Hereford United were formed in June 1924 by the amalgamation of St. Martins and RAOC. In august of that year that joined the Birmingham Combination League. They also played their first FA cup match that year losing 7-2 to Kidderminster.
In 1928, Hereford moved to the Birmingham League and in 1932, they reached the 1st round of the FA Cup for the first time, losing 2-1 to Accrington Stanley. In 1939, they were elected to the Southern League, but the outbreak of war meant that they had to wait until 1945, when they finished as runners up to Chelmsford.
In 1949, the Bulls reached the second round of the FA Cup for the first time before losing to Exeter City. The Bulls established themselves as a solid Southern League Premier side and were runners up again in 1951, this time to Merthyr Tydfil. That season they also defeated a league side in the FA Cup for the first time, beating Scunthorpe United 1-0.
In 1952, they won the Southern League Cup, beating Guildford City over two legs in the final. They won the trophy again in 1957. The Bulls reached the 3rd round of the FA Cup for the first time in 1958 after defeating QPR 6-1. In the 3rd round they met Sheffield Wednesday, but lost 3-0.
In 1959, the Southern League was spilt up into two divisions on a regional basis and the Bulls won the North West section but lost the play off to the South East section winners, Bedford Town. Hereford suffered their first relegation in 1964, finishing in 20th place, but they won the First Division title the following year to bounce straight back and in 1966 they finished in third place in the Premier Division.
In 1972, Hereford finished as runners up in the Southern League and they were elected to the 4th Division of the Football League following their exploits in the 3rd round of the FA Cup when they defeated 1st Division, Newcastle United, 2-1 at Edgar Street following a draw at St. James’ Park. Ronnie Radford and former Barnet player, Ricky George scored the goals on that historic occasion. In the 4th round, the Bulls lost 3-1 to West ham following a replay.
In their first season in the football league, Hereford finished 2nd to Southport and were promoted to the 3rd Division. In their first season they finished 18th but in 1976, the Bulls won the 3rd Division title and were promoted to the 2nd Division, an astonishing achievement for a club who were playing in the Southern League just five years earlier. Unfortunately, it proved a step too far and the following season they finished bottom of the 2nd division and were relegated. In 1978, they were relegated for the second successive season having finished bottom of the 3rd division.
The club struggled back in the 4th division and ironically, they had to seek re-election in 1980, 1981 and 1983. In 1983 they actually finished bottom of the football league. However, things picked up after that and in 1985, the Bulls narrowly missed promotion, finishing in 5th place.
Unfortunately, as the 80’s progressed and into the 90’s, the Bulls struggled to get into the top half of the table and in 1994 they finished third from bottom. In 1996, though, Hereford had their best season for years finishing 6th. However, they lost to Darlington in the play-offs. Unbelievably, the following season, Hereford finished bottom and were relegated to the Conference after 25 years of league football.
The Bulls finished 6th in their first season back in non-league football and it was to prove quite a long haul back to league football. In 2002, they finished as low as 17th. However, that was as poor as they were going to get and the following season they finished 6th.
In 2004, the Bulls reached the play-offs after finishing 2nd to Chester City. However, they lost to Aldershot in the play-offs. In 2005, they finished 2nd again, this time to the Bees only to lose out in the play-offs again, this time to Stevenage Borough.
The following season, the Bulls finished 2nd again, but it was third time lucky for the Bulls as they defeated Morecambe in the semi finals of the play-offs and Halifax Town in the final to return to the league after 9 years.
The Bulls finished 16th in their first season back in the league and in 2008, they finished 3rd gaining automatic promotion to League One. Last season, unfortunately, Hereford finished bottom and were relegated straight back down again to League Two.
In 2011/12, Hereford were relegated from League Two to the Conference and in 2012/13 the club finished a creditable 6th in the Conference Premier. Last season, however, with serious financial troubles looming, the Bulls seemed destined to go down but a win on the last day of the season at Aldershot, coupled with Chester being held at home to Salisbury City, saw Hereford finish in 20th place.
Barnet have been playing Hereford since 1966 in competitive matches. They first met in the Southern League when both clubs were in the Premier Division, the Bees having won the 1st Division title in 1966 at the first time of asking. Barnet won the initial fixture 3-2 with goals from Les Eason and Roger Figg, who scored twice in front of over 2500 fans at Underhill. Figg scored in the return fixture at Edgar Street but Hereford won 2-1. And that was a pattern that was to continue for much of the history of this fixture with the Bees doing OK against the Bulls at home, but having a lean time of it away from home.
In December 1967, the two clubs played in front of over 6,000 fans in the 1st round of the FA Cup at Edgar Street with the Bulls winning 3-2, Keith Searle and Les Eason scoring for the Bees. The best performance by the Bees against Hereford during their Southern League days was a 4-1 in 1968. In 1970, the two clubs met in the inaugural FA Trophy tournament in the 2nd round at Underhill, the Bees winning 2-0 with goals from Les Eason and Billy Meadows, later to play for the Bulls. Barnet went on to reach the semi final before losing to Macclesfield Town.
Following Hereford’s giant killing act of 1972 when they defeated mighty Newcastle United 2-1 in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, ex Bee, Ricky George scoring the winner, the Bulls were elected to the 4th Division of the Football League. That season, the Bees won the Southern League Cup beating Hereford in the final, while the Bulls inflicted defeat on the Bees for the first time at Underhill winning 2-1, also completing their first double over the Bees.
The clubs did not meet again until 1987, when they met in the 1st round of the FA Cup at Underhill. Barnet were in the Conference and lost 1-0 at home to the league side. In 1991, Barnet won the Conference title and the two clubs resumed fixtures in the Football League Division 4, Barnet winning the home fixture 1-0 though Roger Willis.
In 1993, Barnet were promoted to the third tier of English football (now named the 2nd Division), but were relegated straight back after just one season. In 1995/96, Hereford completed the double over the Bees once more, but the Bulls lost their league status in 1997 after finishing bottom of the football league.
Barnet were, in turn, relegated to the Conference in 2001 and fixtures resumed with the Bees still failing to record a win at Edgar Street and, indeed, going down 4-1 in 2002. Hereford won just once during this period at Underhill, a 2-0 win in 2005, but this was not enough to stop the Bees winning the Conference for a second time and returning to league football. In 2006, Hereford won promotion via the play-offs and the two clubs resumed fixtures in what was now called League Two.
Following Hereford’s return to the league, Barnet won 3-0 at home to the Bulls early on in season 2006/07 with goals from Guiliano Grazioli, Nicky Bailey and Jason Puncheon, while the Bulls won the return fixture 2-0.
The following season saw Hereford win 2-1 at Underhill after Puncheon had put the Bees ahead and Joe Devera had been controversially sent off in the first half. In the last meeting between the two clubs, played at Edgar Street in January 2008, the Bees finally achieved the holy grail of a win at Edgar Street, a debut goal from Albert Adomah and a rare one from Nicky Nicolau giving the Bees a long awaited 2-1 win.
Hereford were promoted to League One at the end of that season but came straight back down and in 2009/10, the two clubs played out a goalless draw at Underhill. Hereford won the return fixture at Edgar Street 2-1, Barnet's goal coming by way of a Richard Rose own goal.
in 2010/11, the Bees completed a league double over the Bulls winning 2-0 at Underhill with the goals coming the way of an own goal and one from Mark Marshall, while an Izale McLeod brace helped barnet to a 2-1 win at Edgar Street.
In 2011/12, Barnet lost 1-0 at Edgar Street and then drew 1-1 at Underhill in April in a relegation dogfight, Ben May coming on as a substitute to grab an equaliser for the Bees. It turned out to be a crucial goal as Barnet stayed up on the last day of the season, while Hereford were relegated.
Last season, Barnet completed the double over Hereford, winning 1-0 at Edgar Street with a goal from Ahmed Abdulla and 2-0 at the Hive, both goals coming from Keanu Marsh-Brown in what was Martin Allen's first game in his latest term at Barnet.
Many players have played for both Barnet and Hereford united and these include.
Mark Marshall had a loan spell with Hereford last season making 8 league appearances for the Bulls. He joined Barnet in the summer of 2020 from Swindon Town after a successful loan period. He played last season for Coventry City.
Darren Dennehy had two loan spells with Hereford in 2009 and made 13 first team appearances for the Bulls. He joined the Bees from Cardiff City in 2010.
Anwar Uddin had a loan spell with Hereford in season 2003/04 while at Bristol Rovers and joined Barnet in 2010 from Dagenham & Redbridge. He was appointed club captain when he first arrived at Underhill and was later assistant manager to Giuliano Grazioli.
Jason Price had a loan spell at Hereford last season while at Carlisle United and had a short spell with the Bees this season scoring 1 goal from 7 appearances before moving to Morecambe.
Glen Southam had a short spell at Hereford in 2009 after joining from Bishops Stortford but left to join Histon. He joined Barnet in the summer of 2020 and was club captain for a while at Underhill making 36 first team appearances for the Bees, scoring 1 goal before being released in the summer. He now plays for Eastleigh.
Simon Clist joined Barnet in 2004 from Bristol City and was a member of Barnet's 2005 Conference winning side. He was surprisingly released at the end of 2005/06 after having made 75 first team appearances for the Bees scoring 2 goals. He joined Forest Green Rovers and later Oxford United helping the yellows win the Blue Square Premier title in 2010. He joined Hereford in January 2012 after a spell on loan on loan.
Rob Sawyers joined Barnet from Wolves in 1997 and made 101 league starts plus another 12 appearances as a substitute for the Bees, scoring 5 goals. He was part of the squad that reached the Division 3 play-offs in 1998. He joined Hereford in 2002 but left to join Redditch a year later after making just 11 appearances and scoring 1 goal for the Bulls.
Scott Tynan joined Barnet from Nottm Forest in 2004 and played a big part in Barnet winning the Nationwide Conference championship in 2005. He made 35 league appearances for the Bees before moving to Rushden & Diamonds in 2006. While he was at Rushden, he had a loan spell with Hereford, making 7 league appearances for the Bulls in season 2006/07, including one at Underhill against Barnet who won 3-0 in a League Two match.
Nicky Nicolau had a loan spell in season 2005/06 at Hereford while playing for Swindon. He made 10 league appearances and scored 1 goal for the Bulls. Nicolau joined Barnet in the summer of 2006 and made 60 league starts plus another 21 appearances as a substitute and scored 4 goals for the Bees before being released in the summer of 2009.
Michael Townsend had a loan spell with the Bees in 2008/09 while with Cheltenham Town. He made 15 first team appearances for the Bees. He joined Hereford in 2010.
Billy Meadows and Ricky George played for both Barnet and Hereford when both clubs were in the Southern league in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Ricky George scored one of the goals in Hereford’s epic giant killing victory over Newcastle in 1972. He later became a director at Barnet. Meadows became the manager at Underhill in the late 1970’s winning promotion from the Southern League First Division South in 1977. He was replaced as manager in December 1978 by Barry Fry.