Barnet In The Athenian League: 1927-28

Last updated : 14 June 2015 By Jaybee

For the 1927/28 season, Leyton replaced West Norwood, but for Barnet the most notable feature was the first appearance of Arthur Morris who was to become the most prolific scorer in Barnet's history. Interestingly, he was to line up alongside the club's record goalscorer at the time, George Sparrow. Another player beginning his career at the club was Jack Richardson, an inside forward who was also to be very influential over the next decade.

Barnet got off to a terrific start in the Athenian League with a 7-0 thrashing of Uxbridge Town at Underhill. George Sparrow grabbed a hat trick and there were braces for Morris & Richardson. The Barnet line up that day was; Jones, Fletcher, Garrett, Sutton, Simms, Day, Baxter, Morris, Sparrow, Richardson, Aldous. Simms had joined from Enfield, Day from Spurs & Baxter from Sittingbourne.

Barnet's bright start continued with a 5-1 home win over Bromley in the league, Morris grabbing another brace and Sparrow, Simms and Baxter scoring as well. In fact, Barnet definitely hit the ground running with a stunning 8-0 away win at fellow Athenian League club, Enfield in the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup, Baxter grabbing a hat trick, Morris and Aldous 2 goals each and Jack Richardson scoring as well. The new signings all looked as though they were settling in comfortably and the following week, Barnet completed a league double over Uxbridge with a 2-1 away win at Honeycroft to give them a maximum 6 points from the opening 3 games, propelling them into 2nd place. Richardson & Sparrow got the goals.

Barnet made it 5 wins out of 5 with a 5-0 win over South Midlands League, Waterlows who came from Dunstable. There were two goals apiece for Richardson and Morris and one for Sparrow, who had been invited for an international trial at Blackpool for the England Amateur team.

But things did not quite continue in that vein and Barking Town inflicted Barnet's first defeat in the season winning 4-2 at Underhill in the league. Morris scored both goals giving him 10 goals from just six games.

Barnet won 4-1 at Letchworth in the 2nd qualifying round of the FA Cup with Sparrow scoring twice an Morris scoring again and completed a league double over Bromley at Hayes Lane, winning 6-5 with Sparrow grabbing a hat trick and Morris a brace.

The win at Bromley saw the Bees in 2nd place in the league with 8 points from 5 games in which an amazing 33 goals had been scored 22 of them by Barnet. Morris & Sparrow were level on 8 goals each.

Barnet went out of the FA Cup at the 3rd qualifying round losing 2-1 to Hampstead at Cricklewood Lane. Left back, Freddie Garrett was injured after 10 minutes and Barnet played the rest of the game with 10 men, there not being any substitutes in those days. Sparrow got the Barnet goal.

Barnet cruised through the opening round of the London senior Cup, defeating London League club, Walthamstow Grange 9-0 with Sparrow scoring 4 and Richardson and Morris a brace apiece.

A couple of high scoring draws with Summerstown in the league (4-4 & 3-3) with Sparrow getting 3 goals and Morris 2 and a 4-2 home win over Southall with Sparrow scoring a hat trick and Morris one left Barnet in 5th place in the Athenian League at the beginning of December with 5 wins and 2 draws and just one defeat. Morris was on 18 goals and Sparrow 22.

Barnet progressed through to the 3rd round of the London Senior Cup with a 2-0 away win at Finchley, George Hughes and Jack Richardson scoring but two days later they lost in the 3rd round away at Summerstown going down 3-1.

The two Christmas league games with Hampstead were wiped out by the weather but on New Years Eve in the 1st round of the FA Amateur Cup, Barnet defeated Chesham United 4-2 at Underhill, Jack Richardson scoring a hat trick. Following a disappointing home draw with lowly Cheshunt, Barnet stood in 5th place in the league with 13 points from 9 matches, 7 points behind leaders Barking Town but with 5 games in hand.

Barking completed a league double over winning 3-1 at Vicarage Field leaving Barnet 5th with just one win in five games. Barnet also went out to a surprise defeat in the 1st round of the Middlesex Senior Cup losing 3-2 at Spartan League club, Lyons AC who played in Sudbury Town after the original game was abandoned after an hour with Barnet leading 2-1.

But Barnet looked to be progressing well in the Amateur Cup and secured a fine 2nd round victory over Isthmian League, Dulwich Hamlet, winning 2-1 at Underhill, Sparrow and Arthur Snath scoring with sparrow also missing a penalty.

In the 3rd round, Barnet were drawn at home to pioneering Yorkshire club, Hallam, who had knocked out Liverpool County Combination club, Marine in the 2nd round. Hallam played in the Sheffield Association League and had the honour of being the second oldest football club in the world having been formed as early as 1860. the Barnet side that day; T Smith, Fletcher, Garrett, Day, Snaith, Darvill, Baxter, Morris, Sparrow, Richardson, Stredwick.

Goals from Sparrow, Morris & Richardson gave Barnet a 3-1 win and they progressed to the 4th round to meet Northern League club, Willington in County Durham. Unfortunately, Barnet went down 2-1 in front of a crowd of around 3,000, George Sparrow scoring for Barnet.

In between the 3rd & 4th round ties, Barnet hammered Windsor & Eton 6-2 in the Athenian League but that was to be an isolated victory for a while as Barnet took just a single point from their next 4 league games before goals from Richardson & Sparrow gave them a 2-1 win over Leyton. Even then their form was erratic in the league and over the next six league matches they won only once – a 2-1 home win over Enfield with Sparrow grabbing both goals – before winning their last three league matches against Cheshunt, Southall and Hampstead as the club finished a disappointing 8th.

There was one consolation as Barnet won 3-1 at St Albans City in the final of the Herts Charity Cup with a Sparrow penalty and two goals from Morris.

At Easter, the club took part in the Dordrecht Tournament in the Netherlands. 7 teams took part, the rest all being Dutch sides and Barnet were given a bye in the opening round. The Barnet party was: Jones, Fletcher, Garrett, Day, Snaith, Darvill, Deeks, Morris, Sparrow, Meadows, Aldous, Hughes, Cousins.

Barnet played Excelsior in the semi-final and won 4-1 with goals from Cousins, Day, Morris and a penalty from Garrett. In the final, Barnet played Wilhelmina and won by the same score; Garrett scored twice, once from the penalty spot and Morris and Aldous scored the other goals.

So, despite a disappointing finish in the league, Barnet ended the season with two trophies and had reached the 4th round of the FA Amateur Cup, their best performance in that tournament so far. For the first time since 1922, George Sparrow was not the leading scorer for the club, though he still notched up an impressive 34 goals. However, Arthur Morris managed 38 goals which made him the club's leading scorer for that season and Jack Richardson managed 31 goals. Clearly, scoring goals was not the problem and there was reason to be optimistic for the next season.