THE ORIGINAL Romford Football Club was founded in 1876, playing only friendly matches for the first two seasons.
There were notable F A Cup runs in the 1880s, reaching the quarter-finals in 1880-81 and meeting Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park in 1884-85, who were on their way to the first of a hat-trick of F A Cups.

League football for Romford began in 1896, but with modest success for the most part.
The Club was taken over in 1909 and the entire committee replaced; however the new regime proved disastrous and the Club was suspended by the F A in March 1911, folding without playing another match.

The ousted committee had immediately formed a new club in 1909, initially known as Romford United, and they met with rather better fortunes.

After becoming Romford Town in 1911, they won the Essex Senior Cup a year later but closed down operations in 1915.

Resuming in 1919, the Club struggled to find its feet again and after merging with the local Ivyleafers club in 1920, themselves folded in mid-season.

Moves were made to restore the Club in 1929, and after two seasons in the London League, the new club joined the Athenian League and had its greatest success in the late 1930s, with back-to-back championships in 1936 and 1937, and reaching the semi-finals of the F A Amateur Cup in 1936 and 1938.