Club Profile: Royston Town FC

Club name: Royston Town FC 

Club nickname: ‘The Crows’

Stadium: Garden Walk

Capacity: 5000 (300 seater) 

Manager: Steve Castle and Chris Watters 

League: Southern League Premier Central

The club came into existence in 1875 making Royston the third oldest Club in Hertfordshire after Hitchin and Bishop’s Stortford. The Club’s very first honour came in 1911/12 when they won the Creake Charity Shield beating Wisbech 1-0 in extra time.

The Club’s first major honour in more recent times came in the guise of promotion to the Herts County Premier League in 1969/70 and they went on to be champions in 1972/73 and 1976/77.  In 1978, they re-joined the South Midlands League and won the Division One title at the first time of asking. 

Success continued with a final appearance in the Herts Charity Shield for the first time in 1979 and runners up spot in the South Midlands League Premier Division in 1980.  The Herts Charity Shield was won in 1981/82 and two years later the Club joined the Isthmian League Division Two North where they remained for ten seasons before returning to the South Midlands League in 1994.

After a period in the doldrums which culminated in relegation from the South Midlands League Premier Division at the end of 2006/07, Paul Attfield was appointed manager with ex-Spurs favourite Tony Galvin returning to Garden Walk as 1st Team Coach in November 2007. Paul immediately set about building a new 1st Team squad and a run of 17 games undefeated saw the Club move from bottom of the table to finish in 5th place in the League.

The 2011/2012 season will be seen as a watershed in their history with the winning of the South Midlands Premier Division title and promotion to Step 4 in the shape of the Evo-Stik Southern League Division One Central.

Royston Town FC started the 2015/16 season strongly and between the end of December and the end of March produced a rich vein of form with only one defeat in 14 games and this ensured sitting on top of the league with just 7 games to go and with the expectation that we could win promotion outright ran high throughout the whole club. Promotion to the Southern Premier League meant that the Club was playing at the highest level in its 142 year history!

The Club’s first objective as it planned for life at Step 3 was as simple as ‘Let’s make sure we can stay in this League!’ and Steve Castle and Chris Watters immediately set about recruiting players to strengthen the squad. These included James Potton, Sam Corcoran, Scott Thomas and Lee Chappell, all who had experience of playing at Step 3 and higher. The signing of Adam Marriott, a proven goalscorer who had played for Lincoln City, Stevenage and Cambridge United was without a doubt a real coup and he was to play a key role in the progress made by the Club by becoming our leading marksman with 31 goals.

In the FA Cup they played Braintree Town away and were unlucky not to win the game outright seeing them draw 2 – 2 and then lose the replay 2- l. A good run in the FA Trophy with wins against Enfield Town and Leatherhead came to an end against Eastbourne when having managed to draw at their place they lost the replay on penalties. They managed to get to the final of the Herts Senior Cup where we played Boreham Wood from Step 2 and in spite of a brave performance we never really had the power to compete and lost 2 – 1. 

Currently playing in the Southern League Premier Central, Royston have had a mixed bag of results this season, going on a five game unbeaten run during the January fixtures. Sitting 9th in the league, they will be hoping to go unbeaten in their last couple of games to be in playoff positions.