Club Background
Havant & Waterlooville was formed in 1998 out of Havant Town and Waterlooville when both clubs were playing in Southern League South. For what were presumably good reasons at the time (but haven’t discovered what they were) the new club ended up in the smaller town at the ground of the club that historically had mostly been lower ranked and smaller, Westleigh Park. Perhaps Waterlooville’s ground, Jubilee Park, was worth more for development – the site is now housing. Yeovil Town met Waterlooville a few times from the 70s onwards (see We’ve Met Before, below) but as far as am aware never played Havant Town.
The merger was an instant success, with the new club Champions of Southern League South in its first season, 1998-99, and promoted to the Southern League Premier. In 2002-03 The Hawks reached the Semi-Final stage of the FA Trophy (losing on aggregate 1-2 over two legs to Tamworth), Havant Town (never) and Waterlooville (very rarely) having even got past the qualifying rounds previously.
After five seasons in the SLP a major reorganisation of Non-League football saw them accepted as founder members of Conference South for 2004-05. Now renamed National League South, the club has pretty much remained there ever since – just a single relegation in 2015-16 (bouncing back from the Isthmian Premier Division as Champions at the first time of asking) and promotion to the National League Premier in 2017-18 as Champions on goal difference (from which they were immediately relegated in 23rd the following season), breaking the otherwise continuous run at this level.
2007-08 saw the club’s most impressive run by some way in the FA Cup. Advancing seven rounds, including beating York City (R1 Proper), Notts County (R2 Proper) and Swansea City (R3 Proper in a replay), The Hawks finally succumbed 5-2 to Liverpool at Anfield at the Fourth Round Proper stage.
Another appearance in the FA Trophy Semi-Finals in 2013-14 saw them miss out again, this time 1-3 on aggregate to Gosport Borough.
In 2020 the grass at Westleigh Park was ripped out and a 3G pitch installed.
In the last couple of seasons Havant & Waterlooville have been a ‘nearly’ team, missing out at the death on the play-offs by a few points, with 8th and 10th placed finishes. Paul Doswell, manager at Westleigh Park since 2019, was shifted upstairs to become Director of Football in March 2023 to be replaced by the man who’d come in as player-coach in 2021, Jamie Collins. Whether that dynamic didn’t work out only those privy to goings on behind the scenes will know but on 19/08 chairman Derek Pope announced Doswell had departed the club.
We’ve Met Before
Previous Results for Yeovil Town First Team vs Waterlooville
| 26/12/1972 | Home | SLP | W | 2-0 | 3024 | Housley, Myers | |
| 23/04/1973 | Away | SLP | D | 1-1 | Housley | ||
| 28/08/1974 | Away | SLC1A | L | 1-2 | Pickett | ||
| 04/09/1974 | Home | SLC1B | W | 2-0 | 1602 | Brown, Verity | |
| 26/09/1987 | Away | FAC2Q | D | 1-1 | 610 | McGinlay | |
| 30/09/1987 | Home | FAC2QR | W | 3-2 | 1459 | McGinlay(2), Wallace | |
| 03/08/1991 | Away | Frnd | L | 1-3 |
Results Summary For Yeovil Town First Team vs Waterlooville
| Home | Away | Overall | ||||||||||||
| W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 9 |
Previous Results for Yeovil Town First Team vs Havant & Waterlooville
| 15/07/2000 | Away | Frnd | W | 2-1 | 415 | Tonkin 77, Foster 87 | |
| 28/08/2023 | Away | NLS | L | 3-4 | 1744 | Wannell 27, Maguire-Drew 45 (pen), Murphy 90 | |
| 17/02/2024 | Home | NLS | W | 1-0 | 3801 | Wannell 32 | |
Results Summary For Yeovil Town First Team vs Havant & Waterlooville
| Home | Away | Overall | ||||||||||||
| W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 |
Club Statistics
RECENT RESULTS
| 05/08/2023 | Weston-super-Mare | Away | NLS | L | 0-1 | 884 | ||
| 12/08/2023 | Chippenham Town | Home | NLS | L | 2-4 | 900 | Roberts 19, Busari 74 | |
| 16/08/2023 | St Albans City | Home | NLS | L | 1-2 | 853 | Janneh 56 | |
| 19/08/2023 | Chelmsford City | Away | NLS | D | 1-1 | 760 | Faal 45+2 | |
| 26/08/2023 | Welling United | Away | NLS | L | 2-3 | 527 | Faal 40, Kealy 83 | |
| 28/08/2023 | Yeovil Town | Home | NLS | W | 4-3 | 1744 | Fall 7, 45+5 (pen), Kealy 12, 90+3 | |
LEAGUE ATTENDANCE STATISTICS
Highest League Attendance: 1,744
Lowest League Attendance: 853
Average League Attendance: 1,166
CURRENT LEAGUE SEQUENCE STATISTICS
| Games Without A Win: | 0 | Games Without A Home Win: | 0 | |
| Games Without An Away Win: | 3 | Games Without Defeat: | 1 | |
| Games Without A Home Defeat: | 1 | Games Without An Away Defeat: | 0 | |
| Games Without A Draw: | 2 | Games Without A Score Draw: | 2 | |
| Games Without A No-Score Draw: | 6 | Games Without Scoring: | 0 | |
| Games Without Conceding: | 0 | Home Results Sequence: | LLW | |
| Away Results Sequence: | LLD | Overall Results Sequence: | LLLDLW |
Club Information
Address : Westleigh Park, Martin Road, Havant, Hampshire, PO9 5TH.
Telephone Number : 02392 787822
Email : generalmanager@havantandwaterloovillefc.co.uk
Chairman : Derek Pope
Club Secretary : Trevor Brock
General Manager : Gary Pratt
Team Manager : Jamie Collins
Capacity : 5,300 (given the authorities set a limit of 4,400 for the visit of Swansea, below, suspect if this figure was to be tested again it would turn out to be no more than nominal)
Seated : 710
Terrace : mostly covered
Surface : artificial
Record Attendance : 4,400 v Swansea City, FA Cup R3 Replay, 16/01/2008. (5,793 attended a home fixture v Millwall, FA Cup R1, 13/11/2006, but they’d switched that tie to Portsmouth’s Fratton Park)
Colours : shirt white with blue features, white shorts, white socks. (There’s a third kit this season, shirt, shorts and socks in deep blue with gold trim, to celebrate the club’s 25th Anniversary which presumably will be made use of in quite a number of games.)
Nickname : The Hawks
Programme : intention seems to be to have one as recently advertising for a Programme Editor. Haven’t found anything more specific than that.
Ticketing
August Bank Holiday Monday for this one, with a 3.00 p.m. kick-off. Not a ground many YTFC fans are likely to have been to. Apart from a first team friendly in 2000 the only other reason can find for any Glovers to have turned up there is in the FA Youth Cup competition. And another 3G pitch, you’ll be thrilled to know. It has been declared a segregated fixture. On the rare occasions the Hawks segregate away supporters tend to get allocated the South Terrace. The on-line portal for ticket purchase can be found here. There’s no price differentiation between sitting and standing. The on-line ticket portal will be closed at 5.00 p.m. Sunday 27th.
The host club has released a statement that away fans MUST purchase on-line, there will be NO walk-up ticket sales to visiting supporters on the day. This means Concession 2 priced tickets (below) will not be available for eligible away fans to buy which seems to break the guidelines on fair and equitable home/away fan ticketing. However suspect there’s absolutely no point protesting and arguing the case as no notice will be taken.
It’s likely (not confirmed at time of writing) that up to about 1,000 tickets will be the away allocation. Entry to the away section is through the club car park which is on the South side of the stadium.
Prices :
Adult: £15.00
Concession 1 (65+ and Student): £10.00
Concession 2 * (NHS Workers, Armed Forces Personnel, Portsmouth FC Season Ticket Holders): £8.00 (Note: this option not available on-line, only through purchase at the ground.)
Under 16: FREE (must be accompanied by full paying adult)
(* Presentation of a valid NHS or Forces Card or Portsmouth Season Ticket required.)
Disabled: have not found any information concerning provision for disabled supporters. This is already becoming something of a trend at National League South level as research information for the guides. The statement (mentioned above) from Havant & Waterlooville says: “The away section is a Terraced Only section”. Where this will leave disabled supporters and those for whom standing for two hours would be problematic remains to be seen.
Official Away Travel
The Green & White Supporters’ Club is running away travel to Havant & Waterlooville on Monday 28th August, 3.00 p.m. kick-off.
Details are as follows:
Members: Adult £26; Concession £24
Non-Members: Adult £29; Concession £27
Coach departs Huish Park: 10.00 a.m.
To book, call Paul Hadlow on 07736 044570 (after 6.00 p.m. please) or email him on paulhadlow@outlook.com.
If you are getting in touch by email, please make it clear which match you are booking for and that you give your full name, the names of people that are travelling and a contact telephone number.
You may be asked to pay a £5 deposit to reserve your seat.
Directions To The Ground
General
The football stadium is in Havant (a messy sprawling town of no interest or merit of around 45,000), which is separated from Waterlooville (a messy sprawling town of no interest or merit of around 65,000) by the A3(M).
By Road
Depending on particular route chosen (southerly, central or northerly) the drive from Huish Park to Westleigh Park is between just over 90 to just under 100 miles.
Approaching Havant from the West via the M27 which then becomes the A27 Havant Bypass, take the slip road exit off the A27 for Havant and then at the roundabout the first exit – onto Park Road South (B2149). Keep following this road (it becomes Park Road North) taking the second exit at the next roundabout (still B2149 but with another name change, now Petersfield Road). At the third set of traffic lights after the roundabout get into the right-hand lane to turn right (across the dual carriageway) into Crossland Drive. Immediately after the next set of lights (a pedestrian crossing) take a left into St Albans Road. Follow St Albans Road for half a mile until the T junction with Martin Road. Turn right onto Martin Road and the stadium is immediately to your left.
Approaching Havant from the North via the A3(M), exit at Junction 2 taking the the first exit off Hazelton Interchange Roundabout onto Dell Piece East (B2149). At the next roundabout take the third exit onto Manor Lodge Road (still B2149). Follow this for around two miles until meeting a double roundabout system (you’ll see a Harvester Inn on the left). Off the second of these roundabouts take the second exit onto Durrants Road (still B2149). Follow this road (it becomes Petersfield Road and a dual carriageway) until the first set of traffic lights. Turn left at the lights into Bartons Road. Take the first right off Bartons Road. This is Martin Road, with the stadium about 500 yards along to the right.
Approaching Havant from the East via the A27 take the A259 slip road exit for Havant. At the first roundabout at the end of the slip road take the fourth exit and at the next roundabout the first exit to bring you on to Emsworth Road. Take the fourth right turn off Emsworth Road into Southleigh Road. Keep on Southleigh Road, crossing the railway line, until reaching the left turning on to Eastleigh Road. At the T junction at the end of Eastleigh Road turn left into Bartons Road. Follow this road for a little over half a mile until a left turn into Martin Road. The stadium is then about 500 yards along to the right.
Parking
The host club states there is “limited free parking” at the stadium. However, before you get all excited, checking on a Google Maps aerial photo it is one hundred spaces, so once all the reserved sections for players, staff, match officials, directors etc. etc. have been deducted “limited” becomes the key word there. Unless arriving VERY early to claim a spot then on-street around the area looks the much more likely option. Westleigh Park Stadium is some way away from what passes as the centre of Havant, surrounded by residential/commercial districts with masses of side streets, so free on-street should be findable.
By Rail
Havant Railway Station is exactly one mile from the stadium, so a bit under 20 minutes walk. It is a junction point and therefore has services that run on the Portsmouth Direct Line between Portsmouth Harbour and London Waterloo (by South Western Trains) and services along the West Coast Line that links Southampton to London Victoria (eventually, routes vary, by Southern).
From Yeovil Junction there are changes at Salisbury and Southampton Central for the trip out, while the return evening journey recommends changing at Fareham for Salisbury and the connection back to Yeovil. Journey times are mostly between around two and quarter and two and a half hours.
From London the South Western Trains service out of Waterloo is much the better option (assuming that station fits any wider travel plans) being currently priced more than a third cheaper, and is also quicker, than the direct Southern services out of Victoria. Travel times on the fastest services from and to Waterloo are one and a quarter hours.
As this fixture is a Bank Holiday Monday one can likely expect 1) reduced services, and 2) plenty of engineering works.
If walking from Havant station: exit on the north side (off Platform 1), then head along Leigh Road, which is directly ahead of you and runs due North for half a mile. When Leigh Road ends there’s a short 50 yard path that cuts through to Crossland Drive. On reaching Crossland Drive the path turns 90 degrees right for another 40 yards to a zebra crossing. Once across go left, following the pavement on the other side back along Crossland Drive for 40 yards until it turns 90 degrees right. Keep following (it runs between some houses and a dual carriageway) and after about another 50 yards comes out into Stroudwood Road.
Keep following Stroudwood Road and then Braishfield Road to the end (there’s a mixture of pavement and cycleway/pavement all the way along). At the T junction where Braishfield Road meets St Albans Road, go left. After 150 yards, at another T junction, St Albans Road meets Martin Road. Turn right and you’ll see the stadium on your left hand side.
Alternatively there is a bus route (see By Bus, below) but on a Bank Holiday Monday am making no promises as to what is actually running.
By Bus
Havant Bus Station is a couple of hundred yards south of Havant Railway Station (across the other side of Havant Park). The Nos. 20 and 21 are the services that run past the ground, operated by Stagecoach Bus. The stop to ask for is Douglas Gardens, which is right outside the stadium. Journey time from the bus station is around six minutes or so. How much of a service will be running on a Bank Holiday… who knows?
By Taxi
A selection of Havant taxi companies can be found here.
Web Resources
Web Sites
Havant & Waterlooville – Official Website. Know we’re meeting many clubs that rely on volunteers this season and all praise to them, but this site is poorly designed, disorganised and horrendous to navigate to find stuff.
Havant & Waterlooville Football Club – Official YouTube channel.
Hawks Programme Guide – what it says. Programme coverage goes back as far as the early 1950s.
Havant & Waterlooville.Net – forum running since 2000. Very quiet. (As of start of August 2023 no longer seems to be accessible – perhaps it got too quiet and has been pulled. Leaving link here in case just a short-term glitch and it returns.)
Social Media
HWFC Official – club’s official Twitter account.
Local Press
The (Portsmouth) News – very occasional mention of Havant & Waterlooville in amongst all its Pompey coverage.
Food & Drink
General
Grim.
Club Bar
So much for our Hollywood Friends claiming to have the only pub (Turf Tavern) in the United Kingdom to be built within the site of a football club – we all knew Kidderminster Harriers have the Harriers Arms, and now discover Havant & Waterlooville have one too: The Westleigh (below). Formerly the clubhouse it’s now run as a full-time pub seven days a week. Inside the stadium, as far as can tell, there’s a kiosk or two selling the basic football ground fare: burgers, hot dogs, chips, hot and cold drinks.
Local Pubs
(As our visit is on a Bank Holiday Monday the usual pub opening times given below may have altered.)
Heron: Second closest pub 0.2 of a mile (5 minutes walk) away just across the other side of the dual carriageway to the West of the ground. From the Hungry Horse chain. Food served all day. Disabled access, Sky & TNT Sports, beer garden, car park. Opening hours: 11.00 a.m. – 11.00 p.m. weekdays, 10.00 a.m. – 11.00 p.m. Saturday, 10.00 a.m. – 10.00 p.m. Sunday.
The Heron, Petersfield Road, Havant, Hampshire, PO9 2EN. Tel: 02392 483788. Map: The Heron.
Parchment Makers: Havant’s Wetherspoon south of the railway line a couple of hundred yards from the railway station and virtually next door to the bus station. Opens from 8.00 p.m. and closes 11.00 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, 1.15 a.m. Friday and 1.00 a.m. Saturday. 1.3 miles (25 minutes walk – see details of walk from the railway station, above) from the ground or check out the By Bus.
The Parchment Makers, 1 Park Road North, Havant, Hampshire, PO9 1HE. Tel: 02392 474023. Map: Parchment Makers.
Westleigh: Right by the main turnstiles to the stadium. Previously the clubhouse it’s now a full-time pub open 11.00 a.m. – 11.30 p.m. every day. As such it’s normally open to all fans, home and away, unless any particular issues are expected. (Does look like it serves in plastic on matchdays – information for those that hate that as much as I do.) Draught options appear to be the sort of range one might expect: Amstel, Cruzcampo, Fosters, Guinness, John Smith’s, Strongbow etc. Apart from pizzas can’t see any indication of other food served, nor of what time(s) said pizzas are available. Has Sky and TNT Sports on multiple screens, pool table, darts boards and an outside area. 0.0 of a mile from the ground (so a few seconds walk).
The Westleigh, Westleigh Park, Martin Road, Havant, Hampshire, PO9 5TH. Tel: 02392 787822. Map: The Westleigh.
Wheelwright’s Arms: Probably only pub in town apart from the Spoons (above) where there’s a hope of finding any beers not produced by the multi-national giants. We’re not talking ‘craft’ pub here but it does make an effort to have something different on amongst its more mainstream offerings. Three hand pumps, with usually one of them having something from a local Hants/Sussex micro-brewery. And for cider, it might have something on from the small independent cidery SeaCider for example. The keg lines include Wheelies House Lager (no idea which brewery is badging that for them), Grolsch, Pilsner Urquell, a couple of beers from Meantime and Gold by Cornish Orchards. Opens from 9.00 a.m. serving breakfasts, the lunch menu kicks in from 11.30 a.m. – 5.00 p.m. and then the evening menus up to 9.00 p.m. External courtyard to rear and terrace to front. Shows some (major) sports events. Car park. Closing time is 11.00 p.m. (half an hour earlier on Sunday). Like the Spoons (above) it’s down in the town centre so a mile and half (30 minutes walk) from the ground.
The Wheelwright’s Arms, 27 Emsworth Road, Havant, Hampshire, PO9 2SN. Tel: 02392 476502. Map: Wheelwright’s Arms.
Likelihood the Natives Will Understand You: Hampshire: it’s not the South-West; but also not the South-East. A no-man’s-land of strays wandering forgotten and ignored.
Top-Tip: Hayling Island (part of the borough of Havant) was one of the last strongholds of malaria in Britain. Although there hasn’t been an indigenous case in the UK since 1957, with climate change probably encouraging malaria carrying mosquitos to return there’s nothing on the island (which is no longer an island, there’s a causeway) worth the risk.
Local Amenities: Nothing. It’s one of those places where people just eke out their lives in perpetual tedium, the only escape being death.
Other Points Of Interest: Even Wikipedia can find absolutely nothing interesting to say about Havant; or even dredge up a single Z-list ‘famous’ person who was born there or lived there in later life.
[No responsibility is taken for any inaccuracies. This page is entirely the product of bias and prejudice. ]