Chatham Town

Chatham Town FC is a non-league football club from the north Kent dockyard town of the same name who were formed in 1884 as Chatham United FC following a merger of Rochester Invicta and the Royal Engineers Band football team.

The club initially played matches at Army grounds called ‘The Lines’, before moving to a new venue on Maidstone Road in 1889. The move came in the same season that ‘The Chats’ reached the quarter final of the FA Cup.

In 1894-94 Chatham became founder members of the Southern League as well as the Kent League. After five seasons before the club dropped out of the Southern League to concentrate on Kent League football, going on to become champions in 1903-04 and 1904-05 to add to their debut season title.

The club disappeared from competitive football for a period from 1905, perhaps not surprisingly in such a military town during turbulent times. Chatham returned in 1920 to play in the Southern League before withdrawing after just one season owing to travel costs.

Another attempt was made to establish themselves in the same league for the 1927-28 campaign, but this time their spell ended just two seasons later. A little while later, the Chats re-entered the Kent League.

They remained in the Kent League until it was disbanded in 1959, with the club becoming members of the Aetolian League, where Chatham won the league title of 1963-64, from where the club moved to the Metropolitan League.

The Kent League was resurrected for 1968-69 with Chatham becoming members once again. League titles were collected in 1971-72 and 1973-74, at which point the club changed its title to Medway FC.

In 1976-77 Medway were Kent League champions, before they reverted to their Chatham Town name in 1979 and lifting the league title once again. Town joined the Southern League Southern Division in 1983-84. They remained until the 1987-88 when they were relegated after finishing bottom of the table.

Back in the Kent League the club continued to struggle on the pitch. Results began to improve in the early 90’s with the team finishing in the top four regularly, latterly under manager Carl Laraman. Another Kent League championship was collected in 2000-01 with player-manager Steve Hearn at the helm, and with it promotion to Southern League Division One East.

Hearn was replaced owing to ill health in 2001 to be replaced by his assistant Peter Coupland. Half way through the 2003-4 campaign the former Dover Athletic boss Clive Walker took over as manager.

Following the re-organising of non-league football Chatham were moved sideways and became members of the Isthmian League Division One South as Walker returned to Dover to be replaced by Steve Binks. The 2006-07 season saw Phil Miles take charge of the team before Binks returned.

Chatham remained in Division One South until 2011-12 when they were shifted to Division One North, where they’d spent the 2008-09 campaign owing to the club’s geographical location.

The Isthmian League days were an annual struggle to retain their status. Back in Division One South from 2015-16, the 2016-17 finally saw the club finish in the relegation zone and be demoted to the Southern Counties East Football League with Darren Anslow as team manager.

Chatham Town FC will play in the Southern Counties East League Premier Division in the 2017-18 season.

My visit

Chatham Town 1 VCD Athletic 0 (Monday 12^th September 2016) Alan Turvey Trophy Round One (att: 61)

The summer was coming to a close and I wanted to make the best of the last of the warm evenings. Fixtures as ever were a bit thin on the ground on a Monday but I spotted this League Cup tie at a previously unvisited venue. This match fitted the bill perfectly.

Even better was the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone as I met my niece Sally for tea at the Shakespeare Head in Holborn. We had a lovely catch up before she headed off to do her own thing.

Time was on my side, so I walked to Cannon Street station, even having time for a quick half at the magnificent Knights Templar on Chancery Lane. My train was busy as it ran along towards Medway before I alighted at Chatham.

I had directions but they seemed strange? Off I went using what I thought was a shorter route up steep hills and up and down a steep valley. This area was certainly not flat. Eventually I got to Maidstone Road, carrying on up the slope and past the cemetery to the grounds entrance on Bournville Avenue.

Admission was £9, with the decent programme a further £2. It was immediately apparent that the club had printed far too many. My initial impression of the Maidstone Road Ground was very positive.

The entrance side had open standing with a traditional old seated stand in the middle third. Opposite was a similar sized more modern structure. The near end goal had a fine modern structure with a clubhouse, tea bar and changing rooms behind some covered standing. The far end consisted of flat open standing.

Chatham went into the game occupying the relegation places, with the mood slightly downbeat after a home defeat a couple of days previously to East Grinstead Town. The match took place on a pitch with plenty of grass but also lots of bumps.

To be perfectly honest the game wasn’t much to write home about. Chatham were cheered on by a small group of youngsters and they responded, with Ross Morley their star player. It was quite fitting that he scored what would prove to be the only goal half way through the first half.

The excellent tea bar furnished me with a refreshing cuppa at the break before I watched VCD’s best efforts in the second half to get back into the game. Chatham showed the resilience that their manager had no doubt asked for in the light of recent results?

The locals seemed happy at full time. So was I after following the correct instructions that took me directly to the station, albeit from the other side of my departure. The walk was all downhill which helped my get the service just past 10pm to Victoria; enabling me a nightcap back home in Kingsbury.