Leverstock Green F.C.
| Official crest | ||
| Full name | Leverstock Green Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Green | |
| Gegründet | 1895 | |
| Ground | Pancake Lane, Leverstock Green | |
| Chairman | Kate Binns | |
| Manager | Steve Heath | |
| League | Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division | |
| 2009–10 | Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division, 10th | |
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Leverstock Green F.C. are a football club based in Leverstock Green in Hemel Hempstead, England. They were established in 1895 and joined the Herts County League Division Two in 1954. For the 2010-11 season, they are members of the Spartan South Midlands Football League Premier Division.
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Template:SpartanSouthMidlands-team-stub 51°44′59.59″N 0°25′34.60″W / 51.7498861°N 0.4262778°W Leverstock Green Football Club was formed around 1895. The first match reports appeared on January 4th 1896 in the Advertiser and gave an account of a match against Hemel Hempstead Rovers.
The first competitive fixtures were reported during season 1908/1909 when the Club competed in Division Three of the West Herts League. Other clubs competing in the league at that time were: Abbots Langley, Bovingdon, Boxmoor, Bushey Heath, Hagden Lane, Kings Langley and Potten End.
The Club ground in Pancake Lane originally formed part of the Gorhambury Estate, Lord Verulam making the ground available for the youth of the area and his estate workers to enjoy a game of ball. Clearly Lord Verulam was an early enthusiast, providing timber-built changing rooms, which have been progressively replaced since the 1960s by the existing brick built clubhouse and changing rooms.
On the death of the Lord, certain parcels of land, including that on which the Football Club stood, fell to the Crown in lieu of death duties and is administered on its behalf by the Commission for New Towns, who have remained the Clubs landlords since that time, despite two unsuccessful attempts by the Club to buy the freehold.
The club remained members of the West Herts League until 1954 when it broadened its horizons and successfully applied to join the Herts County League.
By the mid 1970s the Club started to move forward with a new clubhouse, post & rail and the installation of training lights.
The playing side of the club also improved and in 1979 the club won Division One of the Herts County League and were promoted to the Premier Division - the highest standard the Club had achieved in 80 years.
In 1991 the Club were accepted into the South Midlands League and had two highly successful seasons in the Premier Division before being forced to drop into the Senior Division, as floodlights were then not available. In 1996 the club finished in runners-up position and the following season were the divisional champions but could not be promoted because floodlights had still not received approval from the Council.
The 2005-06 season was the most successful for the club since the installation of the floodlights in 1999, which had fierce, and continuing, opposition. The club achieved their highest finish in the Premier Division, and reached the final of the Premier Division Cup, losing 1-0 to Oxford City, and The West Herts FA St Marys Cup, losing on penalties to Berkhamsted Town. There was a good performance against Boreham Wood in the Herts Senior Cup, going out on penalties after a 1-1 scoreline. In the FA Vase, Downham Town were beaten after a replay, North Greenford United were disposed of but we went out to Chalfont St Peter. In the FA Cup Eton Manor were beaten then we went out in a replay to Barkingside. James Armstrong scored hat tricks in both the FA Cup and the FA Vase, how many other players, if any, have achieved this feat in the same season.
The 2006-07 season reached even greater heights, as the club beat their previous best with a fifth place finish in the Premier Division, reached the Third Round of the FA Vase and won the Herts Charity Shield for the first time, beating St Margaretsbury on penalties at Letchworth. The reserve team won the Reserve Division One title for the second time in three years.
In 2007 the new Peter Metcalfe changing rooms were built due to continuing improvements to the club at a cost of ninety thousand pounds but were long overdue as the existing rooms had become too small with the ever increasing number of players, substitutes and management teams that clubs have these days.
2008 saw the refurbishment of the clubhouse to include new toilets and a new hospitality suite, and the Club gained Charter Standard.
The Ladies team was formed in 2005 and competes in the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire County Women's Football League and play their home games at Pancake Lane on Sunday afternoons. The Under 18 floodlit team competes in the Southern Counties Floodlit Youth League and also there are numerous youth teams from the age of eight upwards that play Sunday football.
Due to the standards being set by the Football Association for Season 2009-10 the Club has had to undertake various ground improvements which includes a concrete walkway round the ground and seated accommodation for 113 spectators.
Our last word goes to a club stalwart Jim Matthews Macca as he was affectionately known, who sadly passed away, July 2006 at 90 years of age. His dedication to the club was recognised by the Football Association and The Hertfordshire Football Association by awards for 50 Years Service to Football
For more about the early history of LGFC, visit the Leverstock Green Chronicle by clicking here