Forest Green Rovers were formed in 1889 and were formerly known as Nailsworth and Nailsworth & Forest Green. In 1894 they joined the Mid Gloucestershire League and finished 4th in their first season. The following season, they played as Nailsworth but reverted to Forest green for the 1896/97 season.
In 1902, the club entered the Stroud & District League as well as playing in the Dursley & District League, which they win in 1903. Forest Green were Stroud & District League Division 1 champions in 1921 & 1922 and in the Premier Division in 1935 & 1936. They also played in the Gloucestershire Senior Northern League which they won in 1938, 1950 and 1951.
In 1968, they joined the Gloucestershire C ounty League, where they best season was in 1971 when they finished 3rd and they then joined the Hellenic League in 1975, winning the title in 1982. Forest Green also won the FA Vase that year beating Rainworth Miners Welfare 3-0 in the final at Wembley. They joined the Southern League in 1982 and were placed in the Midland Division where they finished 3rd in their first season. After that they became broadly a mid-table side.
At the end of the 1988/89 season, the club changed its name to Stroud FC for the 18989/90 season finishing 10th. Two disappointing seasons followed with the club finishing 18thand 19th and in 1992 the club reverted back to being known as Forest Green Rovers.
For the next few years, the club remained a bottom half club in the Midland Division of the Southern League. For the 1995/96 season, the club were moved to the Southern Division and the change seemed to do Forest Green good as they finished a much improved 8th in their first season and in 1997 they won the Southern Section and gained promotion to the Southern League Premier Division.
The following season, 1997/98, Forest Green stormed to the Southern League title winning by a margin of five points from Merthyr Tydfil and were promoted to the Conference.
The club finished 12th in their first season in the Conference and also reached the final of the FA Trophy where they lost 1-0 at Wembley to Kingstonian. Two years later, in 2001, they reached the FA Trophy final again, losing 1-0 again as well, this time to Canvey Island at Villa Park.
In 2005, they would have been relegated after finishing in the bottom three but gained a reprieve after Northwich Victoria were demoted. The club gained another reprieve from relegation in 2011, this time at the expense of Salisbury City. Forest Green’s highest finish in the Conference was in 2008 when they finished 8th. Despite an apparent heavy financial investment, the club only finished 10th last season, 10 points short of the play-offs.
Barnet and Forest Green Rovers first met in November 2001 following Barnet’s relegation from the football league in May of that year. It was a Nationwide Conference match at the Lawn and it ended in a 2-1 draw, Barnet’s goals coming from Robbie Sawyers and Ben Strevens. The game at Underhill, in April, ended in a 1-0 win for Forest Green
In 2002/03, the two clubs shared the spoils in a 4-4 draw, in October, at the Lawn after Barnet had twice lead by two goals at 2-0 and 4-2. The Bees’ scorers were Jason Solomon, Ben Strevens, Junior Agogo and Mark Gower. The following month, at Underhill, Barnet won against FGR for the first time with Gower and Agogo scoring in a 2-0 win. In January, 2003 the two clubs met in the 3rd round of the FA Trophy and the game ended in a 4-2 win for Forest Green; Wayne Purser and Neil Midgley scoring for the Bees.
The following season, 2003/04, Barnet recorded their biggest win over FGR, when they defeated them 5-0 at Underhill with two goals from Peter Beadle and one piece from Tony Taggart, Ben Strevens and Ian Hendon. Strevens scored in the return at the Lawn in March soon after the departure of manager, Martin Allen. Hendon and Danny Maddix took control of the side for the one game before the appointment of Paul Fairclough as caretaker manager.
By 2004/05, Fairclough had been installed as permanent manager and the Bees defeated Forest Green at Underhill on the opening day of the season with Richard Graham scoring on his debut and Giuliano Grazioli scoring twice. By the time the two sides met again in March, Barnet were all but promoted and the Bees completed the double over Forest Green by winning 2-0 with goals from Ben Strevens and Liam Hatch. At the end of the season, Barnet went up as Conference champions.
Last season, Barnet, back in the Conference, completed the double over FGR winning 2-1 home and away. Mark Byrne and Dani Lopez scored at the New Lawn while Byrne and Valentin Gjokaj scored at the Hive.
Earlier this season, Barnet won 2-1 at the New Lawn thanks to a last minute winner from Bondz N'Gala after Andy Yadom had put the Bees ahead and Stuart Sinclair had equalised for FGR.
A few players have played for both Barnet and Forest Green Rovers and these include:
Paul Warhurst who was a former England international and who had a spell at Forest Green in 2005 after leaving Blackpool. He then moved to Wrexham and, subsequently, Barnet in 2006. He made 32 first team appearances before being released in the summer of 2007.
Magno Vieira joined Barnet in 2006 as a free agent and scored 5 goals in 26 appearances before being released in the summer of 2007. He joined Forest Green from Fleetwood in 2012 and has scored 5 goals in 50 appearances.
Simon Clist joined Barnet from Bristol City in 2004 as a midfield player but was converted to full back by Paul Fairclough and was apart of the Barnet side that wn the Conference Championship in 2004/05 and gained promotion to the football league. A very popular player at Underhill with the fans, it was a real surprise when he was released in the summer of 2006. He joined Forest Green and made 112 appearances for them before joining Oxford United in 2009.