You’ll be forgiven for potentially not knowing that there are in fact two Enfield sides plying their trade in non-league football.
Enfield Town are the country’s first fan-owned football club, playing football now in the National League South, having stayed up dramatically last season. They were founded in 2001, as a breakaway club from the subject of today’s article.
Enfield FC, formed way back in 1893, were one of non-league’s most successful clubs for large parts of the 1900s. Enfield won the Conference League twice, the FA Amateur Cup twice and the FA Trophy twice, not even mentioning a fourth round FA Cup run in 1981.
They were not elected into the Football League however, so despite winning the Conference, did not gain Football League status.
After financial issues, the club’s Southbury Road ground was sold for development in 1999, with the club agreeing to ground-share with Boreham Wood, 10 miles away from their Enfield base.
This led to discontent amongst supporters and in 2001, as previously mentioned, a large portion of the club’s fans broke away and formed Enfield Town FC, to ‘keep football in Enfield’.
Enfield FC continued to play up until 2007, but the club fell into disrepair and went defunct, owing largely to financial mismanagement following the sale of Southbury Road by chairman Tony Lazarou.
Reforming just two years later, ‘Enfield 1893’ moved in with Broxbourne Borough V&E for a season, before merging with Brimsdown Rovers and moving into their Goldsdown Road home. This ground was also shared by their fan-owned counterparts, Enfield Town FC, who moved out at the end of the season into their new home at Queen Elizabeth II Stadium, in the heart of Enfield, where the club still resides today.
Enfield 1893 were denied promotion due to ground grading issues at their new home, so a ground share agreement was made with Harlow Town in 2014. Despite their ground in Brimsdown being in the Enfield Borough, the newly reformed side were on the move again.
The club moved again in 2019, this time to Bishop’s Stortford’s ground, some 20 miles plus from their native Enfield. The ‘1893’ was dropped around this time, with the club reverting back to their original name of Enfield FC.
Promotion to Step 4 followed under the guidance of player-manager and goalscoring legend Jamie Cureton, as Enfield won the Essex Senior League in 2023.
Enfield FC now play their football in the Southern League Division One Central, but have found Step 4 life challenging. They narrowly survived the Isthmian North in their first season back at this level, however a sideways move to the Southern League seemed like a change in fortunes.
They reached a ground share agreement with Hertford Town and finished 12th last season, in the same league as their landlords.
This season though, the E’s are struggling, sitting in the relegation spots with relegation to Step 5 a real possibility for Alex Salmon’s side. Good news was on the table however, with the club finally moving back into the Enfield postcode.
It might not quite be in Enfield itself, but a 10-year ground share agreement with nearby Potters Bar Town has been reached, allowing the club to be closer to home once again. The deal includes an option for the E’s to leave the ground once they have secured a new, permanent home in the borough of Enfield — something the club have been tirelessly working towards for a number of years now.
The news sparks fresh optimism for the club, who will no doubt relish the opportunity to finally be closer to their native home once more.
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