Barnet F.C.
Barnet Football Club is a professional association football club based in London Borough of Harrow, North West London. The team currently competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system.
The club was founded in Chipping Barnet in 1888. From 1907 until 2013 they played their home matches at Underhill Stadium, then moved to the new Hive Stadium, which is named in reference to the club's nickname of "The Bees".
Barnet became founder members of the North London League in 1892 and had success at a local level before ceasing to exist in 1902. Two other clubs, Barnet Avenue and Alston Works, merged and entered the Athenian League as Barnet and Alston in 1912, becoming simply Barnet F.C. seven years later. Barnet spent 53 years in the Athenian League, winning seven league titles and one FA Amateur Cup title, before turning semi-professional as they entered the Southern League in 1965. Crowned Division One champions in 1965–66, they went on to win the Southern League Cup in 1972 and the Division One South title in 1976–77. Barnet became founder members of the Alliance Premier League in 1979 and initially struggled, though finished as runners-up after the league was renamed the Conference in 1986–87.
Barnet were first promoted to the Football League in 1991 after manager Barry Fry led them to the Conference title in 1990–91. Promoted out of the Third Division in 1992–93, they spent just one season in the third tier before being relegated. They were relegated back to the Conference in 2001, but returned to the Football League four years later after winning the 2004–05 Conference National title. They then spent the next eight seasons in League Two before being relegated to the Conference once again in 2013. In 2015, they returned to the Football League for a third time, after winning the 2014–15 Conference Premier title, but were relegated once again in 2018.
Seven years later, they returned to League Two after winning the 2024–25 National League under manager Dean Brennan, achieving a club record 102 points.
History
''For a complete list of seasons, see List of Barnet F.C. seasons''Early years (1888–1901)
Barnet FC were formed in 1888, having formerly been known as New Barnet FC and Woodville FC. The club's origins are from ex-scholars of Cowley College and Lyonsdown Collegiate School. They were known as "The Hillmen" and played in New Barnet before moving to Ravenscroft Park in Queens Road in 1889. Initially they played friendly games before becoming inaugural members of the North London League in 1892–93. They went on to have success in the North Middlesex League Division II, Division I and the Premier Division. Promoted to the London League Division II, Barnet became champions in 1897–98 and spent the following seasons in London League Division I before ceasing to exist in the 1901–02 season.Barnet Avenue and Barnet Alston (1901–1919)
Two local clubs, Barnet Avenue FC and Alston Works AFC continued to attract support. Barnet Avenue renamed themselves Barnet FC in 1904 and as staunch believers in the amateur game they shunned the London Football Association in favour of the Amateur Football Association, which they joined in 1907 after winning the Chiswick League. Avenue played their home games initially at Hadley Green before moving to Queens Road.Alston Works AFC, later Barnet Alston FC, were formed in 1901, and became champions of the London League in 1906–07. Formed from workers at Alston Works, a dental manufacturers, they were known as "The Dentals". Their club strip of amber and black is the basis of the current Barnet team strip. In 1907 they moved to the club's current ground at Underhill, Barnet Lane. Their first match was a 1–0 win over Crystal Palace on 14 September 1907. After merging with the Avenue team in 1912 they spearheaded the new Athenian League as Barnet and Alston FC. After the First World War in 1919 they became the third instance of Barnet FC. This team continues today.
Athenian League years (1912–1965)
For over 50 years Barnet FC competed in the Athenian League. They were inaugural members in 1912–13 they were league champions no fewer than seven times between 1919 and 1965 before turning fully professional in 1965.During the 1920s Barnet consolidated their amateur status in the Athenian League under team secretary Tom Goss. He arranged for junior players from Tottenham Hotspur to play for the club including Taffy O'Callaghan, Willie Evans and Bill Whatley, all of whom eventually became internationals, between them gaining 17 Welsh caps.
The 1930–31 season saw Barnet gain their first Athenian League Championship to be repeated again the following season. Included in the team at that time were George Hughes and Fred Garrett, full backs; Reg Wright, centre-half; and Arthur Morris, Jack Richardson and a Barnet and England legend Lester Finch in the forward line.
In the two seasons after World War II, Barnet won the FA Amateur Cup, the Athenian League Championship twice, and the London Senior Cup. The side included five internationals in Ted Bunker, George Wheeler, Dennis Kelleher, Ron Phipps and Lester Finch. In the 1958–59 season, their young team coached by George Wheeler, reached the FA Amateur Cup final for the third time, but were beaten 3–2 by Crook Town.
In October 1946, the first live televised football match was broadcast by the BBC from Underhill. Twenty minutes of the game against Wealdstone were televised in the first half and thirty five minutes of the second half before it became too dark. In 1947, Barnet FC played Sing Tao Sports Club, winners of the Hong Kong Football League at Underhill. They were the first Chinese club to ever play in the United Kingdom. Barnet won 5–3.
Non-League years (1965–1991)
Barnet reached the third round proper of the FA Cup for the first time on 9 January 1965, meeting the previous season's runner-up Preston North End at Underhill. 2–0 down inside the first 10 minutes, the second half saw Barnet, urged on by 10,500 spectators, level the score at 2–2, before a last minute own goal sent them out.In 1965–66 Barnet turned semi-professional. Before the season commenced, manager Dexter Adams made two astute signings. He persuaded Les Eason, then 20 years of age, to join from Finchley and then acquired amateur international Barry King from Hitchin, who became the first player to sign professional forms for the club. The first game finished in Barnet's favour, a 10–1 win over Hinckley Athletic. Les Eason went on to score 31 goals in his first season as the club became champions of the Southern League Division I.
Promoted to the Southern League Premier for 1966–67 the club ended up 5th but had reached the Southern League Cup final only to lose to Guildford City over two legs. In 1969–70 the FA Trophy was introduced and Barnet reached the semi-final before losing to Macclesfield Town 0–1 at Stoke City's Victoria Ground. The club reached the third round of the FA Cup the following season, but lost 1–0 to Colchester United, who went on to knock out Leeds United in the fifth round. That year's cup run included a 6–1 first round win over then Fourth Division Newport County, equalling the competition's all-time record for a win by a non-league side over league opponents.
The 1971–72 season proved one of the most successful. Using just 15 players for 80 competitive matches Barnet reached Wembley in the FA Trophy, losing 3–0 to Stafford Rangers, and reached the final of the Southern League Cup, drawing 2–2 with Hereford on aggregate. The replay, played the next season, was a 2–2 draw but Barnet went on to win 7–6 on penalties. In 1972–73, Barnet put up a tremendous fight against Queens Park Rangers in the third round of the FA Cup. The match at Loftus Road ended 0–0 and the replay at Underhill drew in excess of 11,000 spectators. Rangers eventually won 3–0.
In 1975, Barnet were relegated back to the Southern League Division One North, after one season they switched to the Southern League Division One South which they won at the first attempt and returned to the Southern League Premier. It was during this period that many famous names played for the club including Jimmy Greaves, Marvin Hinton, Bob McNab, Terry Mancini and John Fairbrother. Jimmy Greaves, although playing in midfield, still ended the season as leading goal scorer with 27 goals.
By virtue of their Premier Division positions in seasons 1977–78 and 1978–79, Barnet were given a place in the newly formed Alliance Premier League. In the first three Alliance seasons, Barnet just avoided relegation, but in 1982–3 they finished 15th and a year later 9th. Then in 1984–85, when it looked like Barnet would face relegation, manager Barry Fry left to take charge at Maidstone United. The season was resurrected under the guidance of ex-player Roger Thompson, with the team losing only one of their remaining thirteen league games. They also managed to beat Wealdstone – fierce rivals at the time and about to win the non-league double – by seven goals to nil, thanks to a haul from Nicky Evans and a hat trick by Steve Mahoney.
In season 1985–86 they finished 14th but reached the final of the Bob Lord Challenge Trophy only to lose to old friends Stafford Rangers. Dom MacAllister replaced Roger Thompson and then in July 1986, Barry Fry returned, much to the delight of the supporters. He led Barnet to their best league position for many years finishing runners-up in the renamed Football Conference scoring 86 goals.
Despite turbulent times off the field, during season 1986–87 the club maintained their scoring, again finishing runners-up, Scarborough taking the automatic position into the Fourth Division. Lincoln City came down but in 1987–88 they returned ahead of Barnet in the championship. 1988–89 was another indifferent season; at one time looking like relegation prospects, the team secured 8th place, in the process using no fewer than 47 players. They did however win the Clubcall Cup, the final being played at Telford United's Bucks Head Ground, by beating Hyde United on penalties after a 3–3 draw. 1989–90 saw Barnet yet again finish runners-up in the Conference. This time it was Darlington that took the top spot.
A good run in the 1990–91 FA Cup culminated in a home defeat by Portsmouth in the third round. A win in the last game of the season against Fisher Athletic finally saw Barnet promoted to the Fourth Division of the Football League.