As confusing as it seems, Sawbridgeworth Town played in the Essex Senior League for a long time – as well as the Herts Senior Cup. Now, we don’t know about you, but we think you should pick a county allegiance and be glad about it. We’ll also put it on record that Sawbridgeworth is a name we can’t type without wanting to cut it into two words. Y’know, like Boreham Wood. Whatever – the point we’re labouring is that we haven’t played the Robins in a meaningful game since becoming a senior football team in 1979.
We’ll apologise to Herts Senior Cup enthusiasts for that one. But it feels as if we stopped treating that as a first team competition a generation ago.
Sawbridgeworth Town: The Facts
Crofters End
Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, CM21 0DE
The Robins are quite an old team by all accounts; forming in 1897, but spending much of their existence in county competitions. In the interests of brevity, we’re not going to properly deep dive the club’s story. But we’ll tell you for free that a East Herts League title in 1924 counts as one of their first honours. They had a spell in the Spartan League during the 1930s, but soon found themselves back in county competition.
In 1966, the Robins crossed county lines and joined the Essex Olympian League. It’s worth noting that the club didn’t have the ‘Town’ suffix at this point. That would be added in 1976; the same year they went into the Essex Senior League. That’d pretty much be the end of the story as far as we’re concerned. Except, in 2023, shock! They joined an inter-county competition in the form of the Spartan South Midlands League.
How to get to Sawbridgeworth Town – Travel Information – Distance: 22 miles
By Road
The nature of cross-county links means a road trip to Sawbo is not without its hassle. It’s doable, however, and not exactly the most arduous. Your first step is to head for Ware on the A602. When you get to the A10, take the southbound in the direction of London for a couple of junctions. Take the exit for Ware (South) and Stanstead Abbotts among other directions because you’ll be wanting the A414 towards Harlow.
Follow the A414 along its entire dualled length until you reach the outskirts of Harlow. Here, do not take the A414 option at the roundabout. Instead, take the first proper exit – the first actual exit is a dead end – to go towards High Wych along a road without a number. Stay on this road to reach the village of High Wych. The road will bring you to a junction with the A1184. Here, turn left and you’re now entering Sawbridgeworth.
In just under a mile, you’ll get to a double mini-roundabout. At this point, you want to take the left turn into West Road. Shortly after, turn right into Crofters. The ground is down here at the end.
It looks like there may be a small car park at the ground, which could be your best option. If this is full or not available to the general public, we’d consider street parking. But do check if there are any restrictions as we do not have that knowledge.
By Rail
Station: SAWBRIDGEWORTH
Services to: CAMBRIDGE, LONDON LIVERPOOL STREET
Either way, the train is going to be a bit of a faff. You’ll either need to go north to Cambridge or south to London to get on the right line. If this is what you choose to do, fair dinkum. Here’s how to get from the town’s station to the ground.
No matter which direction you arrive at the station from, you want to turn right onto Station Road. You’ll know you’ve gone right if you cross over the River Stort soon after. Keep on Station Road all the way ’til you’re at the double mini-roundabout mentioned above.
From your perspective now, you’ll want to cross over and go straight on up West Road. It’s then a right turn into Crofters.
