LUTON BOROUGH FOOTBALL CLUB
1989 – 2007
The seeds of Luton Borough Football Club were sown in
a kick about in the Spring of 1989, between friends Ray Bradford & Steve Joyce, and their football mad 9 year old sons.
Having played since 6 years old for their Beaver & Cubs teams the two boys were now frustrated at not being able to continue
playing, as organised Youth football catered only for boys over the age of 10. Realising that the boys both had a group of
friends in the same predicament Ray & Steve offered to start a team for them.
Ray asked the Headmaster of his Son’s school for help with facilities, who
was only too happy to help, and on 5th May 1989 a get together was held at Hart Hill School, attended by 18 keen
8 & 9 year olds, desperate to play football. Dragons Football Club was born.
After only a few weeks training Dragons played their first match, a creditable 1-1
draw at Evergreen (Kings Langley), and the players bringing
their own shorts & socks and wearing a set of borrowed shirts. The team was too young to join a League, so spent the 1989-90
season playing friendlies against a mixture of Cub, Church & Club teams.
The highlight of that first year came in February 1990 when Ray, Steve & three
other parents took the team to Malta
for an educational & football trip, thus starting the tradition for Club holidays. Various outings were arranged, together
with matches against Gzira, Fgura & Sliema Wanderers.
The 1990-91 season saw Dragons Football Club enter the Chiltern Youth League. A
mixed season ended on a high note with the Club being awarded the Leagues Sporting Trophy for fair Play, before heading off
for a second trip to Malta. It had never been Ray & Steve’s intention
for Dragons to become a big Club, the original idea was to run just the one team. However prior to the start of the 1991-92
season there were enough new players at training to start a new, younger team. So two teams were entered into the League and
the tradition of starting a new team each season had begun.
The Club’s links with Luton Borough Council began in 1992, with
discussions about how they could help with an ambitious plan by Dragons to run a Youth World Cup tournament, inviting teams
from all over the World. With the Council’s backing the dream became a reality, and in August 1992 teams from Holland,
Germany, Ukraine, Hungary, USA, Ireland, Scotland & Italy, together with several local teams played out their own version
of the World Cup for two weeks at Stopsley Sport Centre. This was also the Clubs first link with our current Stopsley Common
Sports Club home, as they invited us to base the tournament there. It was a great success as our team went on to the Quarter
Finals. The deserved winners were the team from Lvov, Ukraine,
beating Fusion of Louisville, Kentucky
in the Final.
Interestingly this tournament is the reason for the current Club colours; having
previously worn all white, with a change kit of all red, it was decided to wear England’s
colours for this competition, and so the White & Navy was adopted.
During 1992-93 the Club continued to grow in reputation and size, and by the end
of the 1993-94 season, with the Club winning the first of it’s many playing honours, The Chiltern Youth League Under
14 Division 2 title, it was becoming a real struggle to find homes for all of the Club’s teams. Various age groups were
sharing pitches at Hart Hill School, Wenlock School
& Ashcroft School, but with more teams forming each year
a bigger venue was needed to house the Club. And so the move was made to our current Stopsley Sports Club home, with the entire
Club’s teams playing on the Sports Centre pitches.
The conclusion of the 1994-95 season saw two huge events in the Club’s history.
With the older Youth players flirting with Senior football, and several older players asking to join the Club, it was decided
to move into Senior football. A team was entered into the Luton District & South Beds League for the coming season.
The F.A. also decided to introduce Mini Soccer for younger players, and with nobody
else prepared to organise and administer the mini soccer teams in the local area, the Dragons F.C. Committee formed the Chiltern
Junior Sevens Football League during the Summer of 1995. During the 1995-96 season plans were being put together to hold a
Euro 96 Youth tournament. Again teams came from around Europe to compete for a week at Stopsley during
August 1996, and again the Ukrainians from Lvov came out winners, beating
a strong Scottish team in the final.
Having settled into our new Stopsley home talks began in earnest with Luton Borough
Council about the development of the Club’s sport & social facilities. For the first time there was a suggestion
that the Council were willing to support a local Club, which represented the whole Community, and that it would be an advantage
if that Club were called Luton Borough.
This was serious food for thought, and the main topic of discussion at many Committee
meetings, until a decision was reached to change the Club name at the conclusion of the 1997-98 season. The old name was seen
off in style as the Senior team won a Luton League treble; Division Two Champions, Divisional
Trophy winners and Fair Play award winners.
So in July 1998 Dragons F.C. became Luton Borough F.C. with a party to launch
the new name, and a partnership was formed between the Club & the Council. The Clubs first duty under the Luton Borough
name was to host a visit by Repov F.C. of the Czech Republic. In return
our Senior team attended a tournament in the Czech Republic in August
1999 as guests of Repov. The standard was high as the four Czech teams in the tournament were all semi professional, but we
came out with a creditable third place out of 5 teams, and the awards for Player of the Tournament & Goalkeeper of the
Tournament.
And so the Century changed and the success of the ‘Borough’ teams continued,
not knowing there was a serious set back around the corner. A routine Council safety inspection of the Clubhouse found large
quantities of asbestos and in November 2000 the building was closed and gutted with only an hours notice, leaving the Club
homeless. Things looked bleak as the Council were reluctant to give permission for refurbishment and the Football Club became
more and more difficult to run and move forward without a base. However after months of discussion and negotiation a plan
for Sport Development was drawn up for Stopsley Sport Centre with the redevelopment of the Club House and bar as Stage One
of the plan.
After a very difficult 14 months the new Club House was opened by the Mayor of Luton on 11th January 2002.
At the end of the 2001-2002 season the Senior Section took the decision to move
to the Bedford & District League as the result of growing dissatisfaction with the declining Luton League.
This wasn’t the only new chapter in the Club’s history that Summer as
Luton Borough
Ladies was formed and entered the Eastern Region Women’s League for the 2002-2003 season.
At the end of the 2002-2003 season another landmark is reached, as the first ex
Luton Borough
player to be given a professional contract is Tom Freeman, who played in our most successful Youth team to date. Tom has now
been joined by his youth team mates Calvin Andrew & Mutsa Magadah on contract to Luton Town.
Summer 2003 again saw the Club host an international tournament with the visit of
Chinook Thunder & Team Jane, ladies teams from Canada
& USA respectively,
who together with our own Ladies team & Barton Rovers Ladies played out an exciting week’s football. Barton Rovers
came out winners, while Luton Borough Ladies took the fair play award.
The Club administration was restructured at the beginning of 2004 to make it more
manageable and responsive to the needs of Club members. The main Committee formed into two sub committee’s to manage
the Youth & Junior sections and the Senior & Ladies sections.
Luton Borough continued to be a success both on and off the field during the
2004-05 season, winning 2 Leagues and a League Cup at Youth level and achieving the Football Association Charter Standard
Award, while the demand for football for younger and younger Boys & Girls has seen the opening of a nursery section which
provides coaching and fun for 5 & 6 year olds. Meanwhile ex Borough boy Calvin Andrew broke through into the Luton Town 1st
team.
During the Summer of 2005 Luton Borough Ladies hosted their 2nd
International Tournament, with teams from USA,
Scotland, Ukraine,
Moldova and Belgium taking part.
The 2005-06 season was a successful season on the pitch, but the club was hit by
the resignation of both Steve Joyce and Ray Bradford, the founders of the club.
The Football Club which was started for a group of lads no one wanted is not doing
too bad, with sections representing 5 year olds to Seniors, Men, Women, Boys & Girls, and has won 1 County Cup, 23 League
Championships, 12 League Cups, 1 Divisional Trophy, 1 Subsidiary Trophy, 6 Tournaments and 6 Fair Play Awards. And whose teams
have made various visits to Malta,
Holland, Spain,
Czech Republic, Greece
and many UK tournaments, as
well as hosting many visits by foreign teams.
Although the committee has some work to do behind the scenes, the clubs success
is expected to continue. With Luton Borough F.C. going from strength to strength, an exciting
2006-07 is promised.
