Middlesex Senior Charity Cup

Middlesex Senior Charity Cup

Sport	Football
Founded	1901
No. of teams	16
Country	England
Most recent champion(s)	Uxbridge

The Middlesex Senior Charity Cup is a knock-out system football competition that has been running since 1901. It was presented in 1901 by C.S. Goldmann, Esq. and was first played for in the 1901–02 season, the first winners being Clapton Orient.^[1] The competition is run mainly for non-league clubs in the region, although league sides have been known to enter the competition, such as Barnet, Brentford Chelsea Tottenham Hotspur and Q.P.R. Hayes have won the competition the most times, with 15 wins^[2] (their first victory came in 1932 and their most recent in 1991).

In 1988, the final, sponsored by Russell Grant in which Hendon beat Wembley 2–0, was played at Wembley Stadium.^[3]

On 25 April 2007, Harrow Borough retained the Cup for a second year by beating Brook House at Staines Town's Wheatsheaf Park 5–4 on penalties after the match had finished 0–0 after extra time.^[4] The 2009–10 season holders were North Greenford United, who beat the previous holders, Enfield Town, 1–0 in the final at Hampton and Richmond Borough's Beveree Stadium.^[5] Enfield Town had beaten Hillingdon Borough 4-1 after extra time on 30 April 2008 at Hayes and Yeading's Church Road stadium.^[6] In the 2008–09 season, the competition was cancelled after one first round match had been played.^[7]

The 2011/12 final was contested between two sides from the Southern Football League, as Northwood played Ashford Town. Northwood overcame rivals Uxbridge 3–2 in the semi-final, whilst Ashford Town comprehensively beat Rayners Lane 4–0 to also progress to the final. The game was played on Bank Holiday Monday, 7 May at Grosvenor Vale in Ruislip, home of Wealdstone.

Ashford won the game 4–2 on penalties after it had finished 4–4 at the end of 90 minutes. Town had battled back from 3–0 down against Northwood to lead 4–3 but Romaine Walker's equaliser took the game to spot kicks.

Uxbridge won back to back editions of the cup. in 2012–13 they defeated a youthful Brentford side 5–2, after trailing 2–0 at half time. They retained the trophy in 2013–14 with a hard-fought 3–1 victory over Wembley at Vale Farm.

The 2014–15 final saw Harrow Borough, who had already won the 2014-15 Middlesex Senior Cup, beat Cockfosters 3–0 in the final on Saturday 1 August to complete the 'Middlesex double'.

The 2015–16 final saw Cockfosters, in the final for a second straight season, face Hanworth Villa. However Hanworth Villa would claim a 2–0 win on 2 May 2016 in the final played at Chestnut Avenue, the home of Northwood FC.

Since then, Ashford Town (Middlesex) in 2016–17, Hanworth Villa (2017–18) and Uxbridge (2018–19 and 2021–22) have won the competition, either side of COVID-19 disruptions that saw the 2019–20 competition abandoned, and the 2020–21 competition cancelled.

The 2022–23 final saw Broadfields United win the competition for the very first time, beating Northwood 1–0 in the final played at Honeycroft - the home of Uxbridge.^[8]

Uxbridge regained the trophy in the 2023-24 season defeating North Greenford United 2-1 in the final at Bedfont Sports FC.^[9]