19th June 2008

At the Annual General Meeting of the Spartan South Midlands League held on Saturday 14th June, Hoddesdon Town picked up an unprecedented four awards for on and off-the-field achievements. The SSMFL Committee voted the Club's Programme Best in Division One, the pitch at Lowfield was adjudged Best Playing Surface in Division One, the Reserves won the Sportsmanship Award for Reserve Division One and the Association of SSMFL Referees gave Hoddesdon Town their Reserves Sportsmanship Award. This is a stunning achievement for the Club and not only reflects the hard work put in off the pitch, but is also a terrific indictment of the effort made by the Management to improve discipline on the field. Herman Dyer and his Reserves squad are justifiably proud of their two awards, as are Groundsman Phil Maybury who works tirelessly on the pitch, and Jane Sinden who edits the Club's multi-award winning Programme. The rest of the Club Officers, Committee, Management and players have all had a part to play in these achievements, and Chairman Roger Merton is rightly proud of his team of workers.          

19th June 2008

The Club's Programme picked up it's third award of the 2007/08 season when it was recently adjudged by the Soccer Club Swap Shop to be the best in the SSMFL Division One. Also of note was the fact that in the national standings, the Hoddesdon Town Programme was adjudged to be sixth best behind Gateshead (Unibond League Premier), Chelmsford City (Ryman League Premier), Marske Utd (Arngrove Northern League, Div 2), Horsham (Ryman League Premier) and Poole Town (Wessex Premier League). With the top six clubs all having fought off competition from the highest echelon of Non-League football, the Conference, no doubt the reviewers felt that the best value for money came from lower down the ladder - and quite right too!!

26th May 2008

Hoddesdon Town will be running two Under-18 squads next season and will be looking for talented local players to bolster them. Trials for potential new players will be held at the end of June so, anyone interested in being part of next season's exciting set-up please get in touch with SIMON RIDDLE on 01920 466097 or 07903 706277 for further details.

2nd December 2007

In the past few days we have learned of honours about to be bestowed upon two stalwarts of Hoddesdon Town FC.

SIMON RIDDLE Despite the fact his Hoddesdon Town Under-16 side is spending its first ever season in the Eastern Junior Alliance, Simon Riddle has been invited to also manage the League's Under-16 representative side this season. Hoddesdon Town's former Reserves Manager jumped at the chance to enhance his experience at Youth Team level, and has accepted the invitation. We wish him the very best of luck in his additional role.

ELMER ELLIOTT At the age of 88, former Hoddesdon Town Chairman Elmer Elliott will next Thursday receive an award for being adjudged one of the top cricket Umpires in the South of England. Elmer took up umpiring relatively late in life, but still officiates in over 100 games a season, and even at this time has an almost full diary of fixtures for next season. Just as he did in business and with his beloved Hoddesdon Town FC, Elmer has put his heart and soul into his umpiring activities, and his award is recognition of his dedication to being one of the 'men in the middle'.

15th November 2007

Hoddesdon Town have learned this week they were awarded the Team of the Month for October accolade by the SSMFL Committee. Six wins out of six in October is what clinched it for the Lilywhites, who were closely challenged we are told by Biggleswade Town and Ampthill Town. The award will be made before the home game against Harpenden Town on Saturday 16th November, and coming down to present it will be President of the SSMFL, Brian Smith, and Andy Passman, representing the League's main sponsors and match ball providers, Molten Sports.

4th June 2007

Pre-season training for Hoddesdon Town is due to start on Tuesday 3rd July and will take place at the Cheshunt Country Club starting at 7 30. Further details will be posted on this web site before the middle of June, but anyone wishing to get hold of Manager Geoff O'Vell before then can e-mail the club on htcf_1879@fsmail.net or contact him on 07967 694257. All players of SSMFL standard or better will be welcome, and details of the pre-season friendly programme will be posted on here soon.

Thanks to a ground-breaking deal negotiated with the Cricket Club, Hoddesdon Town F.C. will have at least two home dates available in mid to late August, and it is hoped the League will arrange a couple the fixtures to enable us to play at Lowfield before the scheduled handover date in early September.

4th June 2007

A big shake up in the SSMFL means a much changed season for a lot of clubs in 2007/08. With the promotion of Brimsdown Rovers and Cockfosters likely to be ratified, Division One's strength has been maintained with the relegation of Royston Town and Haringey Borough, and the inclusion of Middlesex County League champions Sport London E Benfica. SLEB play at Hanwell Town's ground so it will be a welcome addition to the fixtures. Under the new Non-League Pyramid directives, Step 3 clubs are allowed to play their Reserves at Step 6 so, both Bedford Town and Cheshunt have applied to have their Reserves take part in Division One next season. Kentish Town have applied to remain in the Division by playing their home games at the Copthall Athletics Stadium in Barnet, but that will be subject to a ground inspection. The net result is that Division One clubs next season will have an additional 6 games (total 36) which hopefully will mean some midweek games at Lowfield.

The demise of the Bedford County Reserves League has meant several clubs applying to come back to the SSMFL. This has resulted in a reorganisation of the Reserves section, and there will be two regionally organised Second Divisions. Welwyn Garden City have dropped out, Cheshunt have gone up to Division One, New Bradwell St. Peter and Sun Postal Sports have been relegated and both Holmer Green and Stony Stratford Town have opted to be dropped into Reserve Division Two West. The only new inclusions are London Colney and Cockfosters who were promoted. This means that very disappointingly, Reserve Division One will only have 14 member clubs next season. That is 4 less that last season and reduces the total number of games by 8 down to a meagre 26.