Back
History
The modern-day Harwich and Parkeston began life as Harwich FC in 1875, a date which makes the club the second oldest in Essex.
The early years involved only friendlies (played in a blue kit) and it wasn’t until 1886 that club played its first competitive game – losing 6-0 at Colchester Town in an Essex Senior Cup tie! By that stage, the club had changed its name to Harwich and Dovercourt FC but in 1889 it merged with Parkeston FC as the current name was taken on.
It was also in the Essex Senior Cup that the club reached its first final but that 1891 clash also went badly, Clapton winning 7-0.
The following year, Harwich made some significant history when they played host to Belgian side Antwerp in what has been officially recognised as the first-ever meeting of an English team and a continental European team on English soil.
League football was played for the first time in 1895/96 when the North Essex League was entered – and won.
Having originally played home matches on Barrack Field and then at the seafront Phoenix Ground – where balls were often lost to the sea - the club moved to the Royal Oak ground in 1898 where they have remained ever since.
The 1898/99 season was to prove memorable for other reasons too with a run to the FA Amateur Cup final. Staged in Middlesbrough, the final saw Harwich defeated 1-0 by Stockton thanks to a controversial late goal.
However, just nine days later, the Essex Senior Cup was lifted for the first time with Leytonstone beaten 2-0.
After playing in kits of varying colour, the club switched to its current black and white stripes in 1912.
Several local leagues were contested in the early part of the 20th Century but the club started to attract attention from further afield in the 1930s, now widely regarded as its greatest era.
The Shrimpers, as they were by now nicknamed, won back-to-back East Anglian Cups in 1933 and 1934.
Looking to test themselves against better opposition, Harwich moved into the Southern Amateur League for the 1934/35 campaign but they actually failed to complete their fixtures due to their success in several cup competitions.
The FA Cup first round was reached for the first time, a trip to Bristol Rovers bringing a 3-0 defeat. The Shrimpers were beaten in the Essex Senior Cup final but won the Amateur Football Alliance Senior Cup – the first of what would be a unique ‘three-peat’.
Centre forward Albert ‘Tully’ Day scored 76 goals that season, one of 402 he managed in Harwich colours. Both remain club records to this day.
The following season saw HPFC become founder members of the Eastern Counties League and they duly won the league and cup double, albeit they were forced to share the league title with Lowestoft – the pair drawing a play-off 3-3 at Colchester after finishing level on points.
The 1936/37 campaign is arguably the club’s best ever to date, four trophies being won, including the Essex Senior Cup and the ECL Cup. There was also a return to the FA Cup first round, this time current Premier League side Bournemouth proved too good, winning 5-1.
The next season saw the Royal Oak’s record attendance of 5,649 set for an Amateur Cup quarter-final defeat to Romford but soon the great 30s side would be broken up by the declaration of war.
The side was rebuilt in the late 1940s and in 1953 came the most famous day in club history – the FA Amateur Cup final at Wembley in front of a non-league record crowd of 100,000. After winning six ties to reach Wembley, the big day sadly brought a 6-0 defeat to Pegasus, a team made up of Oxford and Cambridge University players of the past and present.
The final appearance earned them another shot at the FA Cup first round. This time the Shrimpers received a home draw but blew a two-goal lead in losing 3-2 to Headington (now Oxford) United.
At the start of the 1960s, there were two more appearances in the FA Cup ‘proper’. In 1961, a trip to Torquay United ended in a 5-1 defeat, while two years later a visit to Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park brought an 8-2 drubbing.
Harwich’s long membership of the ECL ended in 1964 when the club moved into the Athenian League and there was immediate success with the Division Two title captured in 1964/65 under manager Eric Armstrong, father of current club chairman Tony. It remains the last time the first team won a league.
There was also another Amateur Cup run, this one ending at the quarter-final stage as Whitby won a replay 3-2 after a goalless draw on the Oak.
Promotion to the Premier Division was achieved the following season as the club competed well with teams across south-east England.
Floodlights were added to the Oak in 1968, switched on by England World Cup winner Geoff Hurst as West Ham visited the ground for a celebratory friendly.
The club switched to the Isthmian League in 1973 and enjoyed some memorable days during their decade as members.
In 1975/76, Harwich enjoyed their best-ever run in the FA Trophy, beating Barnet, Stourbridge and a Weymouth team including former England international Jeff Astle before losing to Bedford in the last 16.
The following season saw the club’s sixth and most recent appearance in the FA Cup first round. Many felt the hard work had been done when Enfield were held on their own patch to a 0-0 draw but three days later the non-league giants won 3-0 on the Oak.
Harwich narrowly missed out on promotion to the top tier of the Isthmian League that season, a third-placed finish being regarded as their highest-ever in the non-league pyramid.
The early 80s saw a decline in fortunes with relegation to the Athenian League for one season before that was disbanded and so the Shrimpers returned, after a 20-year absence, to the ECL which brought reduced travel.
Former Ipswich and England star Kevin Beattie famously played for the club in the mid-80s but it wasn’t until the end of the decade that success would return to the Royal Oak.
With former Arsenal defender Richie Powling as manager, Harwich lifted the Essex Senior Trophy in 1990 and the following season they enjoyed a famous FA Vase run which included memorable wins over Sudbury Town on the Oak and Cammell Laird on Merseyside. However, a quarter-final against eventual runners-up Gresley Rovers proved a step too far.
A few months later Glen Hepburn scored a post-War record seven goals in one game as Haverhill Rovers were beaten 9-0. He finished with 48 in the 1991/92 season, another record but one which would be eclipsed by Paul Smith in 1994/95 as he helped himself to 51.
Despite all the goals – and winning plenty of matches in numerous competitions – Harwich had been unable to mount a serious title challenge in the ECL until the arrival of Colin Hill as boss.
Under Hill, the long wait for a league title seemed set to end in 1996/97 but having established a 12-point lead, the Shrimpers stuttered in the second half of the season as both eventual champions Wroxham and Wisbech overhauled them. The ECL Cup was decent consolation though, Haverhill Rovers being beaten 2-0 in the final.
With the playing budget having become unsustainable, the strong 90s side broke up at the end of that season and Harwich slipped down the ECL table.
Having previously been handed relegation reprieves, Harwich finally dropped into Division One in 2003, although Mitchell Springett’s side bounced straight back, finishing second to win promotion.
Still, dark days soon returned and, weighed down by the debts of the 90s, the club took the decision to quit senior football in 2010, withdrawing from the ECL mid-season.
The club duly returned to the Essex and Suffolk Border League under the watch of current manager Matt Carmichael.
His initial four-year spell in charge brought two ESBL Knockout Cups (2012 and 2014) but it came to end after that second success after the club decided it was unable to return to senior level.
With players leaving as a result, the club decided to take voluntary demotion to Division One for the 2014/15 season – arguably the lowest level it has ever played at.
With three teams above them ineligible to go up, a fifth-placed finish proved enough for an immediate return to the Premier Division.
A return to senior football was made in 2018 when, following a reorganisation of the pyramid by the FA, a new ECL division – Division One South – was created.
Harwich finished fifth in their first season back, one which included a post-War record 12-match winning run.
After two COVID-ruined seasons, the club switched to Division One North – its current league – in 2022 and enjoyed immediate success.
Boss Sean Tynan led the Shrimpers to the play-offs but after Framlingham were beaten on penalties in the semi-finals, Downham proved too good in the promotion game, winning 4-0 on their own turf.
After narrowly missing out on a return to the play-offs in 2023/24, Tynan passed the reins back to Matt Carmichael with the club closing in on its 150th anniversary.
The early years involved only friendlies (played in a blue kit) and it wasn’t until 1886 that club played its first competitive game – losing 6-0 at Colchester Town in an Essex Senior Cup tie! By that stage, the club had changed its name to Harwich and Dovercourt FC but in 1889 it merged with Parkeston FC as the current name was taken on.
It was also in the Essex Senior Cup that the club reached its first final but that 1891 clash also went badly, Clapton winning 7-0.
The following year, Harwich made some significant history when they played host to Belgian side Antwerp in what has been officially recognised as the first-ever meeting of an English team and a continental European team on English soil.
League football was played for the first time in 1895/96 when the North Essex League was entered – and won.
Having originally played home matches on Barrack Field and then at the seafront Phoenix Ground – where balls were often lost to the sea - the club moved to the Royal Oak ground in 1898 where they have remained ever since.
The 1898/99 season was to prove memorable for other reasons too with a run to the FA Amateur Cup final. Staged in Middlesbrough, the final saw Harwich defeated 1-0 by Stockton thanks to a controversial late goal.
However, just nine days later, the Essex Senior Cup was lifted for the first time with Leytonstone beaten 2-0.
After playing in kits of varying colour, the club switched to its current black and white stripes in 1912.
Several local leagues were contested in the early part of the 20th Century but the club started to attract attention from further afield in the 1930s, now widely regarded as its greatest era.
The Shrimpers, as they were by now nicknamed, won back-to-back East Anglian Cups in 1933 and 1934.
Looking to test themselves against better opposition, Harwich moved into the Southern Amateur League for the 1934/35 campaign but they actually failed to complete their fixtures due to their success in several cup competitions.
The FA Cup first round was reached for the first time, a trip to Bristol Rovers bringing a 3-0 defeat. The Shrimpers were beaten in the Essex Senior Cup final but won the Amateur Football Alliance Senior Cup – the first of what would be a unique ‘three-peat’.
Centre forward Albert ‘Tully’ Day scored 76 goals that season, one of 402 he managed in Harwich colours. Both remain club records to this day.
The following season saw HPFC become founder members of the Eastern Counties League and they duly won the league and cup double, albeit they were forced to share the league title with Lowestoft – the pair drawing a play-off 3-3 at Colchester after finishing level on points.
The 1936/37 campaign is arguably the club’s best ever to date, four trophies being won, including the Essex Senior Cup and the ECL Cup. There was also a return to the FA Cup first round, this time current Premier League side Bournemouth proved too good, winning 5-1.
The next season saw the Royal Oak’s record attendance of 5,649 set for an Amateur Cup quarter-final defeat to Romford but soon the great 30s side would be broken up by the declaration of war.
The side was rebuilt in the late 1940s and in 1953 came the most famous day in club history – the FA Amateur Cup final at Wembley in front of a non-league record crowd of 100,000. After winning six ties to reach Wembley, the big day sadly brought a 6-0 defeat to Pegasus, a team made up of Oxford and Cambridge University players of the past and present.
The final appearance earned them another shot at the FA Cup first round. This time the Shrimpers received a home draw but blew a two-goal lead in losing 3-2 to Headington (now Oxford) United.
At the start of the 1960s, there were two more appearances in the FA Cup ‘proper’. In 1961, a trip to Torquay United ended in a 5-1 defeat, while two years later a visit to Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park brought an 8-2 drubbing.
Harwich’s long membership of the ECL ended in 1964 when the club moved into the Athenian League and there was immediate success with the Division Two title captured in 1964/65 under manager Eric Armstrong, father of current club chairman Tony. It remains the last time the first team won a league.
There was also another Amateur Cup run, this one ending at the quarter-final stage as Whitby won a replay 3-2 after a goalless draw on the Oak.
Promotion to the Premier Division was achieved the following season as the club competed well with teams across south-east England.
Floodlights were added to the Oak in 1968, switched on by England World Cup winner Geoff Hurst as West Ham visited the ground for a celebratory friendly.
The club switched to the Isthmian League in 1973 and enjoyed some memorable days during their decade as members.
In 1975/76, Harwich enjoyed their best-ever run in the FA Trophy, beating Barnet, Stourbridge and a Weymouth team including former England international Jeff Astle before losing to Bedford in the last 16.
The following season saw the club’s sixth and most recent appearance in the FA Cup first round. Many felt the hard work had been done when Enfield were held on their own patch to a 0-0 draw but three days later the non-league giants won 3-0 on the Oak.
Harwich narrowly missed out on promotion to the top tier of the Isthmian League that season, a third-placed finish being regarded as their highest-ever in the non-league pyramid.
The early 80s saw a decline in fortunes with relegation to the Athenian League for one season before that was disbanded and so the Shrimpers returned, after a 20-year absence, to the ECL which brought reduced travel.
Former Ipswich and England star Kevin Beattie famously played for the club in the mid-80s but it wasn’t until the end of the decade that success would return to the Royal Oak.
With former Arsenal defender Richie Powling as manager, Harwich lifted the Essex Senior Trophy in 1990 and the following season they enjoyed a famous FA Vase run which included memorable wins over Sudbury Town on the Oak and Cammell Laird on Merseyside. However, a quarter-final against eventual runners-up Gresley Rovers proved a step too far.
A few months later Glen Hepburn scored a post-War record seven goals in one game as Haverhill Rovers were beaten 9-0. He finished with 48 in the 1991/92 season, another record but one which would be eclipsed by Paul Smith in 1994/95 as he helped himself to 51.
Despite all the goals – and winning plenty of matches in numerous competitions – Harwich had been unable to mount a serious title challenge in the ECL until the arrival of Colin Hill as boss.
Under Hill, the long wait for a league title seemed set to end in 1996/97 but having established a 12-point lead, the Shrimpers stuttered in the second half of the season as both eventual champions Wroxham and Wisbech overhauled them. The ECL Cup was decent consolation though, Haverhill Rovers being beaten 2-0 in the final.
With the playing budget having become unsustainable, the strong 90s side broke up at the end of that season and Harwich slipped down the ECL table.
Having previously been handed relegation reprieves, Harwich finally dropped into Division One in 2003, although Mitchell Springett’s side bounced straight back, finishing second to win promotion.
Still, dark days soon returned and, weighed down by the debts of the 90s, the club took the decision to quit senior football in 2010, withdrawing from the ECL mid-season.
The club duly returned to the Essex and Suffolk Border League under the watch of current manager Matt Carmichael.
His initial four-year spell in charge brought two ESBL Knockout Cups (2012 and 2014) but it came to end after that second success after the club decided it was unable to return to senior level.
With players leaving as a result, the club decided to take voluntary demotion to Division One for the 2014/15 season – arguably the lowest level it has ever played at.
With three teams above them ineligible to go up, a fifth-placed finish proved enough for an immediate return to the Premier Division.
A return to senior football was made in 2018 when, following a reorganisation of the pyramid by the FA, a new ECL division – Division One South – was created.
Harwich finished fifth in their first season back, one which included a post-War record 12-match winning run.
After two COVID-ruined seasons, the club switched to Division One North – its current league – in 2022 and enjoyed immediate success.
Boss Sean Tynan led the Shrimpers to the play-offs but after Framlingham were beaten on penalties in the semi-finals, Downham proved too good in the promotion game, winning 4-0 on their own turf.
After narrowly missing out on a return to the play-offs in 2023/24, Tynan passed the reins back to Matt Carmichael with the club closing in on its 150th anniversary.