Club History
19 Feb 2008

HARPENDEN ROVERS HISTORY

Harpenden Rovers was an amalgamation of local clubs formed in 1928, entering the Mid – Herts Football League ( now North & Mid Herts ) where it is an ever present club, represented currently by the ‘A’ side.

The club joined the West Herts League in 2004 and now has 3 teams in it, giving a total today of four senior sides.

Rovers also had a long history in the Herts County League from 1966 to 1994 and over the years the club successfully formed many junior sides of all ages, plus a Sunday side in The Review League.

Home for Rovers has always been ‘Acres Corner’, on Harpenden Common, with some matches in Rothamsted Park.

The headquarters for ‘Acres Corner’ was some distance away, at the Welcombe Club, Southdown and previous to that in Heath Road.

This meant a long trudge to the ground with all the match equipment, including goal post and crossbars.

This ended in 1982 when a new pavilion, built by the club, next to the pitch, was opened after years of fund raising and a public enquiry by Brian Horton captain of Luton F.C.

The pavilion is called ‘The Jim Pearce Pavillion’ after the treasurer at the time. Jim was treasurer for 67 years from the 1928 founding year until his death in 1995, when St. Johns Church, Southdown was packed for his memorial service.

Fifty years service was acknowledged by The Football Association with a letter and plaque and St. Albans Council presented a long service award on 29th April 1981 plus in 1973 the club presented a Parker gold pen, the ‘Blackberry’ of its day, ‘In appreciation of 45 years of dedicated service’. The club still retains these items, with pride.

A memorial bench to J.R. Pearce is beside the main pitch.

Jimmy Greaves ‘Greavesey’, of England, Chelsea, A.C. Milan and Spurs fame and later popular T.V. personality officially opened an extended and refurbished pavilion on 3rd March 2001.
Jim ‘signed on’ for Rovers, for the Mid Herts League but was never selected, although one manager is thought to have remarked ‘he shows potential’.

The first club sponsor was Ken Botting, owner of Bulldog Shoe Repairs, Southdown who provided the first team with a complete kit.

‘The Engineer’ pub was a regular generous sponsor and for the past few years ‘The Plough & Harrow’ pub has fed us with sandwiches, sausages and chips on match days and last year supplied sub suits for all teams.

Club members have also given generously, often for specific projects and the current club badge was designed for a new strip given by a team member.

The club status now is such that we are able to increase private donations by claiming back for the club, basic tax paid by the donor.

Harpenden Rovers Club has enjoyed great success on and off the pitch, winning many, many trophies while contributing greatly to the local community and is looking forward to the future with confidence, celebrating its 80th anniversary later this year.

It’s a great club with a great history.