The 61 FC (Luton)

The 61 FC (Luton) are a non league football club based in Luton, Bedfordshire who were formed in 1961. After several years of playing local league football, 61 joined the Hellenic League in 1972, before transferring to the South Midlands League a year later.

  In 1997 the club became founder members of Spartan South Midlands League Senior Division, but were relegated a year later. They won promotion once more in 2001 to the league that was now called Division One. However, they were demoted in 2004 on a ground grading issue owing to the lack of facilities at their Kingsway Recreation Ground.

The 61 FC (Luton) will compete in the Spartan South Midlands League Division Two in the 2013-14 season.

My visit

Thursday 26th July 2012

I had the day off work and was on my way to meet my pal Gary Griffiths for tea before taking in that evenings Bedfordshire Premier Cup clash between Dunstable Town and Luton Town. I had just called in at Kenilworth Road to grab some photos of the ground for their page on this blog.

The sun was beaming down, so I took the opportunity to follow the roads down to see the Kingsway ground. I went past the easiest way to get in and ended up walking up Beverley Road where I came across an entrance.

  The ground looked beautiful in the sun, but it was soon obvious as to how they struggled with ground grading as it wasn't secured and anybody could walk inside. The pitch was surrounded by a post and rail fence. There were two dug outs and a slope down to the houses on the Connaught Road side. The Kingsway End had a playground behind the goal, where young Asians including some in bhurkas were having an impromptu game of football. The Dunstable Road side sloped down to the pitch, with a couple of park benches near the entrace from the road. In the corner further down were the changing rooms and a small cover for spectators with a training floodlight on top.

  I left, pleased that I had made the effort to have a look, but annoyed the bus to Luton went straight past a former Spartan South Midlands League ground, the home of Luton Old Boys FC.

Still, you can't do it all in one day!