Barton Rovers

Barton Rovers built their identity in the 1970s, when Barry Reed took charge and turned the club into the dominant force in the South Midlands League, taking the Premier Division title seven times between 1970–71 and 1978–79. That run peaked at Wembley in 1977–78, when the club reached the FA Vase final and lost 1–2 to Newcastle Blue Star — still the furthest Barton Rovers have gone in a national knockout competition. Kevin Blackwell played in that final before going on to a long career in management. Three seasons later, the club reached the First Round proper of the FA Cup and went out 0–2 away to Football League side Torquay United.

The club started out in village football and only reorganised in 1946, joining the Luton & District League before moving up to the South Midlands League in 1954. Promotion to the Isthmian League followed in 1979, and after relegation from Division One in 2000–01, league restructuring shifted Barton Rovers through the Southern League's Eastern Division and then its Division One Midlands before they settled in Division One Central in 2010.

Keshi Anderson scored 19 goals in the 2014–15 season before Crystal Palace signed him that January, and Paul Barnes moved on to AFC Wimbledon in 2006. The Winton Haulage Stadium on Sharpenhoe Road gained a new stand in 2024, named the Gorgeous George Stand.

Local meetings against Arlesey Town, Kempston Rovers, Biggleswade and Bedford Town are known as the Bedfordshire Derby, and the fixture with Arlesey Town carries its own prize, the John Milton Plate, named after a man who once chaired both clubs.