Club News

In the early days of the 1974/75 season I was playing for the Reserves at Knebworth Rec. when I was involved in a clash of heads and momentarily knocked unconscious. As I lay on the ground blurry eyed I could see a figure coming towards me. This was the sponge man who doubled up as the linesman. He always wore a long brown macintosh and wellington boots no matter what the weather. He approached with a galvanised bucket full of cold water, a sponge and some smelling salts. I knew I was badly injured, as if I had taken a slight knock I would have run a mile at the sight of him approaching but I could not move. Eventually I was carried off and laid on the wet grass behind the goal while the game continued. When I did manage to get up I staggered around for a while, before feeling extremely embarrassed, I hurriedly changed and drove home. A large swelling appeared on the side of my face which would eventually require major surgery and post operative treatment. I would never play organised football again with one minor exception.

I was working at ICL Letchworth at the time and as I started to recover from the operation I joined four workmates in competing in the Letchworth Inter Works Sports League. This was where we competed against other works side in a sporting quiz on a monthly basis. On one occasion however they decided to organise a five a side tournament at Stevenage Leisure Centre and we decided to enter. On the day of the tournament I played in defence and really struggled as I had lost one of my salivary glands during the operation and the more I tried to run the drier my mouth became and the more liquid I needed to intake. If there had been substitutes I would not have continued to play but as there were not I had no choice. Despite me, we somehow managed to reach the final and I decided to play up front and just stand around in the opposition’s half. In the event I scored two cracking goals, the first when I received the ball just inside the opposition’s half, I knew I could not run and so hit it as hard as I could and watched it fly into the net past a startled keeper. During the second half I hung around by the other team’s goal area and my mate found me with an inch perfect pass out of defence which unmarked, I side footed first time past their keeper. The match ended 3-3 and would be decided by a penalty shoot out. I was left until last hoping the match would be decided before my kick. In the event the penalty shoot out was level at 4-4 with them having taken all their kicks and mine to come. I duly dispatched the kick and we won the trophy which I was given to bring home for the evening. That really was the last time I played any sort of football and I contented myself with watching local football, mainly Hitchin Town.

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The 1973/74 season saw Knebworth become Herts. County League Premier Division Champions, this is something they have been unable to repeat ever since. Mount Grace Old Scholars won Division One, Bedmond Social Reserves Division Two and Mount Grace Old Scholars Reserves Division Three. Rolls Royce Engines prevented Knebworth from completing the double by defeating them 2-0 in the Aubrey Cup Final. Knebworth Reserves finished disappointingly near the foot of the Division One table.

Hitchin Town again finished in mid table in the Isthmian League Division One with Stevenage Athletic finishing a much improved seventh in the Southern League Division One (North).

In the FA Cup Hitchin Town reached the Second Round Proper losing narrowly at Boston United by one goal to nil. If they had won that match they would have been drawn at home to Derby County in the Third Round. Derby County were at this time one of the top teams in the country, managed by Brian Clough and Peter Taylor.

This was also the year of the very last Amateur Cup with Hertfordshire side Bishop’s Stortford defeating Ilford 4-1 in the Final, as amateur status was then abolished. A new competition for clubs which were not eligible to enter the FA Trophy was introduced for the following season, to replace the Amateur Cup, this was the FA Vase.

Two other items which did not escape my attention were firstly that Wolves won the Football League Cup Final, defeating strong favourites Manchester City, who included Colin Bell, Francis Lee and Mike Summerbee in their team by two goals to one and secondly that a very good Dutch side led by Johann Cruyff, playing wonderfully attractive attacking football were edged out 2-1 in the World Cup Final by hosts West Germany. Four years later the same thing would happen again in Argentina, where Holland still playing the same entertaining football lost out to the hosts 3-1 in the final after extra time.

Little did I know it at the time but as the 1974/75 season approached it would prove to be life changing for me.

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In the Herts. County League the conclusion of the 1972/73 season saw Rolls-Royce Engines win the Premier Division title with Leggatts Way Old Boys runners up and Knebworth third. Royston Town won Division One, Bushey Rangers Reserves Division Two and Bovingdon Reserves Division Three. Knebworth Reserves finished in mid table in Division One. Rolls Royce Engines achieved the double defeating Sun Sports 2-0 in the Aubrey Cup Final. The boot was on the other foot however in the Reserve Cup Final as Knebworth Reserves again won the competition defeating Rolls-Royce Engines Reserves 3-0 in the final. In the Amateur Cup Rickmansworth Town beat Hazells, Aylesbury in the Preliminary Round 2-1 after a 0-0 draw and then lost to Marlow Town 3-0 in the First Qualifying Round. This was the last time a Herts. County League club would be accepted into the Amateur Cup competition.

In the Isthmian League at the end of the season Hitchin Town again finished in mid table, with Stevenage Athletic finishing in the bottom half of the Southern League Division One (North).

Major changes were afoot however for the start of the 1973/74 season, as the Isthmian League would form a second division, with the two divisions known as Division One and Division Two. Division Two had been created by taking fifteen clubs from the Athenian League and one, Hertford Town, from the Eastern Counties League. Hertford Town had left the Athenian League a year earlier to join the Eastern Counties League and thought this move would seriously jeopardise their chances of joining the Isthmian League, however this did not prove to be the case. In its inaugural season Hertford Town would finish third, the nearest they ever came to playing in the top flight of the Isthmian League. Letchworth Town were not accepted into this new division as they could not meet the facility requirements, not having any floodlights. The Athenian League was considerably decimated by this action and reduced its constitution to two divisions.

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It was at about this time that Johnny Brooks, the former Stevenage Town, Tottenham Hotspur and England International, came to Knebworth as player manager. This had both a positive and negative effect on the club. He was a very friendly man, extremely knowledgeable, and he taught us a lot about improving our skills and knowledge. On the pitch he attracted players from a more senior level, which in a few seasons time would lead to Knebworth winning their one and only Herts. County League Premier Division title to date. The negative effect of this was that the first team in particular no longer consisted of local players, with a couple of notable exceptions, hence losing its perception as a village club. The only options for long serving local lads was to either play in the reserves or leave the club, which some did in search of first team football. There was albeit an unintentional positive side to this as the reserves won the Reserve Cup four times in eight years during the 1970’s and the Division One Championship once. Another negative effect was that when Johnny left the club the players he had brought in left and the first team was relegated, which automatically demoted the reserves from Division One.

The conclusion of the 1971/72 season saw Leggatts Way Old Boys win the Herts. County League Premier Division title. Leavesden Hospital won Division One, Hawker Siddeley Aviation Division Two and Leavesden Hospital Reserves Division Three. St.Margaretsbury won the Aubrey Cup defeating Rickmansworth Town 2-1 in the final. Knebworth finished fifth in the Premier Division and the reserves mid table in Division One. Rickmansworth Town were the only county league team to enter the Amateur Cup, defeating Wingate 3-1 in the First Qualifying Round before losing narrowly to Hemel Hempstead Town 3-2 in the Second Qualifying Round.

For the 1971/72 season the Southern League had split its Division One into North and South divisions. Stevenage Athletic were allocated to play in the North Division and finished 15th out of 18. Hitchin Town finished in mid table in the Isthmian League.

In the inaugural season of the UEFA Cup Wolves and Tottenham contested the final with Tottenham winning 4-3 over two legs.

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During the 1970/71 season my mate, who was an Arsenal supporter, suggested we went to Molineux to see Wolves play Arsenal, as neither of us were playing football on this particular day. I wasn’t over enthusiastic but reluctantly agreed to drive up there. This was the season when Arsenal were to complete the league and cup double, emulating their North London rivals Tottenham of ten years earlier. However on this particular day Wolves won 5-1 and would finish fourth in the league. Amongst the Wolves team that day were John Richards, Derek Dougan and Kenny Hibbitt. The last time I had seen Derek Dougan play was when he played for Blackburn Rovers in the 1960 cup final against Wolves. Not unsurprisingly I drove home more enthusiastically than I had driven up there, with my mate hardly saying a word.

Stevenage Athletic joined the Southern League from the Metropolitan League. Their manager was Alan Gilzean the ex Tottenham player and his old team mate Jimmy Greaves turned out occasionally for this side. However the owner of the club was a Bournemouth businessman who rarely visited the ground. This led to a decline in the state of the facilities and pitch. The pitch became so bad that most of the time it had more sand than grass on it. This quickly became a joke amongst visiting teams who insisted they had to bring their buckets and spades with them as there was more sand and water at Stevenage than at the seaside.

The 1970/71 season in the Herts. County League saw Leggatts Way Old Boys retain the Premier Division title. Rickmansworth Town won Division One, Radlett Division Two and Rickmansworth Town Reserves Division Three. Leggatts Way Old Boys again completed the double, defeating Cockfosters 3-2 in the Aubrey Cup Final. This was a very good year for Knebworth, the first team finishing third in the Premier Division, with the reserves finishing in mid table in Division One and winning the Reserve Cup, defeating London Colney Reserves 2-1. In the Amateur Cup all competing county league teams were defeated in the Preliminary Round. At the end of the season Saffron Walden Town and Stansted left the league to join the newly formed Essex Senior League.

In the Isthmian League Hitchin Town would finish in mid table and in the Southern League Stevenage Athletic finished sixteenth out of twenty in Division One.

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