Erith Town

Erith Town FC is a non-league football club from the town of Erith located on the south bank of the Thames, around thirteen miles east from the centre of London. The football club was originally formed in 1959 as Woolwich Town.

The club initially competed in the London Metropolitan Sunday League; winning the competition on three occasions. For one year the club was known as Woolwich Heathway during their time playing at Woolwich Barracks Stadium.

In 1991 the club joined Division Two of the London Spartan League and sharing grounds with Greenwich Borough FC at Harrow Meadow. The team were elevated to Division One following league restructuring for the 1992-93 campaign.

In 1995 a further promotion came as Town reached the Premier Division of the Spartan League, moving to Erith Stadium at the same time. The FA ratified a sideways move so that the club could compete in the Kent League from the beginning of the 1996-97 season.

In June 1997 the club became known as Erith Town FC, while ‘The Dockers’ moved back to Harrow Meadow for a year while Erith Stadium received a refurbishment. Manager Micky Watts led the side to the final of the London Senior Cup in 1999-00.

John Adams took over the managerial reigns in 2002-03, with several more changes in the position coming before the arrival of Mark Tompkins shortly after the commencement of the 2006-07 campaign.

Steve O’Boyle took over team affairs in pre-season 2008, lasting until October 2010 when his assistant Tony Russell took over as the team continually finished just above half way in the Kent League table.

James Collins and Tompkins in a second spell held the managers post as Town finished in third place before leaving Erith Stadium. A ground share was arranged with Cray Valley PM as the team finished third once again in the renamed Southern Counties East League in 2013-14.

The 2014-15 season saw Erith narrowly avoid relegation with Simon Austin and Ennio Gonnella both managing the side before joint managers Martin and Joe Ford saw Town to safety.

The following season saw an improvement before the club moved closer to home when agreeing to become tenants at the Oakwood home of VCD Athletic in the summer of 2016. The following two seasons saw the Dockers come close to the drop.

Mark Deveney arrived as the new club Chairman in the summer of 2017, appointing Erith Town stalwart Albert Putman as club President while sacking manager Ian Jenkins. Adam Woodward was appointed as manager, moving from Glebe.

The club moved back to Erith Stadium in time for the 2018-19 campaign as youth sides were set up and the club looked to become part of the community.

Erith Town FC will play in the Southern Counties East League Premier Division in the 2018-19 season.

My visits

Wednesday 4th October 2006

On a pleasant day away from work I set out to the south east of the capital and north Kent to take some photos of football grounds. I took the train to Erith before the ten minute walk to Erith Stadium.

The football club entrance was closed, but I still got a look through the fence of a decent athletics venue with a stand as part of a Sport Centre. I then set off in an abortive attempt to look at the abandoned ground of Slade Green FC.

Erith Town 4 Loxwood 1 (Monday 3^rd September 2018) FA Cup Preliminary Round Replay (att: 74)

The news that Town had returned to Erith Stadium had registered with me after reading it on the excellent Non League Matters Forum, which can be viewed HERE. I was even more enthused on realising that the club had decided on Monday’s as their midweek match day.

Work had scheduled me in for my annual two day training course in the city. While I detested attending, it offered a rare opportunity of a 9am start and early finish. The replay date for this cup tie offered me an ideal opportunity to tick off a new ground.

The course went pleasantly smooth. I was determined to be as positive as possible, even if day two went on to be as bad as I’d feared. I was free at 3.30pm at Oxford Circus so I decided to take in the lovely weather with a walk and visiting some nice pubs.

The Harp near Charing Cross, The Nell Gwynn down an alleyway off The Strand and Knights Templar on Chancery Lane all served decent ale and offered contrasting styles and décor. All were an absolute pleasure to visit.

It was still fairly early, but I didn’t want any more drink as I was mindful of work the following morning. Instead I took the train down to Erith before 6pm to grab a bite to eat and relax. The packed service delivered me with plenty of time to spare.

I’d read in advance that the town had new facilities and a shopping centre. I followed the crowds and soon found the Riverside Fish & Steak House, where I purchased a good portion of battered sausage and chips.

I wandered looking for somewhere to sit and taking in the scene. My experiences as a traveller told me that it’s not fair to gauge a place by a shopping precinct or around a railway station. However, I was taken aback by what I was seeing.

It was not the most aesthetic and while not feeling threatened, I wouldn’t have wanted to be alone after dark either. I either came across gangs of Africans or contenders to appear on one of those Gypsy Wedding programmes on Channel 4.

As I say, it is not fair to judge a town on a small section. I saw a very different area on the other side of the railway and photos of attractive housing along the waterfront. But the area around the shopping centre. Crikey.

Morrison’s offered a sanctuary as I did some shopping to save myself time later before heading to Erith Stadium. As soon as I crossed the railway bridge I was in a different world. Nice housing and a lovely bowls club as games took place on the green as the sun began to set.

It was just before the green that a comedy began to play out. I recognised one fella from previous random games heading along. Groundhoppers do tend to stick out at times. A third man would have fitted a perfect police profile if ever they were looking to apprehend one of us.

He scurried along, initially going the wrong way looking for the entrance to the Sports Centre. He saw the pair of us and another heading towards the game and cranked himself up another gear. He was absolutely determined not to miss out on the chance of a programme!

Respect to the gent if he happens to read these musings. It did amuse me at the time. Admission was £8, with the impressive double issue programme coinciding with the previous Saturday’s Vase clash with Arundel costing a couple of quid.

The path took fans along a sign posted path toward the bar and toilets, which were located, up some steps on the top floor of the centre’s building above a swimming pool and gym. A decent crowd was already gathering.

A cup of tea cost a pound, with the welcoming lady at the table insisted that I also had a free biscuit. The club certainly seemed to have a welcoming community feel. This was enforced with players of one of the junior teams acting as mascots and ball boys.

The stadium was far better than I’d remembered, with a long section of seating down one side containing a covered centre section. Viewing was also available on the balcony, but not on the other three sides around the track.

Food was provided by the Rumbling Tums portable van on the track near the seating, while enjoyable music along with announcements were made pre match. It certainly gave the impression of a club on the up. Some other familiar faces were among the decent sized crowd.

My friend Bob Gunton from Lord’s was among them, along with his friend Keith. Both were good company throughout offering me local insight as we enjoyed the match, with kicked off at a welcoming 7.30pm.

Fewer and fewer club used this starting time. It doesn’t sound much, but if you travel to a game that extra fifteen minutes on the return home is invaluable; especially if you have an early start for work the following day.

The temperatures began to drop as the game got into swing. It was a relatively equal encounter for the first fifteen minutes or so before Aaron Jeffrey hit the foot of the post for the hosts half way through the period.

Erith’s all round strength began to come to the fore with Loxwood’s defence looking more porous by the minute. Their number 5; Edward French was a big lad and reasonable in the air, but lacking mobility.

The Dockers players wore squad numbers on their shirts as they pressed forward. Erith custodian Adam Molloy kept out a rare foray from the visitors in the shape of a Callum Jardim free kick.

Adrian Stone opened the scoring for Erith with a low shot into the bottom corner across the lush turf past Sam Smith in the Loxwood net. Right winger Stedman Callender doubled the lead five minutes later when he smashed in from close range after a Louis Valencia cross was badly dealt with.

Callender’s pace was being utilised well as passes inside the full back caused lots of problems. The winger added his second was smartly placed past Smith before his third saw him half round the keeper before slotting home a minute before the interval.

We suggested that it could have got very messy for the men from Sussex in the second half but also remembered that many games go quiet after such an action packed first half as players become complacent or greedy to get on the scoresheet.

Erith were still dominant but failed to put away their chances. Callender had one glaring miss when clean through and Smith losing his bearings and offering a big view of the net, but the hat trick hero missed the target.

Smith pulled off a brilliant save from a long range rasping drive from Valencia, before Molloy replicated the stop from a Loxwood attempt. To their credit the visitors didn’t give up or resort to foul tactics at any stage.

They got their reward as I was making my way to the exit with just a few minutes remaining. Erith failed to deal with a corner, leaving substitute Michael Death to fire home a late consolation.

I departed before the final whistle in order to catch the 9.32 train back to London Bridge in order to take the Jubilee line home to round off an enjoyable day.