fifth minute of stoppage time. Maybe he was nicknamed "Sea" if any of the Colney players possessed any humour?

They came across as really nice people at St Margaretsbury. The gent at the gate asked if I was a groundhopper, on spotting my Scarborough Athletic jacket as I was waiting to leave. He thanked me for attending and was very enthusiastic about the SSML. How nice! 

I recommend a visit. Probably at the start or end of the season, to fully appreciate the locality and the ground's setting. I hoped that the Colney players all had a dose of gripe water before beddy byes.