A SWARM OF BEES

The 17th August 1991 was when Barnet FC began life in the Football League, becoming the fifth club to win automatic promotion to the League after finishing champions of the GM Vauxhall Conference champions in 1990/1. Their first official league match on August 17th 1991 resulted in a 1-7 defeat at the home ground, Underhill, losing to Crewe Alexandra. Three days later they drew 5-5 with Brentford in the League Cup, also played at Underhill. Not long after that, they beat Lincoln City 6-0 away in Division Four, eventually finishing 7th in the table.

Based in Edgeware, Barnet now competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the EFL. The club was founded in Chipping Barnet, in Hertfordshire, in 1888. They played their home matches at the Underhill Stadium from 1907 until 2013, when they moved to the new Hive Stadium in Edgeware, which is named, based on the club's nickname of "The Bees". The club has training facilities there, the club's womens' team, the London Bees, who compete in the FA Womens' Championship, use the ground, as do The London Broncos rugby league club and Tottenham Hotspurs' women play there too.

Barnet became founder members of the North London League in 1892 and had success at a local level before ceasing to exist in 1902. Two other clubs, Barnet Avenue and Alston Works, merged and entered the Athenian League as Barnet and Alston in 1912, becoming simply Barnet F.C. seven years later. Barnet spent 53 years in the Athenian League, winning seven league titles and one FA Amateur Cup title, before turning semi-professional as they entered the Southern League in 1965. Crowned Division One champions in 1965–66, they went on to win the Southern League Cup in 1972 and the Division One South title in 1976–77. Barnet became founder members of the Alliance Premier League in 1979 and initially struggled, though finished as runners-up after the league was renamed the Conference in 1986–87.

Barnet were first promoted to the Football League in 1991, after manager, the entertaining Barry Fry, led them to the Conference title in 1990–91. Promoted out of the Third Division in 1992–93, they spent just one season in the third tier before being relegated. They were relegated back to the Conference in 2001, but returned to the Football League four years later after winning the 2004–05 Conference National title. They then spent the next eight seasons in League Two before being relegated to the Conference once again in 2013. In 2015, they returned to the Football League for a third time, after winning the 2014–15 Conference Premier title. However they survived for just three seasons in League Two before suffering another relegation in 2018.

The club's current crest was designed in the 1950s and contains the green hill of High Barnet and the red rose, white rose and crossed swords representing the 1471 Battle of Barnet, a pivotal battle in the Wars of the Roses. The badge was designed by Sidney Robert Price who was the chairman of the club at the time. 

The club's nickname of "The Bees", reflected in their amber and black shirts, is likely to have come from the location of apiaries close to the Underhill Ground in the early years of the 20th century. Coincidentally, this nickname is similar to those of two of Barnet's neighbours, Watford ("The Hornets") and Brentford (also "The Bees"). Maybe the bees have swarmed.