Sarratt

 

Sarratt FC is a non-league football club, from the Hertfordshire village of the same name, that was formed in 1919. The club play their matches at the George V Playing Fields.

Sarratt competed in local football until becoming members of Division Three of the Herts County League for the 1977-78 season. A runners-up place won promotion to Division Two at the same attempt, which Sarratt won in 1979-80.

Promotion to the Premier Division followed after a third place in the Division One season of 1987-88. Sarratt dropped back down to the second tier in 1989-90. A fifth place in 1993-94 was as close as the side came to regaining their status for several years.

A return to the Premier Division came in 2009-10 after league restructuring, where a seventh place in 2013-14 was the teams best return before they were relegated in 2016-17. A sixth place in 2017-18 in Division One was the clubs last in the Herts County League.

Sarratt moved to Division Two of the Spartan South Midlands League where they ended twelfth in their debut season. An improvement to seventh came when the 2019-20 campaign was ended early owing to the outbreak of Coronavirus. Midtable finishes were achieved in the three seasons that followed.

Sarratt FC will play in the Spartan South Midlands League Division Two in the 2024-25 season.

My visit

Sarratt 1 Bovingdon 2 (Saturday 24^th April 2021) Spartan South Midlands League Division Two Spring Cup (att: c50)

The rules surrounding Coronavirus meant that spectators were not allowed to attend games at grounds with public access, but not where they could be regulated at private grounds. It was a decision that baffled and enraged non-league aficionados in equal measures.

Some leagues and county FA’s were keen to finish off in truncated fashion or offer shortened competitions, the Spartan South Midlands League being one. Attendance was limited as explained, though I saw a couple of possibilities.

Tom Shurville at Sarratt kindly responded to me email and said that we would be permitted to attend the forthcoming game with Bovingdon. I mention we, as my regular beer, cricket and football companion Steve Barnes was chomping at the bit for an outing.

I think what attracted him was the promise of pubs, good weather and the additional bonus of some cricket. What more could anyone want?

Our view at the cricket

We met in good time to head to Watford on the Metropolitan line to await the 352 bus. I must admit to getting a bit anxious as it hadn’t turned up ten minutes after its appointed time. It came into view as I breathed a sigh of relief as it was a most infrequent service.

The bus didn’t have contactless despite advertising such. Fortunately, I had some cash on me. It was in such a state that the driver, who I didn’t have lots of confidence in had to get out to close the doors.

Nevertheless, we were soon hurtling along narrow lanes after crossing the M25. Unfortunately, my phone signal disappeared soon after, which wasn’t ideal as I didn’t know which stop we required as we wanted to head to Chipperfield, a couple of miles north of Sarratt.

We did a left at a crossroad, with a cluster of buildings on the right. I had my suspicions we’d missed our stop. As we were the only passengers onboard, I expected the driver to stop. I went down the bus and asked him if that was Chipperfield we passed. He didn’t know!

We took our chances and got off at the next stop before retracing our path. I saw the Chipperfield Corinthians FC ground on the brow of the hill, which I recognised from a previous visit. We wandered through the beautiful village to the Common.

Out in the middle, Chipperfield Clarendon CC were taking on Harrow Town II CC in a friendly, which would offer us some entertainment. However, we felt in need of patronising a local pub first.

The Two Brewers was shut, but The Windmill served us a fantastic pint of Ridgeway from the Tring Brewery as we enjoyed the rays in the garden. It was tempting to have another, but we decided upon half an hour at the cricket where we found a bench to enjoy our packed lunch.

It was a fantastic setting for the game, and ideal for me to practise some photography. We left around 2.20 and headed into Chipperfield Woods, hoping we were heading the right way to Sarratt. Remarkably, we didn’t get lost.

Cart & Horses looked a tempting and popular stop, but we continued onwards happy that our path was downhill, until we had to climb Red Lion Lane at the other side. Sarratt looked very pretty on the bus and we weren’t to be disappointed. What a beautiful part of the world.

Walking down George V Way the whistle of referee Robert Poole sounded. Perfect timing. We found a pretty sports ground with a large hedge separating the pitch from the car park at one end, with the rest of the playing area surrounded by a modern railing.

The clubhouse and changing room block with an overhang to offer shelter straddled the halfway line on the near side. Opposite were the benches with a second pitch beyond. All was in excellent condition.

We were treated to a decent match too. The visitors just about deserved their win with goals from Ross O'Flynn and substitute Michael Ogboro while Zamar Beckford netted for the hosts. No quarter was given from any of the players. It was good to be reminded what football is all about after the nonsense of the European Super League, earlier in the week.

We had some nice chats. A fellow blogger and Twitter pal introduced himself, while a league official also stopped on his rounds, lamenting the daftness of the rules surrounding spectators.

At full time it looked like we’d have to catch a bus towards Hemel Hempstead until Steve came up trumps with information. We had nearly an hour before the service would take us back to Watford.

We managed to get a seat outside The Cricketers, albeit in the shade, which meant the temperatures dropped markedly. It was too much for a family on the next table who called it a draw after a quick stop.

No danger of us hardy drinkers refusing a second pint of Tring Side Pocket. I was in a good mood. It had been a great day and Hull City had won promotion. Not even nearly taking off the top of my head on a low door could dampen my morale.

However, I was soon brought down to earth. Steve was using the facilities when a bus whizzed by. It was five minutes early. It was also the final one of the day. It’s fair to say that I was not best pleased. Fortunately, Tudor Taxis came to the rescue.

In a way it worked out better. My pal had mentioned a pub he wanted to check out. We were dropped outside The Sportsman at Croxley Green where we had a fantastic time. The beer was excellent and Watford fans were also out celebrating their promotion.

It was nice to chat with a fella who’d visited Scarborough in the FA Cup many years ago and also rated Tommy Mooney highly. I had to laugh at the ingenuity of the pub to get round another piece of legislation.

You were only meant to be served while in a seat. Folk queued adhering to socially distancing at the backdoor before sitting down at the serving table while your order was being poured. You then returned to your own seat. Brilliant.

I arrived home happy with life and ready for a good kip in readiness for my first ever visit to the mass of Sunday football at Hackney Marshes the following morning. It was a weekend just what the doctor ordered.

To view more of my photos of the day, click here for football and here for cricket.