All About Enfield

HOW WE STARTED FILMING ENFIELD F.C.'s MATCHES

During our first season of business in 1990-1991, our intention was to cover a multitude of amateur sporting events, together with all the usual video services such as weddings, social occasions, cine to video transfers, bulk duplications and so on, but with Laurence Hughes having been involved in Non-League Football since the age of 17 when he became Secretary of Sunday League side Edmonton Rovers, the decision was eventually made to concentrate exclusively on filming Amateur & Semi-Professional football matches instead.
We quickly realised that we needed a regular source of income from this, so the decision was taken to approach the nearest 'big name' Non-League club, which happened to be Enfield F.C., a side that Laurence Hughes had often watched at their Southbury Road ground since his schooldays in the 1970's (when he was not standing on 'The Shelf' as a season-ticket holder at Spurs !)
The agreement with Enfield was for us to video every match (Home and Away) free of charge in return for free admission and the chance to sell the resulting Match Videos (and eventually Compilations) in their club shop, making a decent profit both for Hughes Video Services and the club.
After some initial scepticism on Enfield's part, they allowed us to film the Home League game against St. Albans City on 20th August 1991 and it proved to be a big success with several copies being sold of that match and a number of other Match Videos in the following months, especially the 1-0 win at Aldershot (then in the Football League) in an F.A. Cup 'giant-killing'.
Although the novelty soon wore off in terms of sales of Match Videos (simply because of the sheer volume of games we were filming for the club), supporters really started snapping up the Compilation Videos when they were produced and these have since proved to be by far our biggest sellers.

WHY WE FILM ENFIELD TOWN F.C. IN PREFERENCE TO ENFIELD F.C.

During most of our lengthy spell filming Enfield's matches throughout the 1990's, they were highly successful on the pitch and were always in contention for the Ryman (Isthmian) League Premier Division Title. This resulted in them attracting an average crowd somewhere near the 1,000 mark for their home games at Southbury Road, despite the nearby presence of Premiership giants Spurs & Arsenal.
The most memorable season that we captured on video was undoubtedly the 1994-1995 campaign which saw Enfield win the Ryman (Isthmian) League Premier Division Title under their popular Manager George Borg, but they were frustratingly not allowed to be promoted into the Conference for the following season because of 'financial discrepancies'.
That was to start off a disastrous chain of events off the pitch during the late 1990's which eventually led to Chairman Tony Lazarou selling off Enfield's famous old Southbury Road ground to property developers in order to 'pay off debts'. That resulted in Enfield becoming homeless and having to ground-share with various clubs several miles away, thereby attracting crowds of little more than 100 and consequently making it impossible for us to film any more matches for them on a regular basis.
During the Summer of 2001 though, Enfield Town Football Club was formed by Enfield supporters who were disillusioned by the failure of Enfield F.C. club chairman Tony Lazarou to progress an earlier agreement to transfer ownership of the club to the supporters organisation. 89% of the Enfield Supporters Trust members who voted (263-34) agreed to form the new club, which plays it's fixtures at a refurbished Brimsdown Rovers F.C. in the Borough Of Enfield in front of crowds approaching the 400 mark. (See picture above right).
We therefore covered a large number of Enfield Town matches during the first 2-3 years of their formation, although not so much in recent seasons due to our coverage of higher-profile Nationwide Conference clubs. However, we still hope to cover the occasional match for both Enfield Town and the original Enfield F.C. whenever we get the chance to do so.

HOW WE FILM ENFIELD F.C. & ENFIELD TOWN MATCHES

When Enfield's Southbury Road ground was in existence, we had quite a reasonable vantage point to film all their home matches from, namely a flat roof belonging to one of the kitchens in the Starlight Rooms, the cabaret venue which used to provide the football club with a lot of it's income. The roof was positioned just in front of the main stand between the half-way line and the edge of the penalty area at the Kingsmead School end and was at the same height as the front row of seats in the main stand, so although it wasn't exactly at the sort of height and position viewers are accustomed to on Sky or 'Match of the Day', by Non-League standards it was much better than average and gave us a clear unobstructed view of the pitch. (See picture right).
At Boreham Wood's ground (where a number of Enfield's matches were filmed after they left Southbury Road), our vantage point was under cover at the back of a brand new stand with an unobstructed view, although not particularly high up as there were only five rows of seats. (See picture left).
All Enfield F.C. matches up until April 2001 were filmed using an S-VHS camera which produced a good quality image, but that was greatly improved when we upgraded to the Mini-DV (Digital) format thereafter.
All Enfield Town matches have therefore been filmed using the newer Mini-DV (Digital) format. Our cameramen now invariably use either the Canon XM2 or the Sony PD150 or PD170 range of digital cameras, all of which produce broadcast quality pictures.
Most of the Enfield Town matches we have covered so far have been Away games, as there is no suitable vantage point for filming matches at their current Goldsdown Road ground.

HOW WE EDIT & PRODUCE OUR ENFIELD F.C. & ENFIELD TOWN MATCH VIDEOS

All our Enfield F.C. and Enfield Town F.C. Match Videos include the full match with Extra-Time & Penalties if necessary, plus slow-motion replays and titles throughout for goalscorers, substitutions, bookings, etc.
However, there is no commentary on any of these matches.
Most of our Enfield F.C. and Enfield Town F.C. Match Videos include a narrated introduction describing both participating teams' line-ups, although that is no longer the case on any of our more recently-edited Match Videos/DVD's due to a lack of time to script it, although the improved picture and editing quality more than makes up for that.
(Click here for more details on how we edit & produce Non-League Videos & DVD's, including Enfield & Enfield Town matches).
All copies of Enfield F.C. and Enfield Town F.C. Match Videos are now available on DVD and are supplied in presentation boxes with full colour inserts featuring either ground shots or still-frame shots of footage from the actual match. (See the example above right).
All Enfield F.C. and Enfield Town F.C. Match DVD's and videos are priced at £11.00 each (plus £1.50 postage & packing if necessary).
Matches from Season 2003/2004 onwards feature much-improved slow-motion replays, titles and general picture quality.
Click here to visit the Non-League Home Page where you will find links to our full Enfield F.C. and Enfield Town F.C. Match Video & DVD Catalogue.

HOW WE EDIT & PRODUCE OUR ENFIELD F.C. COMPILATION VIDEOS

Enfield F.C. Compilation Videos feature all the goals and main action from a particular season with an informative narration throughout. All copies of Enfield F.C. Compilation Videos are supplied in presentation boxes with full colour inserts featuring either ground shots or still-frame shots of footage from that particular video. (See the example left).
The majority of our Enfield F.C. Compilation Videos have a Running Time of 180 Minutes and are priced at £13.00 each (plus £1.50 postage & packing if necessary). Click here to view the full list.
At the moment, these Compilations are on VHS video ONLY due to the long running time, although we may experiment with copying them onto Dual-Layer DVD's for sale at the same price.
Unfortunately, we have not had time to produce a Compilation for Enfield Town F.C. yet, although we do have plenty of footage to be able to do so. Hopefully we will be able to produce a DVD of their first 2-3 years of existence sooner rather than later, but this may depend on the practicalities of scripting and narrating a voice-over.

HAVE YOU PLAYED FOR OR AGAINST ENFIELD OR ENFIELD TOWN ?

We quite often receive enquiries from Non-League players who think they might have played in a match that we have filmed and did not buy a copy of the video at the time because they were unsure of how to order it.
We have kept the Match-Day Programmes (or lists of participating players) from virtually all matches listed on this website.
That means that if you are unsure as to whether you (or somebody you know) played in a particular match that we have listed, you can contact us first (preferably by e-mail) to find out before you go ahead and place your order.