Barton Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Barton-le-Clay Barton-le-Clay is a large village and a civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England, bordering Hertfordshire. The village has existed since at least 1066 and is mentioned in the ''Domesday Book''. History On 25 M ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

, England. The club are currently members of the and play at Sharpenhoe Road. They are affiliated to the Bedfordshire Football Association.

History

The club was established in 1898, and played in village football until

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

.History
Barton Rovers F.C. After the war the club joined the Luton & District League for the 1946–47 season, where they played until joining Division Two of the

South Midlands League The South Midlands League was a football league covering Bedfordshire and some adjoining counties in England. It was founded in 1922 as the Bedfordshire County League and merged with the Spartan League in 1997 to form the Spartan South Midlands ...

in 1954. They won Division Two at the first attempt, earning promotion to Division One. The following season saw them finish as runners-up in Division One, resulting in promotion to the Premier Division. In 1962–63 the club finished bottom of the division and were relegated back to Division One. However, they returned to the Premier Division two seasons later after winning the Division One title in 1964–65. This saw the start of a decade-long spell of success for Barton Rovers; their first five seasons back in the Premier Division saw them finish third on four occasions and runners-up once. They then went on to win three successive titles between 1970–71 and 1972–73, and after a third-place finish in 1973–74, they won five consecutive titles. The club also saw success in the FA Vase; in 1975–76 they reached the quarter-finals, and the following season saw them reach the semi-finals, where they lost 3–1 to

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

. They went one better in 1977–78, reaching the final, where they lost 2–1 to

Blue Star Blue star or bluestar may refer to: * O-type star (a.k.a. blue star), a stellar classification Animals * ''Linckia laevigata'', a sea star from the Indian and West Pacific Oceans * ''Phataria unifascialis'', a sea star from the East Pacific Busi ...

. Barton Rovers moved up to Division Two of the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

in 1979. The 1980–81 season saw them reach the first round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

for the first time, eventually losing 2–0 at

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

. The following season they reached the semi-finals of the FA Vase again, losing 2–1 to Rainworth Miners Welfare. League restructuring saw the club moved into Division Two North in 1984, before Division Two was restored in 1991. After finishing as runners-up in 1994–95, Barton were promoted to Division One, where they remained until finishing bottom of the division in 2000–01. After returning to Division Two, league restructuring saw them placed in Division One North in 2002, before they were transferred to the Eastern Division of the Southern League in 2004. More restructuring saw them join Division One Midlands in 2006 and Division One Central in 2010. In 2014–15 the club finished fifth, qualifying for the promotion play-offs. However, after beating Royston Town 5–4 on penalties in the semi-finals following a 0–0 draw, they lost 2–0 to Bedworth United in the final. The 2016–17 season saw the club finish third; in the subsequent play-offs they beat Marlow 2–0 in the semi-finals before losing 2–0 to Farnborough in the final.

Ground

Barton Rovers play their home matches at Sharpenhoe Road in Barton-le-Clay. The ground has a capacity of 4,000, of which 160 is seated and 1,120 is covered. All 160 seats are in the main stand, opposite which is a covered terraced that runs the length of the pitch. A new "Gorgeous George Stand" was built in 2024. Sharpenhoe Road is also home to Luton Town Ladies.

Honours

*South Midlands League **Premier Division champions 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79 **Division One champions 1964–65 **Division Two champions 1954–55 * Bedfordshire Senior Cup **Winners 1971–72, 1972–73, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1989–90, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2014–15, 2015–16 *Bedfordshire Intermediate Cup **Winners 1953–54

Records

*Highest league position: Third in Southern League Division One Central, 2016–17 *Best

performance: First round, 1980–81 *Best

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

performance: Third round, 2000–01 *Best

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...

performance: Finalists, 1977–78 *Record attendance: 1,900 vs

Nuneaton Borough Nuneaton Town Football Club is an English football club that was based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. It withdrew from Southern League Premier Division Central on 18 January 2024 due to financial problems and faces liquidation. In 1889, Nuneaton S ...

, FA Cup fourth qualifying round, 1976 *Most appearances: Tony McNally, 598 (1988–2005)Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2012) ''Non-League Club Directory 2013'', p487 *Most goals: Richard Camp, 152 (1989–1998) *Record transfer fee received: £2,000 from

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

for Paul Barnes Barton Rovers F.C. *Record transfer fee paid: £1,000 to Hitchin Town for Bill Baldry, 1980

References

External links