page_title: Hayes, Hillingdon
section_title: Sport
hierarchical_section_title: Hayes, Hillingdon / Sport
caption_attribution_description: Chris Finnegan
context_page_description: Hayes is a town in west London, situated 13 miles west of Charing Cross and part of the London Borough of Hillingdon. The town's population, including its localities Hayes End, Harlington and Yeading, was recorded as 83,564 in the 2011 census.
  Hayes has a long history. The area appears in the Domesday Book. Landmarks in the area include the Grade II* listed Parish Church, St Mary's – the central portion of the church survives from the twelfth century and it remains in use – and Barra Hall, a Grade II listed manor house. The town's oldest public house – the Adam and Eve, on the Uxbridge Road – though not the original seventeenth-century structure, has remained on the same site since 1665.
  Hayes is best known as the erstwhile home of EMI. The words "Hayes, Middlesex" appear on the reverse of The Beatles' albums, which were manufactured at the town's Old Vinyl Factory. The town centre's "gold disc" installation marks the fiftieth anniversary on 1 June 2017 of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, manufactured in Hayes in 1967. The town is the location of the U.K. headquarters of companies including: Heinz, United Biscuits, Fujitsu, and Rackspace U.K.
context_section_description: Hayes & Yeading United F.C. formed on 18 May 2007, following a merger of the former Hayes F.C. and Yeading F.C. Hayes & Yeading F.C.'s home-ground is (from 2016) on Beaconsfield Road, Hayes. The former Hayes F.C. started out as Botwell Mission in 1909, taking the name Hayes F.C. in 1929. The team's home-ground was on Church Road, Hayes. The Church Road stadium continued in May 2007 as Hayes & Yeading's ground until 19 April 2011, when the team played at Church Road for the last time, beating Gateshead 3–1. The former Church Road ground was demolished in 2011, and is now the site of housing. The team played in the interim at Woking's Kingfield Stadium and Maidenhead's York Road. Persevering with initial setbacks, the team is rightly back in Hayes. The Church Road ground saw the start of the career of a number of players who went on to play at higher levels, among them Les Ferdinand, Cyrille Regis and Jason Roberts MBE.
  Hayes has a second Non-League football team, A.F.C. Hayes; they were known until 2007 as Brook House F.C.
  Hayes Cricket Club's records date back to 1797. The club joined the Middlesex Cricketers League in the 1970s, becoming three-time League champions in the 1980s. The club subsequently entered the Thames Valley Cricket League. Hayes Cricket Club's ground is situated behind the Beck Theatre and Botanical Gardens.
  Rugby football is represented by two Hayes clubs. Hayes RFC compete in the Middlesex Merit Development League, alongside London Welsh Amateurs, and teams from Hanwell, Chiswick and Whitton; Hayes RFC's home-ground is The Pavilions, Grosvenor Playing Fields, Kingshill Avenue, Hayes UB4 8BZ. Hillingdon Abbots RFC compete in the Herts/Middlesex 2 league; Hillingdon Abbots RFC's home-ground is Pole Hill Open Spaces, Gainsborough Road, Hayes UB4 8PS.
  Hayes Amateur Boxing Club was formed in 1948. Trainer Dickie Gunn started the club at Hayes's Townfield School. Interim locations included St Christopher's Approved School and Harlington Scout Hut, until in 1978 the club was granted a piece of land at the back of Judge Heath Lane Sports Centre. A concerted effort by club-trainers, boxers and committee-members produced for the club a purpose-built gym. In 2006 the land on which the gym was built was sold for development, and, following a campaign, a replacement facility was built to the front of the former Hayes Stadium. From its formation, the club has produced successful boxers at national competition level. Chris Finnegan represented the pinnacle of the club's success, winning the 1966 Amateur Boxing Association Middleweight title, before going on to win the Olympic Middleweight gold medal in 1968.
  Hayes Bowls Club manages one of Hillingdon's twelve bowling greens, at Botwell Green, Central Avenue, Hayes. The green is used for club and public bowling, with green-fees payable to the club.
  On 24 July 2012, Hayes was the gateway for the Olympic Torch's passage into Hillingdon borough in the 2012 Summer Olympics torch relay; the route traversed North Hyde Road and Dawley Road.
caption: Olympic gold medal-winning middleweight boxer Chris Finnegan
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