Remarkable People

Chronology

1881 - The club is formed, as Watford Rovers.

1882 - Home game start in Vicarage Meadow.

1883 - Rose & Crown Meadow becomes the venue for home matches

 1886 - The first competitive matches are played in the Herts County Cup and FA Cup

1889 - The club moves to Colney Butts Meadow when Rose & Crown Meadow is lost to urban development

1890 - Rovers become the football section of the newly-formed West Herts Club & Ground at Cassio Road.

1893 - After three years of internal conflicts over the club name, 'West Herts' is universally accepted.

1896 - West Herts join Division 2 of the Southern League.

1897 - Professional game adopted

1898 - Rival club Watford St Mary's is absorbed by West Herts, and the name 'Watford' is adopted.

1900 - Promoted to Division 1 of the Southern League.

1903 - Relegated to Division 2 of the Southern League. John Goodall appointed club's first manager.

1904 - Promoted to Division 1 of the Southern League

1909 - The club becomes a limited company, and its committee is replaced by a board of directors.

1915 - The Southern League championship is won.

1917 - After two seasons of wartime activity as a member of the London Combination, the club suspends operations for two years.

1919 - Post-war football begins

1920 - The Southern League's First Division (including Watford) becomes Division 3 of the Football League. It is styled 'Division 3 (South)' a year later, when a corresponding Northern section is added.

1922 - Vicarage Road becomes the club's new home ground.

1939 - Normal competitions cease when war is declared, and the club embarks on seven seasons of football under wartime conditions.

1945 - The FA Cup competition begins again.

1946 - Normal League activity is resumed.

1958 - Watford are founder members of Division 4 as the League's lower section is reorganised.

1960 - Promoted to Division 3.

1969 - Champions of Division 3, and promoted to Division 2 for the first time.

1970 - The club reaches the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time.

1972 - Relegated to Division 3.

1975 - Relegated to Division 4.

1978 - Division 4 Champions and promoted to Division 3

1979 - Promoted to Division 2.

1982 - Promoted to Division 1.

1983 - By finishing second in Division 1, Watford qualify for entry to the Uefa Cup.

1984 - Watford reach the FA Cup final for the first time in their history where they unfortunately lose 2-0 to Everton.

1988 - Relegated to Division 2.

1992 - Division 2 of the Football League becomes Division 1, as the top flight form the Premiership.

1996 - Relegated to Division 2 (formerly Division 3).

1998 - Division 2 champions and promoted to Division 1 (formerly Division 2).

1999 - Under Graham Taylor the club is promoted to the Premiership via the play-offs after overcoming Bolton Wanderers 2-0 at Wembley Stadium.

2000 - After one season in the Premiership the club is relegated after finishing 20th on 24 points.

2002 - Watford's players and staff save the club from going into administration by agreeing a 12% pay deferral.

2003 - Watford reach the FA Cup semi-final where they face Southampton. The Premiership side beat the Hornets 2-1 at Villa Park. That year the Hornets temporarily sold Vicarage Road.

2005 - The Golden Boys are knocked out in the League Cup semi-final against Liverpool, the final aggregate score is 2-0. After a campaign entitled 'Let's Buy Back The Vic' with donations coming from fans as well as former owner Elton John donating the entire proceeds of a concert held at the Vic, the club was able to repurchase the stadium for £7.6m

2006 - Under the stewardship of Aidy Boothroyd the club completes a remarkable turnaround and is promoted to the Premiership via the play-off final after beating Leeds United at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

2007 - Watford reach the FA Cup semi-final at Villa Park where they lose to Manchester United. In May of that year the club is also relegated from the Premiership. 

2008 - The Hornets lose out in the Championship play-off semi-final to eventual winners Hull City. In November, boss Boothroyd leaves Watford by mutual consent. Later that month, following Malky Mackay's caretaker stewardship, Chelsea reserve team boss Brendan Rodgers joins the Hornets as first team manager. The following month Chairman Graham Simpson and Chief Executive Mark Ashton resign.  

About EJAF

The Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) was established in the United States in 1992 by Sir Elton John. EJAF's U.S. office is located in New York City. In 1993, Sir Elton also established the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF-UK) in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London. These two organizations function as separate entities with their own distinct grant-making portfolios, but both pursue similar missions - to support innovative HIV prevention programs, efforts to eliminate stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS, and direct care and support services for people living with HIV/AIDS. Collectively, the two organizations have raised over $220 million since inception in support of projects in 55 countries around the world, including significant funding dedicated to programs in their respective home countries.

EJAF-US awards grants to community-based projects in the Americas and the Caribbean. EJAF-UK focuses its grant-making on programs in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Please visit www.ejaf.com for further information on the UK organization.

EJAF regularly evaluates its grant-making priorities within the context of the ever-changing challenges and needs of the evolving HIV/AIDS epidemic, targeting its grant awards where they will make the greatest impact. This approach has clearly resonated with our donors, and their generous response over the past two years has enabled us to increase EJAF’s grant making by 140%. We have expanded not only the amount of money given but also strategically targeted key populations that are poorly served by current prevention efforts and most at risk of infection including: critically under-funded communities of the Southern United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America; highly marginalized populations such as injection drug users, men who have sex with men, and incarcerated individuals; and underserved populations such as African Americans and young people.

EJAF focuses on supporting community-based prevention programs, harm reduction programs, public education to reduce the stigma of HIV/AIDS, advocacy to improve AIDS-related public policy, and direct services to persons living with HIV/AIDS, especially populations with special needs. Direct services include HIV/AIDS-related medical and mental health treatment, testing and counseling, food distribution, assisted living, social service coordination, and legal aid.

The Foundation’s greatest asset and strength is its Founder and Chairman, Sir Elton John. No mere figurehead, Sir Elton serves as EJAF’s chief fund-raiser – conducting benefit concerts, meeting with major donors, foundations, and corporations, and participating in numerous public events – and also as a highly visible and outspoken advocate – testifying before Congress, appearing at press conferences, writing editorials, and delivering speeches at events and awards ceremonies. His status as an entertainment icon and his many years as a dedicated AIDS activist and philanthropist bring tremendous visibility and credibility to EJAF’s work.

About the True Colors Fund

The True Colors Fund was co-founded by Cyndi Lauper to inspire and engage everyone, especially straight people, to become active participants in the advancement of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth homelessness. 

In April 2010, The True Colors Fund launched the Give a Damn Campaign, a bold web-based education and awareness initiative to inspire straight people to get informed and give a damn about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. The centerpiece of of the campaign is its website, wegiveadamn.org, and powerful public service announcements. The PSAs have featured such noble celebrities as Whoopi Goldberg, Elton John, Susan Sarandon, Jason Mraz, Ricky Martin, Anna Paquin, Lily Tomlin, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Wanda Sykes, Idina Medzel, Sharon & Kelly Osbourne, Alan Cumming and Cyndi Lauper. 

There is an epidemic of homelessness in the United Stated and a disproportionate number of youth on the street are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. The True Colors Fund continues to advocate for these young people through the support of the projects like the True Colours Residence. Through the financial support and partnership with The Palette Fund, The True Colors Fund is currently developing a larger scale program to further raise awareness and help bring an end to homelessness among this vulnerable group of young people. This new program will be launched in Summer 2011. 

The True Colors Fund continues to work with The True Colors Tour to raise money and awareness for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues. The True Colors Tour was founded in 2007 by Cyndi Lauper to inspire people through music and comedy to stand up for equality. Since 2007, more than $200,000 has been raised for such organizations as The Human Rights Campaign, CenterLink and PFLAG. 

ABOUT GIVE A DAMN

The Give a Damn Campaign is for everybody who cares about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality.

But, it’s especially for all you straight people out there! Whether you’re already an active supporter, want to show your support for the first time, or hadn’t given equality a lot of thought before and now want to learn more, we are here to help you get informed about the issues and get involved, at a pace that works for you.

You’ll find a lot of useful information throughout this site—information that’ll engage you, surprise you and move you. You will also find a bunch of ways to get involved and show your support and encourage your straight peers to show theirs as well.

For all you gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender folks—we need and want you here, too! Because this site is also for you. Not only will you learn new things that might surprise and interest you, you’ll also find a lot of useful tools and resources that will help you encourage the straight people in your life to give a damn.

Like we said, the Give a Damn Campaign is for everyone. Because the only way we can truly achieve equality for all is if we all get informed and get involved. So join us today and let us know you give a damn!

HOW TO USE GIVE A DAMN

There’s a lot to see and do on this site, and you really can’t go wrong starting anywhere… but we suggest you begin by reviewing thedamn issues. Then move onto the damn videos and personal stories sections. When you’re done there, jump on over to the damn blog (it’s updated throughout each day). We also urge you to download some damn stuff.

Whatever you read, see or find here that you think is interesting, share it with the people in your life! We have made it easy to do, from using our tell-a-friend feature to being able to post to your social networking pages, like Twitter and Facebook.

But the easiest thing you can do is take 30 seconds to join the campaign. It’ll let us personalize the site for you and keep you updated on the latest news and ways to get involved, through things like our monthly e-newsletter.

The Give a Damn Campaign is the place to stay informed and stay involved about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. So be sure to visit us often—in fact, bookmark us right now—because we’re going to have new stuff on here all the time.

So go ahead:

Get Informed. Get Involved. Give a Damn!