Welcome to….Ware

A look at the new clubs in the Pitching In Southern Football League for 2021/22.

It`s actually welcome back to Ware as they had a brief, one-season stay in the Southern League Division One Central in 2015/16 before being switched back to the Isthmian League North by the FA.

The club was founded in 1892 and although first called Ware Town, soon changed its name to plain Ware FC. This unassuming title makes it probably the shortest named affiliate of the Football Association and has caused problems for programme editors and journalists ever since.

In fact, the club has been anything but unassuming. It has held senior status from its very beginning, entering the Herts Senior Cup for the first time in 1893, and winning the cup on the first of five occasions in 1899 with a 2-1 win over Hitchin Town at St Albans.

By this time Ware had been instrumental in founding the East Herts League and had won its championship on two of the three times it had been competed for.

The club was to win it five more times before moving on to the North Middlesex League in 1907 and then also to the Herts County League in 1908. The Championship of the latter came that season in a three-way play-off against St Albans City and Welwyn Garden City.

After the First World War the club gained a league and cup `double` with a second Herts County League Championship and a fourth Herts Senior Cup win in 1922.

The scenes in Ware when the team returned with the Senior Cup tell something about the hold that football had on local loyalties at the time.

The local paper reported that `large crowds awaited the return of the special train to Ware, everybody being in high spirits. The cup was marched through the town in front of a cheering throng`. Indeed, it was later recalled that the cup was taken through the town on subsequent nights and that stops were made outside public houses where it was charged with beer before being drained by the crowd.

Shortly after this, Ware joined the Spartan League in which they were to enjoy several successes, winning the Division 2(B) championship in 1926, Division One in 1951 with the highest goals for total ever achieved by a club in the Spartan League, and the Premier Division in 1952.

In these later years, the club also made significant progress in the old FA Amateur Cup, meeting many famous sides on the way. One of these was Hendon, against whom Ware drew their largest attendance of 3,800 in the first round in January 1957.

Moving on to the Delphian and then Athenian League, Ware enjoyed another successful period. Two promotions, two league cup wins and two reserve championships paved the way for progress in the FA Cup.

In this Ware reached the First Round proper for the first time in 1968 when they travelled to the then-Third Division side Luton Town.

The opposition had a 100% home record, but the game was scoreless with 30 minutes to go before a judicious substitution broke the stalemate and left Ware beaten 6-1 at the final whistle.

In these successful circumstances, it was not surprising that Ware pressed for entry to the expanding Isthmian League.

This was achieved for season 1975/76 and they have maintained their place at that level ever since.

This is thanks most recently to their Division Two championship season of 2005/06 under manager Glen Alzapiedi which carried them into Division One just before Division Two was disbanded.

Alzapiedi's side brought further distinction with another FA Cup First Round appearance in 2007 which saw a narrow home defeat against Kidderminster Harriers in front of 2,123 spectators - a record for the current ground at Wodson Park.

Before that a tenth Herts Senior Cup final in 2001 and another in 2008 have emphasised the club's long history and continuity.

Ware is the first of only three possible candidates to appear in this final in three separate centuries, evidence that it is still one of the county's leading clubs.

The club is currently managed by Paul Halsey, who is in his second stint in the post following management positions with Hertford Town and Hoddesdon Town, and coaching positions at a number of other clubs, including Billericay Town.

Ware Web Site