St. Margaretsbury

St. Margaretsbury FC is a non-league football club who are based in the small Hertfordshire village of Stanstead Abbots, about five miles from Harlow. The club was originally called Stanstead Abbots FC and was formed in 1894. They played in local football before joining the Herts County League in 1947. 

In 1962 the Club moved to their present location, St Margaretsbury Recreation Ground, one of the conditions being they changed their name to St Margaretsbury FC. St Margaretsbury Cricket Club has used the ground since 1946 and in 1962 the St Margaretsbury Tennis Club was founded. 

The Croft family were the previous owners of the ground and agreed on the sale to three parishes, Stanstead Abbotts, Great Amwell and St Margarets, providing that it was used for sporting and recreation purposes. It was also a condition that the ground should be known as St Margaretsbury Recreation Ground. 

After a Division One runners-up finish in 1969-70, the 'Bury' were promoted to the Premier Division, before dropping back down in 1974-74. Their higher status was regained in 1977-78, with another relegation being suffered a decade later. Promotion back to the Premier Division of the Herts County League followed in 1990-91.

The Bury moved to the Spartan League in 1992, finishing as runners-up in 1994-95 and then going one better by becoming league champions in 1995-96. The club became founder members of the Spartan South Midlands League in 1997-98 being placed in Premier Division South.

A season later it became a single Premier Division with a ninth-place finish being enough to secure a place in it. Third spot was achieved in 2003-04 but following that it was mainly a case of midtable finishes. 2012-13 ended in fourth position before manager Lee Judges was replaced by Gavin Kelsey.

Another fourth place followed before more middle-of-the-table finishes followed. A move sideways to the Essex Senior League ensued in 2018-19 which resulted in Bury ending in seventh place before the following two campaigns were aborted owing to the worldwide pandemic.

Ray Bartlett was the manager throughout this difficult period before Paul Holding succeeded him in September 2021. The side was relegated a few months later to Division One South of the Eastern Counties League before Holding was joined by Shane Bambridge. 2023-24 ended in yet another disappointing finish.

St Margaretsbury FC will play in the Eastern Counties League Division One South in the 2024-25 season.

My visits

Monday 10th August 2009

I was putting a Herts Bus Explorer ticket to good use and I was aboard a bus from Ware, heading to Hoddesdon to take in my next club when I passed the St Margaretsbury Recreation Ground seeing a pitch and some floodlights without knowing it was there.

I rapidly checked out 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. This backed onto a couple of cricket pitches where a school game was taking place in front of a reasonable crowd. 

I saw a shelter behind the sightscreen at the far end and presumed that this 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.

The main ground was surrounded by wire and green mesh fencing to stop people from watching for free. It had a thin path and grass all the way around with a small bank along the side containing the facilities and entrance. This consisted of a small stand on top of the bank containing covering for red tip-up seats and standing spectators. 

All in all, it was a neat little ground, ideally suited for the villagers with sports facilities on site to please most sportsmen, although the sign on the main road could have done with a tidying up!

St Margaretsbury 1 Colney Heath 1 (Tuesday 11th March 2014) Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division (Att: 31) 

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, so I put my trust in East Anglia Trains, which would end up turning into a mistake of judgement.

Owing to a train ahead failing I missed my connection at Cheshunt, getting to pretty St Margarets at 7.44. I hared up the main road so I missed 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 played on a dry pitch was fast and physical, with bits of skill and plenty of errors; ideal Step Five football. Colney missed a great chance from a set piece when an unmarked player headed wide at the far post, colliding with it as he continued. 

A few minutes later St Margaretsbury were awarded a penalty after the ball had gone in the net after the Colney keeper Ricky Perks had brought down a forward. After conferring with his linesman the ref gave a penalty, which was slotted away by Steve Barker. 

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

Someone in the seats in an FA coat was taking notes. Probably a dreaded assessor? The visiting keeper was charmless personified when he requested an elder home fan "F**k off back to his coffin" after the fan suggested he should calm down. The centre-back also offered feedback to 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 definitely had no cause upon resumption as the ref gave them every call for the following twenty minutes. 

This led to the home players questioning decisions. The 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. 

Unfortunately, because of the late kick-off and for some reason a lengthy break, 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 that there'd been one. It came from S Lyon in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

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 it, but probably at the start or beginning of the season to fully appreciate the town and setting of the ground. I hoped that the Colney players had a dose of gripe water before beddy byes.