The two main charity competitions sponsored by the county FA have, I suppose, been in terminal decline for some years or even decades. After deducting the officials and visiting team’s travel expenses plus floodlight costs for what had become midweek matches there was little left over to add to the funds distributed to deserving causes each year. Sometimes matches ran at a loss. Then there was the difficulty of shoehorning matches into already crowded fixture lists. The end seems now to have been inevitable. It appears the Herts FA are not the first to abandon such competitions though they say they will review their Charity Partner status. They will ensure donations are made annually to display their support for the work that is undertaken by these organisations and many volunteers.
Some background to our involvement in the competitions.
The Herts Charity Cup
This was first played for in the 1900/1 season with a previous Cheshunt club beating St Albans Amateurs. The Amateurs were beaten again in the next season, the earlier Hitchin side taking the honours this time in what was the first of at least three occasions that the final was held at Ware. Since then Hitchin Town, St Albans City and Barnet have monopolised the competition. Our first appearance in the final came in 1922/3 ending in a comfortable 4-0 win for St Albans City in a match played at Hatfield. Demoted to the Charity Shield for many years, Ware didn’t make the final again until 1964/5. We lost a close fought match (we missed a penalty) by 3-2 against Barnet at their Underhill ground. A crowd of well into four figures witnessed the home side’s last ever match as an amateur club.
We made the final again in the next season, losing at our old Buryfield ground by 4-2 to Bishop’s Stortford. A crowd of 984 paying customers would have produced plenty of charitable funds but gates generally were dwindling. The next final to be played at Buryfield was in 1989/90 and watched by just 296 spectators. We lost when Boreham Wood scored the only goal in the dying moments of another close game.
Our eighth and last appearance in the final came with 2009’s 2-1 defeat to Hemel Hempstead at the County Ground. Sadly it is a competition that we have never won.
The Herts Charity Shield
Introduced immediately after the end of the First World War, the first final was in 1920 and saw Hertford Town beat Letchworth Town. Hertford had reached the final following the semi-final against Ware which was abandoned after we had left the field in protest at the award of a penalty to the home side. It was an action condemned in the national press. Hertford and Letchworth met again in the following season’s final with Hertford once more coming out on top by 1-0. Ware made their first appearance in the final in 1926, losing 2-1 to Apsley at Hatfield. We went one better in the following season, beating Stevenage Town 3-2 at the Allenbury’s Sports Ground in Park Road.
Unlike the Charity Cup, the competition has not been dominated by a few clubs. The different winners are numerous though Hertford and Ware are joint top with six wins each.
Might Ware have made it seven in 2020? Having been demoted from the Charity Cup for one season we were the strongest side in the competition and faced London Colney at home in the semi final. However, like our chances of winning that season’s Isthmian League division one south central we were denied by the Covid pandemic. Our sixth and last win in the competition remains the 1-0 victory over Pirton at Stevenage on January 15th 1986. Steve Archer scored the only goal. The victorious team is shown in the photo attached to this article alongside manager John Godleman.
