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Halstead Town Football Club is a football club based in Halstead, Essex, England. They are currently members of the Essex Senior League and play at Rosemary Lane.

History
The club was established in 1879 as Halstead Football Club following a meeting in the town hall by a group of 16 men. Due to a lack of football infrastructure in rural areas at the time the club played only occasional friendlies until they joined the newly formed North Essex League in 1895. In 1901–02 the club won their first trophy, the Essex Junior Cup, with a 2–0 victory over Chingford in the final. During the first half of the 20th century, the club played in the Halstead & District League and the Haverhill & District League.

After World War II the club added "Town" to their name and joined Division Two of the North Essex League. They were swiftly promoted to Division One, before joining the Essex & Suffolk Border League. They were Premier Division runners-up in 1949–50 and again in 1954–55 before winning the league and League Cup double in 1957–58, beating Lakenheath 11–2 on aggregate in the final of the League Cup. They were Premier Division runners-up the following season and also retained the League Cup with a 6–2 aggregate win over Clacton Town reserves. The club were league runners-up again in 1960–61 before winning a second Premier Division title in 1968–69. They won the League Cup for a third time in 1973–74 with a 3–0 win over Brantham Athletic in a replay. After finishing as runners-up in 1976–77 the club won a third Premier Division title the following season.

In 1980 Halstead joined the Essex Senior League. In 1988 they were founder members of Division One of the Eastern Counties League, and finished as runners-up in its first season, earning promotion to the Premier Division. In 1993–94 they were Premier Division runners-up, and also won the Essex Senior Trophy, beating Canvey Island 2–0 in the final. They went on to win two consecutive Premier Division titles in 1994–95 and 1995–96, also winning the League Cup in the latter season with a 4–0 win over Fakenham Town in the final. The following season they won the Essex Senior Trophy for a second time.

In 2000–01 Halstead were relegated to Division One after finishing bottom of the Premier Division, They won Division One and the Division One Cup in 2002–03 and were promoted back to the Premier Division. They won the League Cup in 2004–05, but were relegated again at the end of the 2006–07 season after finishing bottom of the Premier Division.

Ground
In their early years the club played at various grounds in the town including Ravens Meadow, King George Playing Field and Coggeshall Pieces. By World War II they were playing at Three Gates, and the ground was commandeered by the RAF during the war for agriculture. When football restarted after the war, the club temporarily played at the Courtaulds Sports Ground, before moving to Rosemary Lane in 1948. The opening match against Eton Manor on 21 August 1948 attracted a crowd of 1,800. This was exceeded the following year when 4,000 watched an Essex Senior Cup match against Walthamstow Avenue. A 512-seat grandstand was opened in 1950 and remains the only cover for spectators. Railings were installed around the pitch, taken from North Sea defences at Clacton-on-Sea. Floodlights were erected in 1989.

Honours
Eastern Counties League
Premier Division champions 1994–95, 1995–96
Division One champions 2002–03
League Cup winners 1995–96, 2004–05
Division One Cup winners 2002–03
Essex & Suffolk Border League
Premier Division champions 1957–58, 1968–69, 1977–78
League Cup winners 1957–58, 1958–59, 1973–74
Essex Senior Trophy
Winners 1992–93, 1996–97

Records
Best FA Cup performance: Third qualifying round, 1993–94, 1998–99
Best FA Vase performance: Fourth round, 1993–94, 1994–95
Record attendance: 4,000 vs Walthamstow Avenue, Essex Senior Cup, 1949

23/01/24 Essex Senior League HALSTEAD TOWN 0
FRENFORD 0

13/01/24 Peter Butcher
Memorial Trophy
1st Round STANWAY ROVERS 2
HALSTEAD TOWN 0

06/01/24 Essex Senior League HALSTEAD TOWN 2
(Kane Gilbert, Harry Pinkney)
WHITE ENSIGN 1

03/01/24 Essex Senior League HALSTEAD TOWN 2
(Kane Gilbert, Matthew Coppen)
STANWAY ROVERS 3

20/12/23 Essex Senior League WOODFORD TOWN 1
HALSTEAD TOWN 2
(Kane Gilbert, Sonny Dutton)

16/12/23 Essex Senior League HALSTEAD TOWN 4
(Kane Gilbert, Matthew Coppen, Jake Brown, Alfie Cleal)
TAKELEY 3

After 26 matches, “The Humbugs” are currently in 5th place in the Essex Senior League Premier. They have 42 points from those 26 games – 12 wins, 6 draws, and 8 defeats. They have a +6 goal difference, scoring 52 and conceding 46.

Away form consists of 7 wins, 1 draw, and 5 defeats, scoring 31 and conceding 27. That impressive record of 7 wins includes a 1-2 December victory at Woodford Town, a 1-2 victory at Little Oakley also in December, a 2-3 win at White Ensign in November, a 0-6 win at Barking in October, a 2-3 win at Frenford in October, a 1-3 win at Stanway Rovers in September, and a 1-3 win at Ilford In July.

In current form they are in 4th place with 3 wins, 2 draws, and 1 defeat, scoring 11 and conceding 9.

On the 12th of September 2023, 221 watched Halstead take the three points with goals from Julian Simon-Parson and Kane Gilbert (more of him later!) with Solomon Ofori replying for The Bridge. All the goals came in the second half as the final result ended 2-1 to the home team.

Adebolu Adeyemi
Robbie Bennett
Jake Brown
Bradley Byrne
Ryan Carter
Jack Cherry
Alfie Cleal
Matthew Coppen
Daniel Cousens
David Cowley
Jordon Crisell
Markus Dunn
Sonny Dutton
Kane Gilbert
Ben Heath
Joseph Jones
George Mann
Joseph Maybanks
Nick Miller
Ben Morris
Joel Older
Jordan Palmer
Jordan Pavett
Harry Pinkney
Jack Schelvis
Thomas Seager
Julian Simon-Parson
Scott Sloots
Lewis Stark
Matthew Travell
Joe Vogler
Marcus Warren
Tom White
Harley Yates
Benjamin Young

By far and away the one to watch out for if he’s playing is Kane Gilbert who has hit the net 23 times this season. Sonny Dutton is ex-The Bridge but has only scored 3 in 27.

Here’s Kane, or what looks like his ID Card!

And here’s his impressive stats.
Both the above are thanks to the excellent Halstead website (if only every ESL club were like this!)
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After a mostly successful time on the road, despite a slight blip at White Ensign last night, The Bridge are back at the T.J.Cottis, hoping to bring some of that away form to our home venue to drive us up the league table. 6th against 8th makes this a vital battle for the points and this is a big game in the scheme of things. At home and massive, what more do we need…maybe a few beers, some decent weather, and a half-time sausage roll…living the dream...you bet…
There remains just one thing left to say….