Colliers Wood United

Colliers Wood United FC is a non-league side based in the London Borough of Merton in the south west of the city. Their history goes back a long way having being formed in 1874, originally being called Vandyke FC.

For many years they played in local league football before progressing to the Surrey Intermediate League. They moved to the Surrey County Premier League but the lack of facilities at the the local recreation ground, where they played home games, prevented them moving into a higher league.

In 1991 facilities were found at Wibbandune Sports Ground on the Kingston By Pass and the club gradually upgraded them further. The club changed their title to Vandyke Colliers United in 1997, prior to becoming league champions in 1997-98.

A change of name to Colliers Wood United came in 1999, finishing as league runners-up twelve months later. The same position was achieved in 2000-01 after the league had changed its name to the Surrey County Senior League.

Another second place followed in 2002-03 before 'The Wood' became founder members of Division One of the Combined Counties League. In their first season they finished runners up and were promoted into the Premier Division.

United arranged to play a sizeable amount of home games elsewhere during the 2011-12 season as a grant was sourced to relay the Wibbandune pitch and install a new drainage system. Unfortunately the pitch hit major problems the following December with the team having to play at Cobham once again.

The problems were solved as the Wood continued at Wibbandune with the team being marshalled by Tony Hurrell. Generally the side put together a string of finishes around the bottom third of the Premier Division table, with the exception being eighth place in 2015-16.

Adam Willis was appointed manager for the 2019-20 season which was ended early by the outbreak of COVID-19 with the Wood sat in eleventh position. After league restructuring the club was placed in Premier Division South.

Terry Savage became manager in October 2023. Wood were relegated at the end of the 2023-24 to Division One of the competition, with Gavin Bolger being appointed as the new team boss.

Colliers Wood United FC will compete in the Combined Counties League Division One in the 2024-25 season.

My visits

Friday 3rd November 2006

Wibbandune was the final call of a long day’s groundhop around Surrey and South West London. I was really in the mood as the following day I was going on the train to Droylsden v Scarborough. 

This was my final ground visit of the day before I was meeting my mate Jeff in The Star at St Johns Wood to refuel. I had previously called at the disappointing Raynes Park Vale FC and returned to the railway station to take the 275 bus along the Kingston by Pass.

From the top deck of the bus I could see the ground on my right in an area dominated by some housing, open land and golf courses. I crossed the road by the passenger bridge and climbed over the small gate which you'd normally associate with guarding a farmer’s field.

The ground was neat and tidy. The gate was in the corner and down the near touchline was a car park and then the changing rooms, clubhouse and a small cover at the front for standing spectators. 

A small seated stand was on the opposite touchline with the rest of the ground composing of flat open grass standing with a path around the pitch. There was a second pitch behind the seated stand with the whole arena being surrounded by trees. It was a pleasant if remote setting.

I took the bus towards Putney Bridge which gave me a tour of several housing estates and let me enjoy the antics of the kids leaving school, which severely enhanced my thirst. I reached the pub for an enjoyable couple of hours. 

However, those in my company gave me the thousand yards stare when I wanted to show them photos of the likes of Colliers Wood, Corinthian Casuals and Dorking. Education required. They didn't know what they were missing.

I was scheduled to make a visit to Wibbandune for a Surrey Senior Cup clash with AFC Wimbledon in the winter of 2011 when it fitted in well with my shifts at work. Unfortunately the game was postponed more than once owing to the pitch being waterlogged.

Colliers Wood United 0 Camberley Town 1 (Wednesday 28th January 2015) Combined Counties League Premier Division (att: 65)

With the day off work I went to the gym and had a relaxing afternoon before heading to Putney Bridge by tube before taking the 265 bus. The timetable for that service was akin to the works of Hans Christian Anderson, as the bus trudged its way through some lovely places as well as the Alton Estate in Roehampton where the first ever edition of Minder was filmed.

Eventually the bus passed the gate at Wibbanbune as teams looked to be getting ready for the 7.30pm kick off. I jogged back and went inside, nearly paying my admission to someone who turned out to be an RAC repair man! He had plenty of choice as the car park was packed.

I paid my £5 by the entrance to the small cover in front of the clubhouse and purchased the well set out programme from behind the bar for a further £1.50. At the same time I bought a tea for a quid. This was served in a proper mug. You just don’t get that at bigger games.

Wibbanbune was just as I remembered from my previous visit. The pitch was sticky but had been rolled in the afternoon. It was a bitterly cold evening with a crosswind. I’d prepared by wearing a thermal layer.

I decided to take a seat at the far side while listening to the League Cup semi-final between Sheffield United and Tottenham Hotspur. The seating offered a bit of relief from the wind.

The game was a decent standard and went from end to end. Colliers Wood were not worried by Camberley’s position at the top of the table and gave as good as they got as they kicked down the slope.

The visiting number 9 playing in central midfield was the stand out player with an educated left foot spreading play accurately. On the half hour mark Wood’s defender Sam Mead headed off his own line from a clever chip from Kelsey. This had come about from about the only error all evening from the bulky veteran home custodian; Lee Pearce.

Like nearly everyone else I headed to the warmth of the clubhouse at the interval before resuming my position on the far side for the second period.

Once more the game ebbed and flowed and was an excellent advertisement for the league. Camberley piled on plenty of pressure but it looked like the game would end scoreless. In the final minute a ball into the home area was deflected by defender Boye with former Wood striker Manny Quarshie smashing home the volley.

He became even more of a hero seconds later when he headed a Dan Hughes header off his own line while the follow up was blocked for the visitors to take their unbeaten run to eighteen league games.

While the excitement was going on, Sheffield United so nearly booked a place at Wembley until a late Spurs goal broke their hearts.

Several fans left the game and climbed the footbridge over the A3 to get to their cars while a couple of others waited for the bus with me. They were delighted when I told them that the bus was two minutes away thanks to my phone app.

Turning down the chance of a beer I headed straight home for a warming cuppa before bed after what had been another decent cheap night out.

Colliers Wood United 2 Hanworth Villa 4 (Wednesday 9^th September 2020) Combined Counties League Premier Division (Att: 90)

My mate Tony Foster was in touch eager for more football. The Coronavirus pandemic was obviously a tragedy for many people. Meanwhile, many fans like my mate were looking for action as attendance to elite football was prohibited.

Enlarged crowds were benefitting clubs. I’d not read or heard many negative comments from those who’d dipped their toes further down the football food chain. Despite being on nights I accepted a ride. We didn’t know just when the season might have been suspended.

Once more the traffic was light as we made good time to south-west London, which was maybe as well. We got slightly lost near to Rosslyn Park RFC and with time to spare Tony decided to go further down the A3 before spinning round so we were facing the right way after the game.

The 7.30pm kick-off was also handy for me getting to work afterwards. We arrived at Wibbundune ten minutes before kick-off. I’d read that improvements had been made to the venue and I wasn’t to be disappointed.

It’s amazing how a ground can be transformed with the installation of the new type of pitch fencing, which was in vogue, particularly around 3G pitches. This one tidied up the ground, with the natural playing surface in pristine condition.

The admission fee of £7 was paid at the new turnstiles, another welcome addition. Programmes had sold out owing to the decent gate, as we headed to the clubhouse to grab a cuppa for a quid. It was nice to hear a man on the mic giving out the teams.

Out on the pitch we saw a highly impressive Hanworth Villa performance in their very fetching red and white strip. The star of the show was Sam Merson who had dropped down the leagues to play with his pals.

Villa took the lead on two minutes as Meshach Williams saw his shot parried by keeper Lewis Gallifent with Merson following up to score. The team went on to dominate proceedings against a hapless United side whose defenders were being given the run around.

We got chatting to some fellas stood near us with accents I recognised. They were workers down from Stockton. One was a former Villa player and mates of the management. His pals were interested what tier the game was to compare with Northern League football that they were familiar with.

Seven minutes from the interval Merson doubled the lead as he rounded off a fine move. Just how the score was only 2-0 at the break barring one good move from Colliers Wood which nearly led to a goal.

Any hopes of Wood getting back into the game were dispelled five minutes after the break when Merson completed his hattrick. He really was too good for this level. However, the hosts didn’t give up and rallied to reply with a fine header from Mario Embalo past Terry Buss.

Villa went straight up the other end to restore their three goals advantage through Williams. The northern lads alongside us seemed to be enjoying themselves while doing wonders for the tobacco industry and sales of cans from the clubhouse.

United continued to try and play good football and were rewarded with the best goal of the evening when Nathan Mampono was on the end of a fantastic move to give the score a slightly narrower look than the game panned out.

Parking over the carriageway turned out to be an excellent move. We were soon over the bridge and away after the match, with Tony depositing me at Alperton so that I could catch the tube to work at Hillingdon.