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Havant & Waterlooville F.C.

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Havant & Waterlooville
File:Havant and waterlooville logo.PNG
Full nameHavant & Waterlooville Football Club
Nickname(s)The Hawks
Founded1998
GroundWest Leigh Park
Capacity5,250
ChairmanEngland Marcus Hackney
ManagerShaun Gale
LeagueConference South
2006-07Conference South, 4th

Havant & Waterlooville Football Club are an English association football team based at West Leigh Park in Havant, Hampshire The club formed in 1998 after a merger between Havant Town F.C. and Waterlooville F.C. They are nicknamed The Hawks.

Havant & Waterlooville currently play non-League football in the Conference South. Their record attendance is 4,400, for the 4–2 third round FA Cup replay win against Swansea City on 16 January 2008. They made it to the fourth round and played Liverpool only to lose 5–2 at Anfield, having twice taken the lead.[1]

History

Havant

Havant F.C. were formed in 1883, and played in the Portsmouth Football League. A notable player in the 1950s was Bobby Tambling, a forward who subsequently played for Chelsea and England. In 1969 the club merged with Leigh Park F.C., a Sunday League club founded in 1958 who were the FA Sunday Cup holders, and the name was changed to Havant and Leigh Park F.C. The merged club won the Portsmouth League in their first season, and moved into the fourth division of the Hampshire League in 1970. After three promotions, the club played in the first division from 1977. The Front Lawn ground was inadequate for membership of higher leagues, and the club purchased a site which was developed into the ground where Havant & Waterlooville now play. The new ground opened in August 1982, and the club was renamed Havant Town F.C.

After achieving what would prove to be the pre-merger record attendance of 3,500 against Wisbech Town in the Quarter Final of the FA Vase, the club became founder members of the Wessex League in 1986, and were runners up three times before winning the title and promotion to the Southern League in 1991.

Waterlooville

Waterlooville F.C. formed in 1905 and started playing in the Waterlooville and District League. Just before World War II they joined the Portsmouth League, immediately winning the Division 3 title. After the war they won the Division 2 title and after a few years in Division 1 they managed to win the title three times in a row. 1953 saw the club move up to the Hampshire League where they stayed until election to the Southern League in 1971. Former players to have played for Waterlooville before moving to league clubs include Guy Whittingham, Lewis Haldane, Paul Hardyman and Paul Moody. Moody was the club's record signing when he joined for £4,000 from Fareham Town; the same player was also the record sale when he joined Southampton for £40,000

Merged team

In their first season as a merged team, Havant & Waterlooville won the Southern League Southern Division under the management of former Crystal Palace and Portsmouth defender Billy Gilbert. There was also instant success in the FA Cup, a penalty shoot-out defeat to Hayes denying the Hawks an opportunity to visit league side Mansfield Town F.C. in the first round proper.

In subsequent years Havant & Waterlooville have managed to reach the FA Cup first round proper on four occasions. In 2000–01, Havant & Waterlooville lost 2–1 at home to Southport of the Conference North, and 3–2 away to another Football Conference side, Dagenham & Redbridge, in 2002–03. The club met a Football League club in a competitive match for the first time in the 2006–07 competition, losing 2–1 to Millwall in a home match played at Fratton Park.[2] They reached the fourth round in the 2007–08 competition, beating York City and Notts County away and Swansea City at home[3][4] before eventually bowing out away at Liverpool in the fourth round.

During a 5 year stay in the Southern Football League Premier Division, Havant & Waterlooville's best season came in 2001–02, finishing 3rd after leading the table during September. The 2002–03 season was notable for the Hawks' FA Trophy run. Havant 'giant-killed' Forest Green Rovers en route to the semi-final where Hawks lost 2-1 on aggregate to Tamworth.[5][citation needed]

The club just made it to the inauguration of Conference South by finishing 12th in the Southern League in 2003–04 after a season of struggle. In 2005–06, H&W missed out on a place in the end of season play-offs by a single point because of a controversial three-point deduction for breaking a gentleman's agreement with Weymouth that H&W's ex-Weymouth player Tony Taggart would not play against his former club. Hawks manager Ian Baird claimed that an injury crisis had forced him to field Taggart in the home game with Weymouth.[citation needed]

Many former stars of the Premier League and Football League have turned out for H&W over the years including Dean Holdsworth; Fitzroy Simpson; Paul Wood; Liam Daish; Alan Knight; Richard Pacquette; Gareth Hall; David Lee; David Howells and Robbie Pethick.

In the 2006–07 season the Hawks qualified for the end-of-season promotion play-offs but were beaten in the semi-final by Braintree Town.

Ian Baird resigned as Havant manager on 1 October, 2007 to become manager of Eastleigh, and was replaced by Shaun Gale.[6]

In the 2007-08 season, the team caused a shock by defeating League One side, Swansea City 4–2 in an FA Cup 3rd round replay. In the 4th round they faced Premiership side Liverpool at Anfield. They caused a sensation by leading twice before losing 5–2. Havant & Waterlooville player, Alfie Potter, on loan at the time from Peterborough United was voted player of the round.

Ground

Westleigh Park . was home to Havant Town F.C. from 1982 onwards Waterlooville F.C. played at the now extinct Jubilee Park. The combined team are based at Westleigh Park which situated on Bartons triangle Martins Road West Leigh in Havant, Hampshire. The ground has undergone a lot of work over recent years to bring it up to Confrence National standard. There is approved outline planning permission to build a new stand to hold 500 seats on the East side of the ground. There was funding in place for this project and with the monies acrued from their FA Cup run in season 2007/08 it is possible work may start on this stand in the Summer of 2008.

Players

As of 26 March, 2008.[7]

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
–– GK England ENG Kevin Scriven
–– GK England ENG Tom Taylor
–– DF England ENG Darren Annon
–– DF England ENG Gary Elphick
–– DF England ENG Justin Gregory
–– DF England ENG Tom Jordan
–– DF England ENG Neil Sharp
–– DF England ENG Phil Warner
–– DF England ENG Paul Watson
–– MF England ENG Jamie Collins
–– MF England ENG Jamie Day‎ (on loan from Grays Athletic)
–– MF England ENG Steven Gregory
–– MF England ENG Nicholas Hannides
–– MF Northern Ireland NIR Mo Harkin
No. Pos. Nation Player
–– MF England ENG Charlie Henry
–– MF England ENG Michael McEnery
–– MF England ENG Charlie Oatway
–– MF England ENG Brett Poate
–– MF England ENG Jay Smith
–– MF England ENG Tony Taggart
–– MF England ENG Shaun Wilkinson
–– FW England ENG Rocky Baptiste
–– FW England ENG Chamal Fenelon
–– FW Canada CAN Gavin McCallum
–– FW Dominica DMA Richard Pacquette
–– FW England ENG Jamie Slabber
–– FW England ENG Craig Watkins
–– FW England ENG Luke Nightingale

Youth teams

Havant and Waterlooville F.C. now has an academy team for the club's most promising youth players, run in conjunction with South Downs College and playing in the Conference Academy League Southern Section. Below this side, the club's youth system consists of several teams playing in the Portsmouth Youth Leagues, from age ranges under 6s to under 17s. Most of the teams have A, B and sometimes even C teams in their age range.[8] The club has several tournaments and fun days run all through the summer months.

Managers

  • Billy Gilbert (June 1998 - April 2000 )
  • Mick Jenkins & Liam Daish (April 2000 - January 2004 )
  • Dave Leworthy (January 2004 - November 2004)
  • Ian Baird (November 2004 - October 2007)
  • Shaun Gale (October 2007 to date)

Player records

(as at 15th July 2007)

Appearances: James Taylor, 295 (254+41)

Goals: James Taylor, 138

England National Game XI internationals: James Taylor, Tim Hambley

2006/07 Players' player of the year: Tom Jordan

2006/07 Supporters' player of the year: Rocky Baptiste

2006/07 leading goalscorer: Rocky Baptiste, 36

Season records

  • 1998/1999 - Southern League Southern Division - 1st
  • 1999/2000 - Southern League Premier Division - 13th
  • 2000/2001 - Southern League Premier Division - 6th
  • 2001/2002 - Southern League Premier Division - 3rd
  • 2002/2003 - Southern League Premier Division - 8th
  • 2003/2004 - Southern League Premier Division - 12th
  • 2004/2005 - Conference South - 13th
  • 2005/2006 - Conference South - 6th
  • 2006/2007 - Conference South - 4th

[5]

References

  1. ^ Ian Hughes (26 January 2008). "Liverpool 5-2 Havant & W'looville". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-01-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Havant & W 1-2 Millwall". BBC Sport. 2006-11-13. Retrieved 2007-11-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "Notts County 0-1 Havant & W'ville". BBC Sport. 2007-12-01. Retrieved 2008-01-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Havant & W'looville 4-2 Swansea". BBC Sport. 2008-01-16. Retrieved 2008-01-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ a b Havant & Waterlooville at the Football Club History Database
  6. ^ Havant & Waterlooville.Net Club History (to July 2007), Retrieved 2008-01-02
  7. ^ "First Team Squad". Havant & Waterlooville FC. Retrieved 2007-11-10.
  8. ^ The Havant and Waterloovillie Boy's Website

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