The club is experiencing our third consecutive season in Isthmian South Central League, our highest place in the football pyramid. In our first season at this level we reached fourth place, which led to us securing a play-off final place where we lost to Walton and Hersham. Last season, in a campaign punctuated with postponements and injuries we achieved seventh place. We’re hoping to once again to see ourselves in the top quarter of the table but time will tell.
We’ve come a long way…
1976: Formation
Hanworth Villa was formed in 1976. In the early years, the team struggled in Division one of the Hounslow & District League, and scoring a goal was usually celebrated with a public holiday. During a close season, following hard work by Jimmy Connors, the team was completely rebuilt and this led to them finishing as Division 1 Champions.
The following Season saw the club start an incredible run in the league, which finished 68 matches later, with the club winning the Hounslow Premier League and the West Middlesex Division’s one and two championships. The success continued with Hanworth being elected to the newly formed Middlesex County Football League in 1984/1985.
1997: The move to Rectory Meadow
From 1980 the club had a nomadic existence but in 1997 moved to their current headquarters at Rectory Meadow. This move led to the formation of Hanworth Villa Sunday and a new reserve team, being an amalgamation of teams from The Sawyers Arms, The Queen Dowager and Feltham Railway Club. A Chiswick League double in 1992/1993 and a 19-0 Cup Final victory in the National Railways Cup cemented the successful amalgamation.
Following hard work by Dave Brown the club was granted a lease at Rectory Meadow. At last the team had a permanent home and could set about converting an existing pavilion into a clubhouse, which has become known as the ‘Ranch’.
With a permanent base, Villa were also able to concentrate on improving the level of football, and in 2002/2003 a notable performance by the Saturday first team was to win ‘the treble’ of the Middlesex County Premier Cup, the Open Cup and the Middlesex County League. After another Premier League title in 2004/2005, with a record number of points, it was decided to move on and the club were elected to Division 1 of the Combined Counties League in 2005/2006.
2005 onwards
It took a while to adapt to the new level of football, but in the second season they managed to win the Challenge Cup. The following season, 2007/2008, the team managed to successfully defend the Challenge Cup and also narrowly miss out on the league title, finishing a credible second. However the lack of facilities at the ‘Ranch’ prevented promotion to the Premier Division.
The club were determined to ensure that the situation should not arise again and with typical determination the committee managed to raise the funds to ensure that floodlights and a spectator stand were installed in time for the 2008/2009 campaign. The effort was not in vain as once again the team finished second and following a successful ground inspection Hanworth Villa were promoted to the Combined Counties Premier League for the 2009/2010 season
2009: Combined Counties Premier League
The debut season was as expected difficult with points being few and far between and it was not until the second half of the campaign that the team came to terms with the standard of football required. By the end of the season the team had collected enough points to finish 17th, three points clear of relegation.
The first season taught the club a lot and changes were put in place to allow for a more comfortable second season, in which not only did the team finish in 5th position in the league, but also reached the finals of the Middlesex Senior Charity Cup and the Southern Combination Cup. Unfortunately they were to lose in both.
2011/12: Up for the cups
The 2011/2012 season will live long in the memory of all concerned at the club as being their most successful in national competition. In the FA Cup the team, after victories over Shrivenham, Bedfont Sports, Wembley, Aveley and Slough, lined up against AFC Totten for a place in the 1st Round proper, a rare achievement for a team competing at national level 9. In a very close encounter AFC won 3-2.
In the FA Vase the team reached the third round losing to Herne Bay, one of the beaten semi-finalists that year.
2013/14: Double success
In 2013/2014 the team were successful in achieving a double, in winning both the Middlesex Premier League Cup and the Southern Combination Cup.
2015/16: Enter Rufus Brevett as manager
At the end of the 2015/16 season the club appointed former Queens Park Rangers and Fulham defender Rufus Brevett as their new manager. Rufus had previously managed at Arlesey Town and had coached at Banbury United.
Under the Management of Rufus and his team, Bobby Watson, Carl Cleaver and Cliff Angol the team won the Middlesex Senior Charity Cup with a 3 – 2 win over Spelthorne Sports. It was the second occasion in three years that the team have won this trophy.
2018: Louis Carder-Walcott becomes the manager
In December 2018, by mutual agreement, Rufus Brevett stepped down as first team Manager with Louis Carder-Walcott, previously Assistant Manager at Westfield FC, being appointed shortly after.
Following a poor run of form at the start of the 2019/20 and with no positive signs of recovery it was, by mutual agreement, decided that Louis would step down as Manager of the club.
2019: Simon Haughney takes the reigns
In November 2019 the manager position was filled by Simon Haughney with his management team of Paul Thomas and Leon Solomon.
The players responded well to this new team and with the addition of several new signings performed well, despite the distractions of the Covid pandemic. Not only did they remain unbeaten in the ten matches played during the suspended 2020-21 season, they also set a new club record by progressing to the last 16 of the F A Vase, narrowly losing to Long Eaton United on penalties.
2020/21 Champions, promotion and unbeaten throughout the season
Last season proved to be the greatest in the history of Hanworth Villa FC and, in winning the inaugural Combined Counties North Premier Division and with it promotion to the Isthmian League, the club achieved their highest position in senior football since the formation in 1976. The most remarkable record of all is, however, that the team remained unbeaten throughout the league season.
2021/22 First year in the Isthmian South Central
Once again, following promotion, the team had to come to terms with competing at a higher level within the NLS. Having kept most of the Invincibles squad from the previous season Simon, Paul and Leon added some additional experience within the squad and although through early loss of form and key injuries the team slowly began to get to grips with football at step 4 within the NLS. As the season progressed so did the team and the results culminating with a 2-1 victory over Northwood in April 22 to clinch 4th in the IFL South Central Division and a semi final play off game away to Marlow. A tense tie was 1-1 going into the last minute of the game when George Wells stepped up and clinched the tie with a fine goal.
Having won through to the final all that stood between Hanworth Villa and back to back promotions was Walton & Hersham, one of Simon and Paul’s previous clubs. In front of a 2,500 crowd at the EXCEL stadium in Walton Villa took a first half lead but could not hold onto to it eventually going down 3-1.
2023/24 Seventh place finish
Hanworth Villa retained the services of Simon & Paul for the new 2023/24 season in the face of many approaches from many clubs for their services and look to build on the success of recent years.
After a difficult season with a large number of games postponed Villa found themselves playing a large number of games in a short space of time towards the end of the season and finished a creditable seventh.
The 2023/24 season was also notable with Gary Brunning, so instrumental in driving the club to the dizzy heights of the NLS step 4, stepping down as chairman being replaced by James Connor, Ex-Millwall professional footballer, and son of the original founder Jimmy Connor who’s vision and drive will take the club further up the NLS pyramid. Gary Brunning moves up to Joint President of Hanworth Villa sharing the position with Jimmy Connor.
It should be noted that Gary Brunning not only drove the development of the club over the past 35 years but also gave unswerving service to the club as a player playing a big part of our achievements between 1978 and our eventual promotion to step 6 and the Combined Counties FL playing first team football well into his 40’s. He was approached many times to play higher up the football pyramid by higher ranked teams but remained loyal to Hanworth Villa over all those years and for this the club will always be grateful.
Honours
- 2002/03 Middlesex County League Champions
- Middlesex Federation League Cup Winners
- Alec Smith Middlesex County Premier Division Cup Winners
- 2004/05 Middlesex County League Champions
- 2006/07 Combined Counties League Division One Cup Winners
- 2007/08 Combined Counties League Division One Cup Winners
- 2011/12 Southern Combination Cup Winners
- 2013/14 Combined Counties Premier Challenge Cup Winners
- Southern Combination Cup Winners
- 2015/16 Middlesex Senior Charity Cup Winners
- 2017/18 Middlesex Senior Charity Cup Winners
- 2021/22 Combined Counties League Premier Division North Champions
Download a copy of the Brief history of Hanworth Villa
