Harlow Town F.C.
Harlow Town Football Club, nicknamed The Hawks, is an English club from Harlow, Essex. They play at The Harlow Arena, which holds about 3,500 people (350 seated). The club is owned by administration (Andrew Duncan and Liam Short) with Tim Sewell as chairman, and the interim manager is Syrus Gordon. In the 2024–25 season they finished first in the Eastern Counties League Division One South and were promoted to the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division.
Harlow Town was founded in 1879. They played their first match on 18 October 1879 against Saffron Walden and spent early years in local fixtures. The club briefly merged with Netteswell and Burnt Mill in 1898, then split again in 1902. They joined the Spartan League in 1932 and gained Senior Status in 1937, allowing them to compete in the FA Cup and Essex Senior Cups for the first time. Over the decades the club moved through several leagues as Harlow grew from a small town to a larger community.
In the 1960s the club moved to the Hammarskjold Road Sportcentre, later switching to the Delphian League and then the Athenian League. Their FA Cup memories include a famous 1979–80 run where they beat several clubs and defeated Leicester City in a televised replay before losing to Watford in the fourth round. The team moved through more promotions and relegations in the Isthmian and Southern leagues, and in 2006 they transferred to a new ground at Barrow’s Farm, which was later renamed The Harlow Arena.
A 3G pitch was installed in 2013 to support community use, and the ground was branded as The Harlow Arena. The club also started The Harlow Academy in 2014, a youth setup with many teams. In 2015–16 they made another push for promotion and won the playoff final 3–1 against Hornchurch to reach the Premier Division. The 2016–17 season saw their best finish in years, while the following seasons included battles against relegation and several managerial changes.
In January 2020, Danny Chapman returned as manager after a period of upheaval. The 2020–21 season was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In December 2022 the club withdrew from the Southern Football League due to problems with their artificial pitch, but by May 2023 they announced a return to the league system in the Eastern Counties League Division One South for 2023–24. Harlow Town entered administration on 9 January 2026 and were deducted 10 points.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 08:16 (CET).