Harwich & Parkeston Football Club is a football club based in Harwich, Essex, England. The club are currently members of the Eastern Counties League Division One North and play at the Royal Oak ground.
History
The club was established in 1875, and reached their first cup final in 1891, losing to Clapton in the final of the Essex Senior Cup. In 1892 the club played host to Antwerp (now Royal Antwerp) in what has been officially recognised as the first-ever meeting of an English team and a continental European team on English soil. Harwich won 11-0. In 1893, the club travelled to play Sparta Rotterdam winning 8-0
[1] They were founder members of the North Essex League in 1895, clinching the inaugural league title with a 5–2 win over Braintree.[2] The 1898–99 season saw them become champions of Division One in the North Essex League and win the Essex Senior Cup, beating Leytonstone in the final. They also reached the final of the FA Amateur Cup, losing 1–0 to Stockton. The following season they were expelled from the competition after refusing to play extra time away to West Croydon.[3]
Harwich were founder members of the South East Anglian League in 1903 and were runners-up in its first season.[4] However, they finished bottom of the league the following season.[5] They played in the league until 1910, but also joined the Essex & Suffolk Border League, which they won in 1908–09, 1913–14, 1920–21, 1921–22, 1922–23, 1928–29, 1931–32, 1932–33 and 1933–34.[6] The club also entered a team into the Ipswich & District League, winning the Senior Division in 1922–23. In 1934–35 the club reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time but lost 3–0 at Bristol Rovers. In 1935 the club became founder members of the Eastern Counties League,[7] and shared the first championship with Lowestoft Town. The following season they reached the FA Cup first round again, losing 5–1 at Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic.
In 1937 Harwich left the Eastern Counties League to play in the Essex County League, which they won at the first attempt, but returned after a single season as the league folded. In 1938 a record Royal Oak attendance of 5,649 was set during the Amateur Cup quarter final match against Romford. They reached the final of the Amateur Cup again in 1953, but lost 6–0 to Pegasus at Wembley Stadium in front of a non-league record crowd of 100,000. The following season they played in the FA Cup first round again, but lost 3–2 at home to Headington United. The first round was also reached again in 1961–62 and 1963–64, but the club suffered heavy defeats on both occasions, losing 5–1 at Torquay United and 8–2 at Crystal Palace.
In 1964 Harwich joined Division Two of the Athenian League. Champions in their first season, they were promoted to Division One. After finishing runners-up the following season, the club were promoted to the Premier Division. They remained at that level until 1973, when they switched to the Isthmian League. They reached the first round of the FA Cup again in 1976/77, where they lost 3–0 at home to Enfield in a replay after a 0–0 draw. However, they were relegated in 1979–80 and after finishing bottom in 1982–83 the club dropped into the Athenian League for one season, before returning to the Eastern Counties League, winning the League Cup in 1997.
In 2002–03 Harwich were relegated to Division One of the Eastern Counties League, but finished runners-up in their first season to make an immediate return. They remained in the Premier Division until resigning on 9 February 2010, and subsequently joining the Premier Division of the Essex & Suffolk Border League for the 2010–11 season.[8] In 2014 the club disbanded its reserve team, and dropped into Division One of the Border League for the 2014–15 season. In 2018, the club joined the new Division One South of the Eastern Counties League. They were transferred to Division One North for the 2022–23 season, and went on to finish fourth in the league, qualifying for the promotion play-offs. After beating Framlingham Town 5–4 on penalties in the semi-finals (after a 1–1 draw), the club were beaten 4–0 in the final by Downham Town.
Ground
The club initially played at Barrack Field, later moving to the Phoenix Ground on the coast. In 1898 they moved to their current home, the Royal Oak, initially as leaseholders. The Club purchased the site in 1922.
