Luton Town F.C.–Watford F.C. rivalry

Luton

Watford

London

Luton and Watford are about 16 miles (26 km) apart, just north-west of London in southern England. They are both primary locations on the M1 motorway, which opened in 1959.

The first match between the two clubs can be dated as 5 December 1885, as Watford Rovers hosted Luton Town in a friendly. Watford beat Luton 1–0 at Vicarage Meadow in the inaugural match. The first match at Luton's Dallow Lane came on 20 March 1886 – Watford won 3–0. Luton's first success in the fixture came at Vicarage Meadow on 16 October of the same year, where they emerged as 4–1 winners.[8] Two friendlies between Luton Town and West Herts, as Watford Rovers were now more commonly known, took place during the 1891–92 season; West Herts won 4–3 at Luton and the match at West Herts was a draw. Five more friendly matches were played over the next three seasons, all Luton victories.

Luton Town did not join a league until 1894–95, when they joined the Southern League. West Herts also joined the Southern League two years later. However, as Luton Town had left the league the same year, a league meeting did not occur. The first competitive meeting of the two clubs came on 29 October 1898, as Luton drew Watford in the 1898–99 FA Cup third qualifying round. The second meeting came soon after, as the 2–2 draw at Luton meant that a replay was needed – Luton ran out 1–0 victors at Watford. The next season saw Luton drawn against Watford again, and this time Luton needed only one attempt to beat Watford 3–2.

Luton rejoined the Southern League in 1900,[9] and the fixture then became a regular one in the Southern League calendar. Save for the 1903–04, 1912–13 and 1913–14 seasons that the clubs spent in different divisions, two matches were played each year. Luton's was the superior record, as they won 13 Southern League meetings to Watford's eight. 1920–21 saw both clubs made members of the Football League when the Southern League First Division was incorporated as the Football League Third Division.[10]

Matches occurred regularly in this division until 1937, when Luton were promoted.[11] A Southern Professional Floodlit Cup meeting in 1956–57 was won 4–3 by Luton at Kenilworth Road, and was the only meeting until Luton dropped back to the Third Division for 1963–64.[12] Luton were nearly relegated again, but in the last home game of the season, against Watford, Luton won 2–1 to both ensure survival and deny Watford promotion.[13] Luton were relegated to the Fourth Division a year later, with Watford winning both matches held over a two-day period at Christmas. The game at Kenilworth Road finished 4–2 to Watford, and two days later Watford won 2–0 at Vicarage Road. Luton were not promoted again until 1967–68, so there were no matches until then.[14]

The 1968–69 season saw Watford promoted as champions of the Third Division, having led the division for almost the entire season. This led to the crowd violence associated with the fixture growing in prominence, and Watford won the first league clash with Luton that season 1–0 at Vicarage Road. The return match at Kenilworth Road was originally intended to take place on Boxing Day, but was abandoned due to fog with the game tied at 1–1. The game was eventually played after several postponements on 30 April 1969, by which time Watford had already been promoted as champions. The match was a bloodbath, and three players were sent off – two from Luton, one from Watford – as Luton won 2–1. After the game came incidents between the fans in St Albans, a town between Luton and Watford home to fans of both sides.[7] Luton were promoted to the Second Division a year later to keep the fixture going. However, Watford's relegation in 1971–72 ended it once more.

Luton Town's home ground at Kenilworth Road (1980 photograph)

The sides didn't meet again until 1979–80, when Watford were promoted back to the second tier. In 1981–82 Luton won the Second Division, with Watford coming second – both teams were promoted to the top flight. In their first season in Division One Watford fared significantly better than Luton, and finished Runners-Up to Champions Liverpool (and so qualified for European football in the UEFA Cup for the following season), beating Luton 5–2 at Vicarage Road along the way. Luton, on the other hand, only avoided relegation in the last minute of the last match of the season. The match at Kenilworth Road on 28 April 1984 intensified the rivalry even further, as despite Watford's 2–1 victory, captain Wilf Rostron was sent off after a series of goading tackles from Luton players; meaning that he would miss the 1984 FA Cup Final. Despite being favourites on the day, Watford lost 2–0 to Everton, and even to this day most Watford supporters blame their loss on the absence of Rostron, and therefore on Luton.[7]

The fixture continued until 1987–88, when Watford were relegated. Luton were relegated to the second tier in 1991–92, and the fixture continued – the two teams were even relegated together in 1995–96. In 1997–98, Watford finished as Champions of the third-tier Second Division and won 4–0 at Kenilworth Road along the way – all four goals came within the first 32 minutes. The match was marred by yet more crowd trouble as Luton fans tried to prevent Watford fans leaving the ground and small pockets of running battles occurred towards the railway station. As a result, the police took no chances for the return fixture at Vicarage Road: a large police presence ensured no return of the October violence. The game ended in a 1–1 draw. With Watford's promotion at the end of that season, the fixture was over once more.

The Rookery Stand at Watford's Vicarage Road ground in 2007

A League Cup meeting at Vicarage Road on 10 September 2002 was marred by hooliganism (much of which was blamed on totally inept preparation by the Police who were warned in advance of the match that there would be trouble), with fighting in Watford town centre, railway station and approaches to the football ground before the match. Once in the ground but before the game, Luton fans invaded the pitch several times and this led to the kick-off being delayed by a quarter of an hour. A minute's silence, intended to mark the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks, was also abandoned. When the match finally got under way, Luton went on to win 2–1.[15] After the game prosecutions were brought against 29 supporters; 25 from Luton – some of whom were banned from all football grounds for life – and four from Watford.

The two clubs were briefly back in the same division when Luton won League One and promotion into the Championship for a renewal of the rivalry during the 2005–06 season. This time the Police in Luton and in Watford took no chances of a repeat of the 2002 trouble. Watford won 2–1 at Kenilworth Road on 2 January 2006, and the return fixture was a 1–1 draw at Vicarage Road on 9 April. Watford ended the season with promotion to the Premier League, while Luton finished 10th. Although Watford were relegated back to the second-tier Football League Championship at the end of the 2006–07 season, Luton were concurrently relegated straight back to the third tier. A Further relegation followed for Luton in the 2007–08 season to the fourth tier; and yet another relegation in 2008–09 season (this time outside of the Football League altogether) to the Conference Premier. This was largely due to docked points and financial mismanagement.

Following Watford's promotion to the Premier League at the end of the 2014–15 season, and their subsequent ability to stay there, the two clubs financial differences could not be more starkly demonstrated. At the end of the 2019–20 season Watford's turnover was in the region of £260m, with the club ranked the 28th richest football club in the world. Luton, by comparison have a tiny turnover which means that any future upward momentum will be severely restricted. The contrast can also be seen in the two club's respective stadia: Vicararge Road, Watford has had massive infrastructure spending put into it in the last ten years, resulting in a current capacity of 23,700 (rising to 30,900 by the 2021–22 season, while Kenilworth Road, Luton has a capacity of just 9,250. Luton were hoping to move to a new stadium closer to the town centre in time for the 2020–21 season, but as of the end of the 2019–20 season no plans to break ground have been put forward.

As of the end of the 2019–20 season, Luton have not won a league match against Watford for more than 26 years (since 17 September 1994, nine matches – three Watford wins and six draws), or a competitive match of any kind against Watford for more than 18 years (since 10 September 2002, three matches – two Watford wins and one draw). Watford have been the higher ranked team at the end of every season since 1997 (and for 28 out of the last 29 seasons, with only 1996–97 seeing Luton finish higher in the league than Watford). However, Luton Town currently have more wins with 53 over Watford's 37.

The league rivalry between the two clubs restarted in the 2020–21 season for the first time in 16 seasons after Luton battled to remain in the Championship, and Watford were relegated from the Premier League, both on the last days of their respective seasons. Watford won the first game between the rivals 1-0 at Vicarage Road on Saturday, 26 September. The goal came from João Pedro in the 35th minute, after Luton had missed a great chance to go ahead through James Collins who hit the crossbar from two feet. The scoreline flattered Luton, who did not have a shot on target in the match and would have lost by a larger margin if not for excellent saves from their goalkeeper Sluga. It means Watford are now unbeaten in their last 10 league meetings against their Bedfordshire foes.

There were seven matches played over the course of six editions of the competition: the first (1953–54) was a two-legged competition, while the remaining five consisted of a single match. Of the seven matches, four were Luton victories, two were wins for Watford and one was a draw. Luton Town won the competition four times to Watford's two; the trophy, a silver, 12 inches (30 cm) tall, two-handled cup, was last won by Watford, who have since retained it.[25]

The competition saw 23 goals scored, 14 for Luton and 9 for Watford; the individual player who scored the most goals was Luton Town's Gordon Turner, who appeared in all seven matches and scored five goals.[25]