Brief Encounter - Hemel Hempstead Town.

 

My football obsession took me to Vauxhall Road, home of National League South Hemel Hempstead Town at the beginning of February for their league fixture against struggling Billericay Town. The ground is amongst an housing estate on the outskirts of the town with the entrance located off a mini roundabout, a prominent sign giving details of the clubs next opponents and also a good marker for those looking for the venue. A driveway leads to the small club car park though most people seem to park on the roads nearby, I chose Leverstock Green Road, mainly to avoid the line of traffic coming away after the game. 

 

The sign at Vauxhall Road

Hemel Hempstead and Hemel Hempstead United merged in 1972 and made United’s Vauxhall Road ground their base. Previously Hemel Hempstead had played at Crabtree Lane close to the town centre with an impressive main stand but as the town expanded during the 1960’s & 1970’s this ground was needed for housing, hence the decision to play at the present venue.

 

The turnstile block

United were the 4^th side from the town to use Vauxhall Road as their home ground, the first club being Brocks Pyrotechnics (later Brocks Sports) in the 1930’s and playing in the West Herts League. The club were named after the local fireworks factory when owner Arthur Brock moved his work to the town and purchased the land. Co-incidentally, Brocks Fireworks moved their production from Hemel in 1971 just a year before the merger that brought about the current club.

An advert for Brocks in Hemel Hempstead.

The merged Hemel Hempstead club played in the Athenian League until 1977 then moved to the Isthmian League. I first came across Hemel Hempstead FC in 1987 when I was living in Tottenham. I had noticed some floodlights from the flat I lived in and decided to venture over one Tuesday evening in October. It was Coles Lane, home of Haringey Borough and Hemel were the visitors for a Vauxhall Opel (Isthmian) League Division 2 North fixture which ended 2-2, both sides were struggling with Borough finishing 20^th and Hemel just 1 place higher that season.

 

Line ups from the Haringey Borough game.

Vauxhall Road from Peter Miles' book.

My main memory of the game was meeting the wonderful Dave West, a Croydon supporter and well known photographer in non-league circles. We got chatting and I mentioned that I’d enjoyed my first visit to the ground and would probably come down on Saturday for their game with Heybridge Swifts. Dave was also making his first visit and like me he liked going to different grounds. He suggested that I miss Borough’s forthcoming game and go over to Walthamstow Avenue as tenants Leytonstone/Ilford were playing an FA Cup 4^th Qualifying Round tie there against Worcester City. Dave explained that Walthamstow’s ground was a particular gem amongst non-league grounds and he was right as I took his advice and went along.

 

Haringey Borough

Dave even gave me a pamphlet with directions to loads of non-league clubs. I saw him a handful of times at games after that, one particular game at Croydon, his club. Croydon were struggling and in a relegation fight that they just escaped and while sat with Dave and some of his friends with Croydon easing to a 3-0 home defeat he said “I know we’re crap but they’re my club and I love them”, we can all associate with that from time to time. Dave was a lover of lots of sports, particularly non-league football, using his camera skills to photograph events very often passing them on to clubs for free, this in the days of film rather than the digital media we have nowadays. He was a truly lovely bloke who sadly passed away in 2018.

 

Dave West (on left) with Tim Lancaster.

In 1992 Vauxhall Road suffered fire damage with the clubhouse and changing rooms destroyed, temporary structures being put in place which lasted for the next 5 years. The ground and the club was to change dramatically following relegation to the Isthmian League Division 3 in 1997, when 5 different managers couldn’t prevent the demotion. A new committee took charge in this year headed by local publican, Dave Boggins, who still retains a controlling interest to this day. A refurbishment of the clubhouse quickly followed and the club were also renamed Hemel Hempstead Town. Success was immediate as the Division 3 title was won in 1998 and new changing rooms built.

As you head past the club sign and walk up the drive in to the car park you see the entrance ahead of you, 3 turnstile blocks with a large gated entry to the left of that. Once inside there is a covered area immediately in front with a table where you can buy your programme with the tea bar and clubhouse to your right. Go forward a little though and the green and red of the ground hits you. Ample covered accommodation on all sides enclosing the 4g pitch, installed in 2020.

If we go to the left, between portakabins and the dug out, we come to the oldest looking structure on the ground, the clubhouse side stand complete with a press area. Originally built in 1985 and refurbished many times. It sits between the dug outs and has a minimal number of seats.

 

The Clubhouse Stand

Go past this stand towards the top goal (to your left as you’ve entered the ground) and the covered terrace takes the centre of this area. Yellow terraced steps and crush barriers blend in nicely with the club colours on the red framework with “Welcome To Vauxhall Road Home of Hemel Hempstead Town Football Club” proudly showing on the fascia. In 2000, following the winning of the Isthmian Division 2 championship, promotion was denied due to ground grading. The club made further ground improvements in 2001 with the terracing behind this goal and a new stand built.

 

The covered terrace end.

Either side of this terrace are 2 striking structures, the building to the left is clad in black and grey and used as classrooms for the full time Academy, an important space for the development of local talent, this doubles up as an hospitality area when games are on. To the right of that same terrace, at an angle in the corner, giving a great view of pitch proceedings is the press gallery and scoreboard with the red home colours brightly standing out at its front and on the perimeter wall flanking either side.

 The said wall to the right of this press area backs on to terracing, installed with the support of local sponsors Focus Rigging. The ground has a blend of the formal covered accommodation for spectators on all sides and then the more curious facilities such as this terracing complete with fake turf and the press gallery and hospitality area previously mentioned.

 

The terracing alongside the Family Stand.

Continue past the temporary terracing and the 2001 stand is upon you straddling the halfway line and resplendent in red and white seats spelling out HHTFC, this is designated as the Family Stand.

 

The Family Stand.

Following restructuring of the pyramid Hemel were moved to the Southern League after qualifying for a place in the Premier Division. It was in this league that I next came across them in a January league fixture at Chippenham Town in 2004/05. The game went to form with 3^rd placed Chippenham beating 4^th bottom Hemel Hempstead Town 5-2, a result that contributed to the relegation to the Southern League Western Division.

 

Chippenham Town in 2004/05.

Team sheet from the game at Chippenham Town.

Chippenham Town v Hemel Hempstead Town programme.

As we finish off our ground tour we come across the stand behind the bottom goal. This was originally a terrace and was converted to a stand in 2014/15 as part of the changes needed to gain promotion to Step 2. With 3 blocks of red seats in the now uniform red cover this fits in neatly with the terrace opposite and the Family Stand.

 

The Stand behind the bottom goal.

To the left of this stand is more temporary terracing which was installed during a play-off push, this was cordoned off for my visit, presumably the club intend to use this in the future if needed with it being in situ.

 

The temporary terracing.

Vauxhall Road is a ground of many structures with the excellent tea bar, the toilet block on the large expanse of concrete in front of the clubhouse and the previously mentioned curiosities but the strangest was the large garden shed structure for the Racing Pigeon Club, still used by the said club, I believe.

 

The Racing Pigeon Club Building.

The game against Billericay ended in a 2-1 home win but in the first half it was a pretty even game with Ricay taking the lead in the 37^th minute through Josh Wright. Former league player, Wright, was instrumental in Billericay’s good performance during the first half, playing some nice balls and leading the defence well. There was plenty of fighting spirit in the visitors side though the 2^nd half was a different story. Hemel took complete control and equalised with a penalty in the 53^rd minute before Gus Scott-Morriss blasted the ball past keeper Zaki Oualah on 70. The first half performance from Billericay looked promising but relegation is still a possibility this season. For Hemel they need more consistency and the signing of Craig Fasanmade, who made his debut in the Billericay game, may help with their play off aspirations as they currently sit in a mid-table position but just 6 points from the last play-off position

 

Billericay's Josh Wright (blue) scores the first goal.

Charlee Hughes (red, 10) equalises with this penalty.

From the time I first met Hemel back in 1987 the ground and the clubs standing has been impressively transformed. In Tony Williams’ book “The Non-League Football Grounds of Great Britain”, plans show a small seated stand on the clubhouse side (the now many times refurbished) and opposite this a covered terrace, now the Family Stand. The catalyst for progression of club and ground was the relegation to Isthmian Division 3 in 1997 and the new committee taking over. The result is a lovely non-league ground with plenty of character it’s obviously taken a lot of time and effort in that period so to be at Step 2 in the non-league pyramid and with a chance of the play offs is not only a great achievement for the town and the well run club but shows what can be achieved in our football pyramid.

 Acknowledgments.

Thanks go to Marc from The Tudors Supporters Club for some information on ground development. You can interact with the Hemel supporters on twitter at @TudorsClub

 Thanks also to Tim Lancaster for the use of the photo of him and Dave West. Tim met Dave through their mutual interest in football photography, good luck to Yeovil Town, Tim.

 Also, thanks to Peter Miles for use of the Hemel Hempstead pic from his great book “Homes of Non-League Football” the grainy reproduction is due to my scanner not Peter’s photographic skills as you will see from his twitter account @PeterRMiles I’m glad to see Southend United have turned the corner, Peter.

Any misinterpretation of information given is my responsibility but hopefully this reflects the development and part history of Hemel Hempstead Town FC and if you haven't ventured down to Vauxhall Road yet I recommend you do.