HISTORY
Romford Football Club is an English football club based in Romford, London. The club are currently members of the Essex Senior League and play at Mayesbrook Park in Dagenham.
The original Romford was established in 1876. They reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 1880–81, but lost 15–0 at Darwen, hampered by playing a dribbling game on a slushy pitch; Darwen also had four goals disallowed.

There was no league football for them to play until they joined the South Essex League in 1896. An internal dispute saw several committee and players leave to form a new club in 1909, called Romford United and competing directly against Romford in the South Essex League at a ground literally across the road. The original club continued under new management and joined the Southern League while still playing in the South Essex League, but played only a single season before leaving.

The new regime at the original club proved disastrous, being expelled from the South Essex League during the 1910–11 season and subsequently folding, leaving Romford United as the only club with the town's name. They changed to Romford Town and joined the Athenian League, but finished bottom in their first season and left at the end of their second, before closing down during World War I. Romford Town had remained members of the South Essex League and returned to action after the war, but lack of support saw them withdraw in December 1920 and fold. For the rest of the 1920s the only club under the Romford name was Romford Town Thursday, playing on Thursday afternoons at Brooklands, a ground previously used by Romford's reserve team.

In 1929 the club was re-established. Taking over the use of the Brooklands Stadium, they joined the London League. In 1931 they moved to the Athenian League, which they won in 1935–36 and 1936–37. Following World War II the club transferred to the Isthmian League. In 1948–49 they reached the final of the FA Amateur Cup, but lost 1–0 to Bromley in front of 100,000 spectators in the first final to be held at Wembley Stadium. In 1959 they switched to Division One of the Southern League. They were promoted to the Premier Division in their first season after finishing second and won the Premier Division in 1966–67. The club made several applications to join the Football League, but were never successful in the elections. In 1974–75 they finished second bottom of the Premier Division and were relegated to Division One. By this time the club had developed Brooklands considerably in anticipation of eventually being elected to the Football League and had large debts to show for it, and had to sell Brooklands in 1975 but remained until 1977. After a season of borrowing grounds to play home matches, they resigned from the Southern League and folded in 1978, with the building work on a new ground barely started and hardly any money left.

In 1992 the club was resurrected for a second time and joined the Essex Senior League. They won the league in 1995–96, and in the summer merged with Collier Row (with whom they had been groundsharing since April) to form Collier Row & Romford. The new club took Collier Row's place in Division Two of the Isthmian League, which they won in their first season. In the summer of 1997, they were renamed Romford.

In 2000–01 they finished second bottom of Division One and were relegated to Division Two. After finishing bottom the following season, they resigned to go back to the Essex Senior League. They returned to the Isthmian League after winning the Senior League in 2008–09, and remained in Division One North for over a decade. Despite a difficult year in 2017–18, they were able to survive despite being five points adrift with just two games remaining. The following season they found themselves in a possibly even worse situation as they were nine points short of safety with five games remaining, but staged a late recovery only to fall short on goal difference behind Witham Town. However, the knock-on effect of the mid-season demise of North Ferriby United meant Romford were reprieved from relegation to fill the vacancy.

In November 2019, the club appointed former Billericay Town owner Glenn Tamplin, as manager and investor who immediately signed multiple players on his first day. Under Tamplin Romford had a difficult time, largely because of the unavailability of the waterlogged Brentwood pitch which they were unable to use after Tamplin's first match, and a huge turnover of players but eventually recovered enough ground to move off the bottom of the table in March just as the season was brought to a premature end by the coronavirus pandemic. The following season Romford moved on again to Barking but with a resurgence of coronavirus cases the season was suspended in November with Boro in mid-table then eventually curtailed in February. Shortly after, Tamplin announced he was leaving the club, but his assistants Christos Mead and Derek Duncan would remain in charge of the team.

At the start of the 2021–22 season, the club announced joint managers Derek Duncan and Mark Holloway would take charge of team affairs, however, they left the club in December 2021 after a disastrous run of results. Former boss Paul Martin took temporary charge, but results did not improve, and he left the club in March 2022 with Jon Fowell taking over until the end of the season. This saw the club have 4 managers during this season, over 100 players signed, using more than 70 players in all competitions, and conceding a disastrous 154 goals in total in all competitive matches. Relegation to the Essex Senior League was confirmed on 26 March 2022, which was seen by many as inevitable.

Former Great Wakering Rovers boss Steve Butterworth was installed as manager in May 2022 and his tenure saw Boro reach the Third Qualifying Round of the F A Cup and the last sixteen of the F A Vase, both for the first time since the 1990s, but he left in March to take up a position at East Thurrock United. His assistant Dan Spinks took over and the last month of the season saw an excellent run of form which was an indicator of what was to come in 2023–24, which opened with five straight wins and has seen Romford maintain a promotion challenge while making it all the way to Wembley in the FA Vase.

Ground
The club has led a nomadic existence, playing at nineteen home grounds during its history although most of these have been emergency arrangements when their established home ground was unavailable for various reasons. When the club reformed in 1992 it began playing at the Hornchurch Stadium, before moving to Ford United's Rush Green ground in 1995. In April 1996 they moved to Collier Row's Sungate ground, and the clubs merged during the summer. The spell at Sungate was fraught with problems and there were frequent and protracted periods when Romford had to borrow other grounds to play home matches owing to problems with the facilities at Sungate. In December 2001 they left Sungate for good and played at several different stadiums in order to complete the season. They returned to Rush Green in 2002 (as Ford United had left to groundshare with Barkingside). They remained there until 2008 when they moved to Aveley's Mill Field ground.

In 2009 it was announced that the club had been given permission to build a new stadium on the Westlands Playing Fields on London Road, however building work has yet to commence as planning permission has had to be re-applied for as the original permission expired while awaiting government approval for the change of use.

Romford began sharing with Thurrock at Ship Lane in 2012 but were required to move to East Thurrock United's Rookery Hill in 2018 when Thurrock folded and the ground was closed. This arrangement was only in place for one year however, and it was arranged for Romford to move rather closer to home for the 2019–20 season and share with Brentwood Town. In 2020 Romford announced a ground share that would involve them playing their home games at Mayesbrook Park, home of Barking.

On 29 October 2023, Romford announced the club would be moving back to Rookery Hill the following month after East Thurrock folded at the beginning of October 2023. However, the lease proved to be unsustainable and it was confirmed on 26th May 2024 that the Club would move back to Mayesbrook Park to groundshare with Barking, for at least two years beginning with the 2024–25 season.

Honours
FA Vase Winners, 2023–24
Southern League
Premier Division champions 1966–67
Isthmian League
Division Two champions 1996–97
Athenian League
Champions 1935–36, 1936–37
Essex Senior League
Champions 1995–96, 2008–09
League Cup winners 1995–96
Gordon Brasted Memorial Trophy winners 2003–04
Eastern Floodlight League
Champions 1967–68
Essex Senior Cup
Winners 1911–12, 1931–32, 1933–34, 1937–38, 1946–47
Essex Professional Cup
Winners 1968–69
East Anglian Cup
Winners 1934–35, 1936–37, 1951–52, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1997–98

Records
Club records (since 1876)
Attendance: 17 081 vs Southall, FA Amateur Cup 4th Round (replay), 28 February 1953
Biggest victory: 12-1 vs Stork (Purfleet), F A Cup 17 September 1938
Biggest defeat: 0–15 vs Darwen, FA Cup, 5 March 1885
Player records (since 1992)
Most appearances: Paul Clayton, 396, 2006–2015
Most goals: Nick Reynolds, 74, 2010–2019
Fastest goal: Danny Benstock 11 seconds vs Great Wakering Rovers, Essex Senior League, 28 August 1995
Most goals in one season: Vinny John 45 (3 pens), 1997/98
Most consecutive appearances: Ryan Boswell 67, 19 December 2015 – 18 February 2017
Youngest player: Perry Burns (15 yrs 266 days, 29 April 06)
Oldest player: Mark Lord (48 yrs 90 days, 3 March 15)
Youngest goalscorer: Paul Burnett (17 yrs 3 days, 5 April 08)
Oldest goalscorer: John Maskell (39 yrs 5 months, 23 March 19)

I’m sure you all know where Romford is!
If you grew up where I did, you spent most of your time drinking in the pubs & clubs there!
But anyway…

Geography
Romford is a large town in East London, England, 14 miles (23 km) northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major metropolitan centres of Greater London identified in the London Plan.

Historically part of the ancient parish of Hornchurch in the Becontree hundred of Essex, it has been a market town since 1247. It formed the administrative centre of the liberty of Havering until that liberty was dissolved in 1892, and became a civil parish of its own in 1849. Good road links to London and the opening of the railway station in 1839 were key to the development of the town. The economic history of Romford is characterised by a shift from agriculture to light industry and then to retail and commerce.

As part of the suburban growth of London throughout the 20th century, Romford significantly expanded and increased in population, becoming a municipal borough in 1937. In 1965, following reform of local government in London, it merged with the Hornchurch Urban District to form the London Borough of Havering, and was incorporated into Greater London. Today, it is one of the largest commercial, retail, entertainment and leisure districts in London and has a well-developed night-time economy. The population of Romford, as of the 2011 census, was 122,854.

The town centre is about 50 feet (15 m) above sea level on a gravel terrace rising from the River Thames. The north of the town has developed on London Clay and is situated as much as 150 ft (46 m) above sea level. A continuous gentle rise in the eastern suburbs towards Gidea Park and Harold Wood peaks around 177 feet (54 m) around the Harold Court. On the northern side, Harold Hill peaks at 75 m (246 ft). The semi-rural area north of Collier Row and Harold Hill consists of many rolls of hills, with elevation peaking at the village of Havering-atte-Bower, 344 feet (105 m). The town centre is for the most part contained within a ring road formed of St Edwards Way, Mercury Gardens, Thurloe Gardens, Oldchurch Road, and Waterloo Road. The marketplace and much of South Street and the High Street are pedestrianised. The railway cuts through the town from east to west on a viaduct, with the bulk of the central Romford area to its north. The River Rom flows through the town in underground channels and joins the Thames after flowing through Hornchurch; elsewhere along its course it is known as the River Beam and forms part of the strategic waterways Blue Ribbon Network. Romford has formed part of the continuously built-up area of London since the 1930s and is contiguous with Rush Green to the west, Collier Row to the north, Gidea Park to the east and Hornchurch to the south east.

The Romford post town covers all of the former municipal borough and extends over a much wider area, including parts of Barking and Dagenham and Epping Forest.
Neighbourhoods of Romford include: Collier Row, Gidea Park, Harold Hill, Harold Park, Harold Wood, Havering-atte-Bower, Rise Park, and Rush Green.
Romford is located 14 mi (23 km) northeast of Charing Cross in central London; 4+3⁄4 mi (7.5 km) northeast of Ilford; 2+1⁄2 mi (4 km) north of Dagenham; 9 mi (14 km) northwest of Grays; 6 mi (10 km) south-west of Brentwood; 12 mi (19 km) west of Basildon; and 9 mi (14 km) southeast of Epping.

History
Toponymy
Romford is first recorded in 1177 as Romfort, which is formed from Old English 'rūm' and 'ford' and means "the wide or spacious ford". The naming of the River Rom is a local 'back-formation' from the name of the town; and the river is elsewhere known as the Beam. The ford most likely existed on the main London to Colchester road where it crossed that river.

Economic development
Romford in 1851
The town developed in the Middle Ages on the main road to London and the regionally significant Romford Market was established in 1247. The original site of the town was to the south, in an area still known as Oldchurch. It was moved northwards to the present site in the later medieval period to avoid the frequent flooding of the River Rom. The first building on the new site was the 1410 Chapel of St Edward (since replaced by the 1850 Parish Church of St Edward the Confessor. The early history of Romford and the immediate area is agricultural and it is recorded as being the location of a number of mills used to grind corn. The area was a focus of the leather industry from the 15th to the early 19th centuries and there is record of a wide range of industries such as cloth making, weaving, charcoal burning, metal working and brewing. Communications played an important part in its development; the main road to London was maintained by the Middlesex and Essex Turnpike Trust from 1721 and Romford became a coaching town in the 18th century.
Several failed attempts were made in the early 19th century to connect the town to the Thames via a Romford Canal. It was initially intended to terminate at a basin near to the Star Brewery, to transport agricultural products to London and, eventually, to serve growing industrial sites in Romford. A later proposal included an extension to Collier Row, whereby timber from Hainault Forest could be transported to the Thames for use in the Royal Dockyards. Only two miles of canal were constructed and the canal company were unable to reach the town.

The development of the town was accelerated by the opening of the railway station in 1839 which stimulated the local economy and was key to the development of the Star Brewery. Initially, Eastern Counties Railway services operated between Mile End and Romford, with extensions to Brentwood and to Shoreditch in 1840. A second station was opened on South Street in 1892 by the London, Tilbury, and Southend Railway on the line to Upminster and Grays, giving Romford a rail connection to Tilbury Docks. The two stations were combined into one in 1934. Light industry slowly developed, reaching a peak in the 1970s with a number of factories on the edge of town, such as the Roneo Vickers office machinery company, Colvern manufacturers of wireless components, May's Sheet Metal Works and brush manufacturers Betterware. Suburban expansion increased the population and reinforced Romford's position as a significant regional town centre. The Liberty Shopping Centre was constructed in the 1960s, and has been modernised and supplemented with further shopping centres throughout the town, including The Mall, opened in 1990 (as 'Liberty 2'); and The Brewery, opened in 2000 on the site of the old Star Brewery.

Local government
Romford formed a chapelry in the large ancient parish of Hornchurch in the Becontree hundred of Essex; as well as the town it included the wards of Collier Row, Harold Wood, and Noak Hill. Through ancient custom the area enjoyed special status and a charter in 1465 removed the parish from the Becontree hundred and the county of Essex and it instead formed the independent liberty of Havering governed from a court house in the market place. Over time the vestry of Romford chapelry absorbed the local powers that would usually be held by the parish authorities in Hornchurch and in 1849 Romford became a separate parish within the liberty. Improvement commissioners were set up in 1819 for paving, lighting, watching, and cleansing of the marketplace and main streets. As the town grew this arrangement became ineffective at controlling sanitation and in 1851 a local board of health was set up for the parish; although its area was reduced in 1855 to cover only the town ward. The remainder of the parish became part of the Romford rural sanitary district in 1875. These changes and the introduction of the Romford Poor Law Union in 1836 eroded the powers of the liberty and it was finally abolished in 1892 and reincorporated into Essex.

The Local Government Act 1894 reformed local government and created the Romford Urban District and Romford Rural District to replace the local board and sanitary district; following which the Romford parish was split into Romford Urban and Romford Rural along the lines of the urban district. In 1900 the parish was recombined and the urban district expanded to cover all of the former area of the historic chapelry, except for Noak Hill which remained in the rural district and had become a parish in its own right in 1895. The enlarged urban district formed part of the London Traffic Area from 1924 and the London Passenger Transport Area from 1933. The suburban expansion of London caused an increase in population during the 1930s and the urban district was expanded further in 1934, taking in the parishes of Havering-atte-Bower and Noak Hill. It was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Romford in 1937. In 1965 the municipal borough was abolished and its former area was combined with that of Hornchurch Urban District; it was again removed from Essex and since then has formed the northern part of the London Borough of Havering in Greater London. For elections to the Greater London Council, Romford was part of the Havering electoral division until 1973 and then the Romford electoral division until 1986.

Suburban expansion
Romford Urban District absorbed Havering-atte-Bower and Noak Hill in 1934.
There was early expansion in the 1840s when 200 cottages were built in the area formerly occupied by an army barracks; it was known as New Romford. To acknowledge the military connection, when in 1961 these were in turn replaced with new housing the name Waterloo Road Estate was applied. To the east of the marketplace from 1850 middle-class suburban housing was constructed with a much larger area of 200 acres (80 hectares) built-over to the south of the railway from 1851 and by 1861 the population had grown to 3790. Through a gradual process of selling off former manors, houses were built radiating from the town in all directions for about a mile, and further significant growth occurred between 1910 and 1911 with the construction of Romford Garden Suburb, which included Raphael Park and Gidea Park railway station. Large sections of land to the north of the town at Collier Row were developed in the interwar period and after World War II, the London County Council built the Harold Hill estate to the north east from 1948 to 1958.

The right to supply electricity to the town was secured by the County of London Electricity Supply Company in 1913. Initially, power was generated within the Star Brewery site, with the supply switching to Barking Power Station in 1925. Gas supply began in 1825 with gas works of 25 acres (10 ha) constructed by 1938. Following the Telegraph Act 1899, Romford became part of the Post Office London telephone area and the Romford exchange was recorded as having 240 subscribers in 1916. The town water supply initially came from the Havering Well, and in 1859 a new public well and pump was built at the east end of the market. The South Essex Waterworks Company started installing mains water supply in 1863 and had offices in South Street. By 1905 its supply was serving Ilford, Collier Row, Ardleigh Green, Brentwood, and Hornchurch. Sewage works were installed by the local board at Oldchurch in 1862, with further works built in Hornchurch in 1869.

Sport
Romford F.C., who currently play in the Essex Senior League, is the local football team. The London Raiders ice hockey team are based in Romford. Romford is home to the Romford and Gidea Park Rugby Football Club, which was established in 1927. In 2003, the club became one of the first in the country to have a ladies Rugby team.

31/08/24 ESL PREMIER
TAKELEY 0
ROMFORD 0

23/08/24 ESL PREMIER
ROMFORD 2
(Andy Morris, Reece McGovern)
BENFLEET 0

17/08/24 FA Cup Preliminary Round
BRIGHTLINGSEA REGENT 4
ROMFORD 0

07/08/24 FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round Replay
ROMFORD 3
(Shermandin Artmaladze 3)
EYNESBURY ROVERS 2

03/08/24 FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round
EYNESBURY ROVERS 2
ROMFORD 2
(Shermandin Artmaladze 2 (1 pen))

31/07/24 ESL PREMIER
ROMFORD 1
(Praise Ogbebor)
ATHLETIC Newham 1

27/07/24 ESL PREMIER
ROMFORD 4
(Chris Millar, David Oweridu, Elliott Howson, Shermandin Artmaladze )
STANWAY ROVERS 1

Romford are currently 3rd in the ESL table with 8 points after four matches played. They have won 2 and drawn 2, scoring 7 and conceding just 2 for a +5 goal difference. Additionally, as shown above, they were knocked out of the FA Cup by Brightlingsea Regent from the Isthmian League North Division, one step above the ESL at step 4.

We met twice last season. At Lower Road on the 12th of August 2023, The Bridge lost 0-2 with Romford’s goals from Jayden Silcott-Brown and Bruno Gomes.

On the 25th of April 2024, The Bridge gained revenge with a 1-0 win. Solomon Ofori got the Hullbridge winner.