St. Margaretsbury

St. Margaretsbury FC are based in the small Hertfordshire village of Stanstead Abbots, about five miles from Harlow. The club was originally called Stanstead Abbots FC and were 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 change their name to St Margaretsbury FC.

The Croft family were the previous owners of the ground and agreed 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. St Margaretsbury Cricket Club has used the ground since 1946 and in 1962 the St Margaretsbury Tennis Club was founded.

'The Bury' moved to the Spartan League in 1992. and were then founder members of the Spartan South Midlands League in 1998, where they won promotion within the first few years of competition.

St Margaretsbury FC will play in the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division in season 2014-15.

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. 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 practise field with a clubhouse behind it. This backed on to a couple of cricket pitches where a school game was taking place in front of a reasonable crowd. I saw a shelter behind the far sight screen 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 so as to stop people 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 turned out to be a mistake. 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, echoing 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 on 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.