Who are Hayes Football Club?
The story of Hayes Football Club goes back to 1909 when they were formed. If reports are true, there was a religious calling to their existence; Wikipedia suggesting that Eileen Shackle set up the club to allow local lads to have both sporting and religious pursuits in their life. At the start, they went under the name Botwell Mission. ‘Hayes’ wasn’t added to the list of English football club names until 1930 perhaps. That’s the Football Club History Database‘s guess, at least…
For a long time, the Missioners were members of the Athenian League with varying degrees of success. They came second in 1950 and won the title in 1957 on goal average. More often than not, however, they tended to faff around in mid-table.
This was the way of their world until 1971, when they decided to join the Isthmian League. For the first few years, the Missioners struggled at the bottom end of Division One – later renamed the Premier Division. The 1980-1 campaign was the first time they troubled the top half of that table. And it started a little period during the early-to-mid 1980s where they found themselves competing with the sides chasing a place in the Alliance Premier League/Football Conference.
Why do we know the Missioners?
The 1980s weren’t a particularly consistent time for the Missioners. The club spent time lower down the table, before surging back into the upper reaches. It was quite the rollercoaster ride when you look at their league placings going into the 1990s. But there wasn’t much danger of relegation or promotion. So, when Boro’ made the step up to the Premier Division for the first time in 1992, it was inevitable that we’d come across them.
