Watford Dragons

The Watford Dragons are a 5-a-side football team founded in 2004. They have won 1 major trophy and are known for being the longest serving team in the Powerleague.

The concept of the football team was formulated at some point in 2004, and would theoretically comprise of a group of friends and mutual acquaintances. The pipe dream in Fairhead's original vision involved raising enough money to gain a wild-card entry to play in the FA Cup, but at the time the closest the team could come to finding competitive football was at the Powerleague.

The creation of the team was spearheaded by Fairhead and Tom Freeman, who set about recruiting players to the Watford Dragons. At one point there were 10 shortlisted in mind for the team, but some people dropped out, thinking that it was a ridiculous idea, considering the potential team to have little or no recognisable footballing talent. In the end enough players were gathered and the Dragons fielded a full-strength squad.

Formation (2004-2005)
The Watford Dragons were conceived in late 2004 on the Parmiter's Route 6 school bus by Adam Fairhead (who would go on to become manager) and Tom Freeman (who wouldn't). The idea was to create a new football team and to challenge and beat more established footballers at their own game. Within a few days of the formulation of the idea, a squad of players was gradually assembled. Fairhead recruited Richard Davies, captain-to-be Gareth Richards and Andy Bartram, while Freeman recruited Joe O'Connor, Richard Wakeling-Gentle and Phil Wood. Rhys Robertson was appointed Chairman, although this position turned out to be more ceremonial than first anticipated. With a lineup of eight players now assembled, it was time to choose a name. It is thought that the origin of the name was suggested by Richard Davies, inspired by a Korean team named the Chunnam Dragons.

The team planned to enter a league at the newly built football centre, Powerleague. {C}Before competitive action the team needed to train vigorously in order to get to a decent standard (some of the players had little interest in football and had not played very much before). Training mainly occurred in the parks of North Watford and eventually culminated in a legendary football match against a team of other would-be Powerleague players. The Watford Dragons won this game 13-4 and were now ready to play for real.

First Action (2005)
Despite speculation as to whether the Dragons would ever play a real match, they did eventually find themselves at the Powerleague on the 25th February 2005. A pipe dream had become reality. However, this match would live forever in infamy as the Watford Dragons succumbed to a humiliating 24-4 defeat to a team known simply as the Superstarz. While no-one necessary expected a win, the pre-match consensus had been that a competitive match would be on the cards, so this result came as a massive shock. Nonetheless, the Dragons refused to be too demoralised and continued on. Following this match were another 12 consecutive defeats, none of which were particularly close, which seemed to suggest the Dragon Project was doomed to failure before it ever got off the ground. That was before the evening of the 6th May 2005. A day that will never be forgotten, as the Watford Dragons recorded their first ever Powerleague victory against a team called the All Stars (not to be confused with the Superstarz). An evening (and week or more) of great celebration followed this unexpected outcome (I think by this point it was pretty much assumed the Dragons would never win a match).

Eventual Success (2005-2006)
{C}A period of steady consolidation followed this win, the most notable events were the recruitments of James Mason and Jack O'Connor (younger brother of Joe) who proved to be key additions. The next few months saw a few more sporadic wins amongst improving performances, although the occasional thrashing still occurred. The wins became more and more common and aided by the goals of new signing Ben Humphrey the Dragons strung together a ten match winning streak between September and November 2005 which ultimately ended with a first league title, guaranteed by a 9-7 win over arch-rivals the Superstarz.

This era had also seen an earlier historic 5-4 win over the very same, which emphasised just how far the Dragons had come. The Watford Dragons fame was also increasing by this point, although often they were insulted or degraded by skeptics from within the walls of Parmiter's school. This eventually resulted in a team of seemingly superior Parmetarian footballers challenging the Dragons with the aim of humiliating Fairhead's Boys. However the Dragons dismantled their opposition with a 6-2 win which ensured that they would face no further mocking in the future.

Oxhey Green Lads incident
On the 7th of March, 2006, towards the end of a match against the Oxhey Green Lads, two of the opposing players received blue cards and therefore sin-binned. The Dragons then went onto win the match 11-5, with the game getting heated towards the end, following the match the supporters of the Green Lads lambasted the Watford Dragons. Supporters of O.G.L. followed the Dragons into the Powerleague car park where the confrontation continued and subsequently ended in several of the O.G.L. supporters physically assaulting members of the Dragons team. The brawl ensued until Powerleague officials eventually caught wind of what was happening, by which time the supporters had escaped in getaway cars.

Following the incident, the official who had refereed the match came forwards in defence of the Dragons and no action was taken against them. The culprits were never caught.

Decline and Fall (2006-2007)
These would prove to be the greatest heights the team would scale and the Dragons never again managed to match these impressive feats. As they played on, personnel changed, original squad members Richard Wakeling-Gentle and Phil Wood eventually dropped out, as did Ben Humphrey. They were replaced by the likes of Lewis 'Berghaus' Moneypenny and Lee Stiles who formed an attack with James Mason throughout 2006 and 2007. Results varied and no more titles were won. As 2007 drew to a close the Team was gradually deassembled by Universities snaffling Watford Dragons, leaving only a skelton crew. The final game was played in December 2007.

The Wilderness (2007-2011)
The Watford Dragons essentially ceased to exist in 2007 (dark days for mankind), although there were brief attempts to revive tradition (mainly when Players returned from University). The occasional tournament was entered although they often went so badly that no-one would speak of them ever again and as such there is no record of them even occurring (until now!). In this fallow period, the idea of the Watford Dragons ever playing again regularly was a laughable assertion...

Return (2011-present)
But stories have a habit of turning well when you're not looking. When most of the Dragons returned from their studies it was suggested, perhaps by Joe O'Connor, to reunite the might of the Watford Dragons. And so it was. A return to competitive action came in the Deep Freeze Tournament and the Dragons surpassed all expectations in winning a few games and reaching the Quarter Finals. A return to league action eventually followed. With numbers sometimes thin on the ground, the team were often augmented by Jack O'Connor's friends Ryan 'Bish' Bishop, Ben Courtney, David Owen and Owen Richards, the latter of good pedigree as younger brother of an OWD (Gareth Richards).

The Team originally struggled to get back match fitness and practice but as weeks wore on, performances improved. At this point the squad consisted mainly of Andy Bartram, Richard Davies, Adam Fairhead, Joe O'Connor, Jack O'Connor, Tom Freeman as well as those mentioned in the last paragraph. Eventually though Gareth Richards was also coaxed out of retirement and results consequently improved. Today, the Watford Dragons are playing at a level that is competitive with even the best of teams. It has been a long journey with many ups and downs, but the Dragons have always ultimately come out on top in the long run. And that looks set to continue for a while yet!

Squad
As of 10/06/2012

Results
For a full list of all past Watford Dragons matches, see Results.

Merchandise
Several lines of Watford Dragons merchansie have been released since the team has been active, these include;
 * Watford Dragons: The Big Game (Video Game)
 * DVD Anthology set
 * Hoodie
 * Pillow
 * Top Trumps game

In 2012 a new store was opened selling a range of various new Dragons products.

Media
Before the first ever match took place, the Watford Dragons attended a group viewing of an inspirational video made especially for the team and this continued to become a weekly tradition for the team. As of now, in the New Era inspirational videos are still made and released, but the creation of them is sporadic.

See Watford Dragons Videos.