Hitchin Isthmian Years Stats

[RST]

Having bought my first HTFC season ticket at the start of the 1980s my Isthmian memories (fading as the days go by) are mostly of seasons fighting against relegation with the occasional good season to break up the misery!

Partly prompted by Pudgy's post on the Back or Sack thread I thought I would have a look back at the stats for the whole of our Isthmian years to see how we fared and whether I had indeed missed the glory years.

Using the www.isthmianarchive.co.uk website it seems we competed in the Isthmian Premier division for 35 seasons between 1963/64 and 2003/04 (with 6 additional seasons in Division 1). Of those 35 seasons we had our best season in 1968/69 when we finished as runners-up, with other top ten finishes in 69/70 -7th, 71/72 - 10th, 76/77 - 9th, 77/78 - 5th, 83/84 - 6th, 93/94 - 8th, 94/95 - 5th and 00/01 - 10th. The only other season we finished in the top half of the table was 00/01 - 11th.

That's 10 seasons in the top half of the table and 25 in the bottom half, 10 of those 25 being finishes in the bottom 5 (only 3 top 5 finishes). So overall we were only a top half Isthmian team in 28% of those seasons.

Attendance data isn't readily available for older seasons, but looking at Fishponder's excellent stats you can get a bit of an idea by looking at our FA Cup stats which show that for every home FA Cup match from that first Isthmian season in 63/64 we didn't have a home attendance of less than 1,000 in the 11 FA Cup ties until September 1969 (no figure for the game against Banbury in September 1966).

Our golden period in the FA Cup would appear to have been in the Isthmian days, reaching at least the 1st Round proper four times between 73/74 and 78/79, although the last two were aided by the old system whereby we came into the competition in the 4th qualifying round due to success in previous seasons, so just one win needed to reach the competition proper.

In the FA Amateur Cup in the 11 seasons whilst in the Isthmian we only progressed beyond Round 2 once despite starting in Round 1 in all bar 2 of those seasons.

In the FA Trophy in 30 Isthmian seasons we progressed past Round 1 on 8 occasions.

In 29 seasons in the Isthmian League Cup we lost in one semi final and three quarter finals as our best efforts.

Over my 40 odd years of being a season ticket holder I've generally been given the impression that Hitchin was a better team in the old days, before my time, but the stats suggest that a season where we were in the top half of the table was a rarity and cup success was occasional and to be enjoyed while you could (I do remember enjoying Paul Giggle's equaliser in the second replay v Weymouth in 1976!)

The addition of the National League means we are of course playing at a lower level requiring two promotions to reach League 2 these days.

[MichaelD]

Good post - sums up the last 50 years of the club perfectly. The first season I can remember is 1968/9 - runners up in the league to Enfield - all down hill since then!

[pudgy]

Some fascinating Isthmian league stats from RST, well done. My post was in response to Jackie’s regarding the club being the major force in local football in those days. I suppose one reason we seem to have diminished has been the rise of other clubs in the area. Royston and Biggleswade, for example, both played at a lower level then, but last season were in our league. Boreham Wood and St Albans were at a similar level then, and Stevenage had not become a League 2 outfit. All seem to progress, whereas HTFC seem just to mark time.

[MichaelD]

I don't think we can get into the Isthmian League now, because of its geographical make up, I presume.
Hitchin's current league offers the club nothing except maintaining the status quo. What is the point of winning promotion and getting placed in the National League North? The travelling costs alone would be horrendous.

[DarrenW]

I don't think we can get into the Isthmian League now, because of its geographical make up, I presume.
Hitchin's current league offers the club nothing except maintaining the status quo. What is the point of winning promotion and getting placed in the National League North? The travelling costs alone would be horrendous.

Same 5 years ago. I dont think gettting promoted would have been sustainable for the club. Probably a blessing in disguise losing the final. Least how I see it now but not on the day itself.