The Arrows roots were laid down back in the early 70s, when a junior team was created called The Waltham Abbey Arrows.  The dads then got involved and the Club made its first steps into British Baseball.  There is not a lot known from this era except that the team was managed by Louis Courtney and some time within this period made its home at the club’s current ground in Waltham Abbey.  Most of the known history starts from when the Club was re-formed in 1984 which has always been classed as the birth of the Arrows modern era.

 

In 1984 a young man named Phil Chesterton joined the roster of the Arrows and a year later became the clubs’ manager. From this date the Arrows have steadily progressed through the many guises of BBF/BSUK Leagues and have on a few different occasions had both a second team and a ‘Pony’ (youth) team, with the following details of note:

 

 

Within this time, due to other commitments by Phil Chesterton, the following players stepped up to manage the Arrows: Gerry Bowden, Adrian Bonsor, Al Langer, Paul Raybould, Mike Amendola and Ben Moore.  The Club started its youth (Pony) team in 1999 and Phil decided to move over to manage them as his son Richard was a part of the team. Phil managed the Pony team until 2003 with the Pony Team running until 2004 when the nucleus of the team were too old to carry on at the youth level. The last year, 2004 was managed by Jeff Hare, who had been Phil’s assistant over the previous four years.  In the years that Phil managed the Pony Team the arrows were managed by David Shaer, who is now the Clubs General Manager.  In 2003 Phil took over the reins of the Arrows again and stayed with them until 2008 when after completing twenty five seasons with the Club he decided to hang up his glove and clipboard and from the 2009 season Phil can be found enjoying his retirement with the Old Timers Club, a team that any player over the age of forty is eligible for.

 

In 2008 a very enthusiastic Venezuelan, Luis Castro joined the Arrows and played the full season with Phil at the helm.  In the post-season, Luis was voted in as the successor to Phil and began managing the team from the 2009 season.

 

In the 1990’s the Arrows second team was managed by Bob Locke but unfortunately the team folded, however, the Club re-formed the second team in 2002.  This was due to a sharp influx of new players to club following the Great Britain National Team playing a five game series against the Swedish National Team, hosted at the Arrows Waltham Abbey Ground in 2001.  The new manager of the second team was a joint effort between Paul Richardson and Darren Ludlow and the team has been in existence ever since.  It is at present being managed by both Darren and Jeff Summers and in 2009 decided to add its own identity to the second team and is now called the Archers. 

 

The club’s ground in Waltham Abbey has seen some major transformations over the years with a major league size back stop, a raised “Home Run” bank, 2 x 30ft foul poles and two cemented in team benches.  In 2001 The Essex Arrows Baseball Club, together with the financial support and technical help of the Waltham Abbey Town Council, created a major league style dirt infield and fully enclosed the field with a 5ft chain link fence.  The council funded the material for the fence and the redgraw for the infield and the Arrows players dug up the infield, dug all one hundred and sixty holes for the fencing, helped to erect the fence and smoothed out the redgraw.  Then one of the players who owned a construction company constructed temporary corrugated steel dugouts supported by using scaffolding.  The club currently has planning permission for two brick built dugouts and is currently in the process of finding the required funding. With all these additions, the field is seen as one of the best within Great Britain and has seen the Club host a number of different events. As stated above in 2001 the British National Team Hosted a five game series over a weekend against the Swedish National Team, the ground was also used as a back up to assist with completing the National Final 4 series that got washed out one year when it was at it’s old home of Brighton and in 2003 we hosted the National Play-Off Finals for both Pony and Bronco (youth).

 

An added bit of history stands behind the current names of the 2 adult teams playing at Waltham Abbey as handed down by current General Manager David Shaer:

 

Subject: A bit of History about the Essex Arrows Baseball Club

Why are we called the Essex Arrows?

Harold Godwinson (c. 1022 – 14 October 1066) also known as Harold II, was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England before the Norman Conquest. Harold reigned from 5 January 1066, until his death at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October of that same year, fighting the Norman invaders, led by William the Conqueror. Harold is one of only two English monarchs to have died in battle (the other being Richard III).

The recorded history of the Waltham began during the reign of Canute in the early 11th century when his standard-bearer Tovi or Tofig the Proud, founded a church here to house the miraculous cross discovered at Montacute in Somerset. After Tovi's death around 1045 Waltham reverted to the King (Edward the Confessor), who gave it to the Earl Harold Godwinson (later king). Harold rebuilt Tovi's church in stone around 1060, in gratitude it is said for his cure from a paralysis, through praying before the miraculous cross (that is the church we can see over the changing rooms from the field – behind Carlos Mancheno, pitching below).

The last Anglo-Saxon king of England, Harold held the crown for nine months in 1066 before being famously killed by an arrow in the eye at the Battle of Hastings while trying to repel the Norman invasion under William the Conqueror.

The arrow in the eye....King Harold's connection with Waltham Abbey.... Now you know why we were named The Arrows. The second team is now called the Archers, so keeping the tradition going of the link with the Arrow and hopefully any teams created in the future by the Essex Arrows Baseball Club will continue the tradition and be proud our heritage.

When we play baseball we don't just play, we do battle....

Arrows 2008

Archers 2005

Arrows 2006

Arrows 2005

Arrows 2001

Arrows 2000

Arrows 1985