Redhill

Redhill FC is a non-league football club who were formed in 1894 and represents the commuter town of the same name, which is located twenty miles south of London. The club initially played in friendly games for its first four seasons, moving into their town centre Memorial Ground in 1896, before taking part in several regional leagues and joining the London League in 1922.

Two years later, the 'Reds' gained acceptance into the Athenian League, where they established a name as one of the most highly respected clubs in the south of England. They were crowned league champions in 1924-25 after finishing runners-up the previous season. 

Redhill went on from their success to reach the semi-final of the FA Amateur Cup, before losing 7-1 to Northern Nomads at Highbury in front of 17,000 fans. The team was severely hampered after their keeper was injured early on and they were reduced to ten men. 

The team tried to stem the tide, and on several occasions, they kicked the ball out of the ground, to cries of "Redhill" from both sets of supporters. This tradition is still carried on at some grounds when a clearance leaves the ground.

The club's old Memorial Ground
Picture scanned from a book

The club ended as league runners-up for another couple of seasons before the war broke out. After the conflict, they resumed membership in the Athenian League. In 1948, a strong Chelsea team was defeated 4-2 in a friendly at the Memorial Ground, and the following year, Arsenal came to town after Redhill provided them with the talented duo of Colin Grimshaw and Bernard Sexton.

In 1957-58, Redhill reached the FA Cup first round after seeing off Tooting & Mitcham United, before Norwich City put them out with a 6-1 win at Carrow Road. Star youngster Ray Hutchins won a couple of England youth caps while with the club in the early 60s, while the club was relegated to the league's second tier before winning their place back in 1967.

After many years of inconsistency, Redhill won the last ever Athenian League title in 1983-84 before it was disbanded. The club was placed in the London Spartan League for the following season, as the club was asked to leave the Memorial Ground and move two miles south to the undeveloped Kiln Brow, meaning a move to a higher league was not possible.

Redhill gradually developed Kiln Brow, but it was a hard slog before they moved to the Sussex County League for the start of the 1988-89 season. In 1994, a competition was held to find an alternative nickname to The Reds, which saw the 'Lobsters' being adopted. Two years later, the team was promoted back to Division One after an earlier relegation.

Several managers had a go at trying to deliver honours to the club, without ever looking likely to achieve their goals. Meanwhile, off-the-pitch developments continued with the newly seated Alan Thirbeck Stand being erected in 2008, and a new turnstile block followed a couple of years later. 

The work paid off as Redhill were awarded a grade sufficient to be promoted to the next level if the team did their job on the pitch. Former youth team boss Mike Maher was appointed as team manager in February 2012 to replace Simon Colbran in an attempt to bring back the glory days of the club. 

The move proved successful as The Lobsters finished as Sussex County League runners-up in 2012-13 and won promotion to the Isthmian League. However, Redhill's stay at the higher level lasted just two seasons. 

In 2015, former Football League star Gavin Gordon was appointed as player-manager, remaining in the role until March 2019, when he stepped aside and was replaced by Barry Wilde. The 2019-20 season, which was eventually abandoned in the same way as the following campaign. 

Harrison Williams became the manager during that period. The side returned to full action in the Premier Division South of the enlarged Combined Counties League, finishing sixth in 2021-22. In February 2023, Jordan Clark was appointed as manager, with his first full season in charge seeing the team narrowly miss out on a playoff position.

The side thought that they had won the title in 2024-25, but they were deducted points after the season was complete, leading to the playoffs, where they lost their home semifinal to Cobham. Clark departed to be replaced by Sam Morgan shortly after. Andy Lampard was appointed as manager in March 2026.

Redhill FC will play in the Combined Counties League Premier Division South in the 2026-27 season.

My visits

Thursday 25th October 2012

Having sped past Redhill on several occasions on the way to Gatwick or the south coast, I decided it was time to have a closer look at Kiln Brow. My opportunity knocked after finishing work for what was to be a memorable long weekend in Germany to enjoy the beautiful game and the wonders that the great country offers.

I was to stay at the Ibis Hotel just south of Gatwick so that I could catch an early flight the next morning, so I alighted at Redhill station on the way and took the 100 bus, which dropped me virtually outside the ground.

The club's car park was being used by the nearby East Surrey Hospital, and the gates were locked to the ground. I could still see inside from near the clubhouse, and after investigation, I found a gap in the fence behind the goal.

Kiln Brow was a decent if unspectacular venue. Down the entrance side, there were various small buildings housing facilities, with the Alan Thirbeck Stand on the halfway line. There was some hard standing all the way around the pitch, as well as open grass. The dugouts were on the far side of the pitch. 

Covered standing came by way of a section near the corner flag, which contained a few steps of terracing. There was obvious scope for expansion and further development. I left the ground, and with there being a twenty-minute wait for the next bus south, I set off walking before boarding and visiting Horley Town before checking in at my accommodation.

Redhill 0 Tooting & Mitcham United 3 (Saturday 2nd November 2013) Isthmian League Division One South (att: 158)

Having returned from my fabulous adventure in Thailand and working night shifts, I needed an afternoon out at a non-league game to get back into things. Having already visited Redhill a year or so earlier to take photos of Kiln Brow, I thought it was high time I took in a game there.

My train from Victoria dropped me at Redhill around 2.20, just as the 100 bus pulled in opposite the bus station. All was going to plan! It was nice to turn up at a non-league Step 4 venue and see a queue at the turnstiles. Admission was £8, with an extra quid for a decent enough programme.

It was soon apparent that at least half the crowd were supporting the visiting Terrors of Tooting, who were wearing their away colours of blue and white. The sun had come out after several earlier heavy showers. A fan commented that the referee was close to calling the game off. 

Indeed, the pitch was heavy in places, but surely not enough to consider a postponement? I was glad the official in question didn’t ref in the ’70s and 80’s, as there would have definitely been fixture congestion.

Tooting started off playing some very neat football, which underlined their recent good run of results under their young, articulate manager, Craig Tanner. It was proving too much for the Redhill rearguard when a tremendous move split open the home defence, leading to a foul on Harry Knock and a penalty. 

Some Tooting fans demanded a red card for the offender, but I personally thought that the ref got it spot on with a yellow. Sol Pinnock slotted home the penalty. Within a few minutes, Redhill went up the other end, resulting in the visiting custodian, Gareth Williams, pulling off a wonder save. 

The ball was cleared and eventually found its way to Cecil Gee, who broke the offside trap and went on to blast the ball past Max Hunter in the home net. Redhill’s defenders continued to make some clumsy challenges. 

Kevant Sebony forced the ref to point to the spot once again as he rashly brought down Francis Quarm. Hunter saved his colleague's blushes as he kept out Pinnock from twelve yards. It was fair to say that the home supporters were not massively impressed with their charges.

Yet they were to become even more aggrieved when, with just thirty-three minutes on the clock, they somehow managed to concede a third penalty. It was difficult for me not to laugh, and even some Redhill fans had entered into dark humour. This time Jordan Cheadle blasted home the spot kick to make it 3-0 as an old boy booted the perimeter fence in disgust.

At the interval, I popped inside the homely clubhouse, but settled for a mug of tea and a cheeseburger from the friendly folk manning the tea hut, once the queues started to diminish. To their credit, the Lobsters came out after the break and gave it a real go to salvage something from the game, as they changed to just three men at the back. 

They managed to create a few half-chances, but Tooting held firm, while also creating an occasional chance on the break as their usual vociferous fans continued to bark out support. A couple stood next to me and asked the score as they had just come in for a look after an hour. 

They couldn’t believe it when I told them. It was the proverbial game of two halves, only without goals in the second period. The bus arrived at just past 5pm. I got chatting to a Tooting fan who travelled to matches from his Leicester home. 

Fortunately, the bus got back to the station in time for me to catch the fast 5.18 train back to the metropolis, allowing me a decent shut-eye before my next shift at work. I was back in the swing, and any holiday cobwebs had been well and truly blown away.

Billericay Town

Billericay Town FC is a non-league football club from the commuter town of the same name in Essex, which is located twenty-eight miles east of central London. The club was formed in 1880, playing in local league competition for their first eighty-six years before becoming founder members of the Essex Olympian League in 1966.

In 1969-70 and then the following season, they were crowned as champions at the same time as moving into their New Lodge home ground, going on to become founder members of the Essex Senior League in 1972. This began a golden period in the club's history under manager John Newman.

Billericay were crowned as champions in 1972-73, 1974-75, and 1975-76. As well as winning their third title, the 'Blues' also won the FA Vase at Wembley after defeating Stamford 1-0. They returned to another final the following season, this time drawing 1-1 with Sheffield below the twin towers, before winning the replay 2-1 at the City Ground in Nottingham.

A move to the Athenian League followed this feat, with Town winning the title in their debut 1977-78 season. 1978-79 saw the team regain their title as well as returning to Wembley, where a Dougie Young hat trick helped see off Almondsbury Greenway to lift the Vase for the third time. This success led to promotion to the Isthmian League, where they were promoted to Division One at their first attempt in 1979-80.

Yet another promotion was sealed at the end of the 1980-81 season as Town reached the Premier Division. However, that was the end of the glory days for some time as a succession of managers came and went.

Towards the end of the decade, they had found themselves on the receiving end of two relegations in 1985-86 and 1987-88. After regrouping, the appointment of John Kendall as manager in November 1989 proved a masterstroke.

The Blues went back up in 1991-92 and 1997-98 to find themselves back in the Premier Division at the turn of the millennium. The long reign of the successful manager ended in August 1999 when Gary Calder replaced him.

 

In the 2004-05 season with new owner Steve Kent at the helm and Justin Edinburgh as manager, Billericay lost to Leyton in the end-of-season playoffs in a bid to be promoted to the Conference South.

They failed once more at the same stage against Bromley in 2006-07. Edinburgh moved on, and after a spell which saw Brian Statham in charge, Craig Edwards took over as manager in April 2010.

 

Edwards assembled a successful team that went on to lift the Isthmian League title in 2011-12 and promotion to Conference South, before Kent put the club up for sale in July 2012. This move may have affected the field performances as Town were relegated back to the Isthmian League the following May.

December 2016 saw the arrival of Glenn Tamplin, a larger-than-life character who drew attention and controversy at every turn. He transformed the club by upgrading New Lodge and spent lots of money on the team with signings such as Jamie O'Hara, Jermaine Pennant, and Paul Konchesky.

 

He decided to become manager to replace Edwards in March 2017, before Harry Wheeler was brought in to lead Billericay to the Isthmian League title in 2017-18. The chaos continued as Tamplin once again took charge, before Dean Brennan oversaw a brief spell, before Wheeler returned.

Tamplin departed to leave the rest of the board to pick up the pieces as O’Hara took over as manager. Ronnie Henry, Kevin Wilson, and Dan Brown all took turns as manager during the pandemic before the appointment of Jody Brown in October 2021. Brown returned in April 2022.

 

Billericay were relegated from National League South in 2022-23, leading to the arrival of new boss Gary McCann, with the team narrowly missing out on a playoff berth twelve months later. The playoffs were reached in 2024-25, with Dover Athletic extinguishing hopes of promotion in the semifinal tie. McCann was replaced by Danny Scopes in September 2025.

The playoffs were reached in 2025-26, with wins against Chatham Town and Brentwood Town leading to promotion to the National League South.

Billericay Town will compete in the National League South in the 2026-27 season.

My visit

Billericay Town 1 Dagenham & Redbridge XI 3 (Monday 2nd August 2010) Pre-Season Friendly (att: approx 250)

How times had changed. For a couple of years, when I moved to London in 1999, this had been a normal Ryman League encounter. For this encounter, Dagenham & Redbridge sent out their reserves as the first team was to start their campaign at Sheffield Wednesday the following Saturday. That was surely something all clubs could take heart from and aspire to?

I eventually found the piecemeal ground on the edge of town and got a warm welcome as I had a Boro polo shirt on. New Lodge had areas of covered terracing on three sides of the pitch, with the far side also containing some seating. 

The final entrance side was made up of some covering for standing fans, a small raised Main Stand, the clubhouse, an elevated sponsors box, and then the changing rooms. All areas in between were open hard standing with an occasional few steps of terracing.

The clubhouse was excellent and piped through the pre-match music and PA’s from the rest of the ground. What an announcer/DJ they had. We were entertained with everything from punk, prog rock, and heavy metal right through to brass bands. 

Apparently, the bloke was a bit of a character in charge of the supporters club who, at one half-time interval, announced the 50/50 winner and then played one long Kiss track through the entire break. An excellent innovation was that fans could pay a tenner and have their favourite ten songs played before the game to raise cash for the club.

I had a brief chat with the amiable John Still, the boss of the visitors, who said what a shame it was about Boro, and he always enjoyed our games. He wished us all the best on our climb back.

The game itself was very competitive. Billericay’s league campaign didn’t kick off for a couple of weeks, and apparently, they were going to pick their final squad from the 25 who were playing pre-season for them. Money was tight everywhere, so players were desperate to find clubs around the M25 corridor. 

The home side gave as good as they got before going 2-0 down to a young and athletic Daggers team, rather against the general pattern of the game. They got back into it and could have drawn level before a late goal put the game beyond doubt.

I got a nice surprise as a local fan picked me out. I had let some of my contacts know where I was going, including Simon Cope, and lo and behold, a good friend of his was there. Andy was also a Trust member of Boro despite living in Essex! 

We had a good chat, and I got a lift to Shenfield station after the game, saving me plenty of time. All in all, I'd had a good night at a club I would recommend if anyone ever found themselves in the area and found themselves at a loose end.

London Tigers

London Tigers FC is a non-league football club whose headquarters are in Southall, west London. The club was formed in 1986 as Marylebone FC, before changing its name to London Tigers in 1997, having established themselves as a name in Asian competitions around the UK.

Alongside the football team, London Tigers became the leading Asian sports organisation, providing the UK Asian community with an opportunity to display their talents in several sports. In 2002, the club became a member of the Middlesex League.

After four successful years, they were accepted into the Spartan South Midlands League for the 2006-07 season, to provide the opportunity for inner-city young players to play football against semi-professional clubs. 

To get a place in the league, the Tigers amalgamated with a struggling Kingsbury Town FC to become Kingsbury London Tigers FC. The 2008-09 season saw the club finish in fifth place in the league, and they remained consistent competitors.

However, at the end of the 2010-11 season, they decided to move on and change their name back to London Tigers, while Kingsbury Town folded. Tigers moved to a new home, Avenue Park, the former home of Viking Greenford FC. 

At the same time, work began on the London Tigers Sports Complex at Spikes Bridge Park in nearby Southall. After a few weeks at their new home, the club was hit by vandalism as burglars also stole all the copper piping from the changing rooms, leaving the team to complete the season at a variety of 'home' venues.

The damage was repaired in time for the start of the 2012-13 season so that the Tigers could resume at Avenue Park. For several seasons, the side struggled towards the wrong end of the table with thirteenth the best finish in 2015-16.

Tigers' task was not helped when, in March 2017, their Avenue Park ground was broken into and vandalised and used for fly tipping, meaning the team had to play their remaining home games at alternative venues.

The team moved to become tenants of Northwood FC at Chestnut Avenue in the summer of 2017. Without a home advantage, the team faced a difficult task, which ended in relegation to Division One after the 2018-19 season. 

Tigers sat eighth in the Division One table when the 2019-20 season was ended early owing to the outbreak of Coronavirus after the club had moved to Spratleys Meadow to become tenants of Amersham Town FC.

The pandemic caused the early abandonment of the 2020-21 campaign, as London Tigers sat bottom of the table without a point after nine games. They returned to finish in sixteenth and then nineteenth place in 2022-23 before resigning from the Spartan South Midlands League.

The club returned to the Middlesex League, finishing close to the bottom of the table in their first two seasons back, while being able to play at their base at Spikes Bridge Park.

London Tigers will play in the Middlesex League Premier Division in the 2025-26 season.

My visits

Western Avenue

London Tigers 0 Dunstable Town 3 (Saturday 11th August 2012) Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division (att: 30)

I had intended to visit Avenue Park the previous season, but owing to the vandals it wasn't to be. However, I was on night shift and heading to the glamour FA Cup tie between Wembley and Langford, which was being covered live on ESPN and had an early kick-off. 

As the weather was stunning, I decided to travel a few miles south at the end of the game to Greenford. The 92 bus dropped me by the main A40 Western Avenue and set off walking along it, with a doubt or two in my mind that I'd gone the wrong way. I was relieved to see a van pulling into an entrance a bit further up.

I'd heard several reports about Avenue Park, none of them particularly flattering. I walked straight in after arriving five minutes late. When I asked some local youths if there were any programmes, they pointed to the bloke who appeared in charge. 

He was attempting to get a corner flag to stay upright, which no one managed for any length of time all day, and in the end, they completely gave up. He kindly took me to the clubhouse to get one. I handed over my £5 admission money plus a quid for a decent programme.

The ground had a small bench seated cover behind the near goal, and a cover at the other end made of boarding and a scaffold. There was no spectator accommodation down the side by the dugouts, and the other side had the narrowest of spaces for fans. 

A fence separated it from a public footpath, where any tightwads could watch for nothing. Personally, I'd make any such offenders sit next to the England Band for a season for that kind of meanness.

There was plenty of early end-to-end stuff with both sides playing attractive football. The visitors, who had impressed me when beating Luton Town a couple of weeks earlier, went one up with a free header from Jonathan Barnett.

Both keepers were kept busy as both sides went for it, although Town always had a more incisive cutting edge in my opinion. There was some concern that a referee's assessor, whom I presumed was a YTS journalist at first, scrutinised senior officials. All three did well, although the ref did come across as having to be unnecessarily strict.

At halftime, I popped into the somewhat basic clubhouse. I thought £2 was a bit steep for a Lucozade, but I understood that clubs need to make a few quid where they could. I was just pleased to see that the Tigers had regrouped and got their ground back in action. 

It was nice to see the diversity of both the playing squad and their few supporters. I read that a new sports complex in Spike's Bridge Park was on the way. 

After the break, Town extended their lead with a long looping shot from Damen Pickering, which Adam Atour in the home net will have been disappointed to let in. He atoned with some excellent stops as Dunstable took control. 

Tigers had their moments, but didn't worry the Town keeper. Tigers star man Kye Hendrix missed a decent opportunity before the play went straight up the other end for Lee Roache to make it three. They also rattled the post in the last seconds, but 4-0 would have been harsh on the home side.

I was back home in Kingsbury at just gone 6pm and got to see plenty of tearful Brazilians coming out of the Olympic final at Wembley. I know who'd had the better day out!

At Reynolds Field, Hanwell

London Tigers 5 Edgware Town 0 (Wednesday 22nd March 2017) Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division (att: 30)

This fixture was moved to Reynolds Field, the home of Hanwell Town FC, as the Tigers' home further up Western Avenue had been broken into and used as a rubbish dump by the travelling community.

With me having the following day off work, this provided a handy chance for a few pints and relaxation. My Irish pal Mick Deveraux met me at Kingsbury station, proudly wearing his Wares hat, as we travelled down to Perivale by a couple of buses.

There was time for a pint in the Perivale Farm pub, which was serving quality carvery meals and was noted for any future visits to the ground. We walked a few hundred yards down Perivale Lane to the ground entrance. My admission was £6, with a programme costing a further quid.

While there was no beer on hand pump in the clubhouse at Reynolds Farm, there was a decent range of bottles. We took our beer into the stand and used the vacant press box with tables in front as our own personal bar! Within minutes, we were wondering if the Edgware team had been on the pop for the afternoon as they made one mistake after another.

The first came in two minutes as an awful back pass put in a Tigers forward to score. Within five minutes, the normally reliable keeper, Cain Davies, had let a thirty-yard cross sail over his head and into the far corner.

A Wares midfielder was robbed, leading to it becoming 3-0 before a thirty-yard chip made it 4-0. Make no mistake. London Tigers played some smashing football, but they were given a huge hand in their task.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the scorers in the correct order, but Yaseen Abdullah scored twice, with other goals coming from Ruben Coloval, Claudio Jilavu, and Josemar Lopes Gomes.

Edgware put in a much better performance after the break and had a few decent efforts of but the game was all over long before then. We continued to enjoy beers and a laugh. Some of the exasperated shouts at the referee from senior away fans amused the younger supporters of the Tigers.

Yahya El Kabouche was sent off for the ‘home’ side after retaliating stupidly to a challenge from a Wares player. Despite this Tigers added a fifth goal before full time.

The twenty-five visiting fans out of a crowd of 30 were in a phlegmatic mood back in the bar. We hung around while I followed the bus times on my phone App. We eventually caught the 297 to Wembley Park before heading to JJ Moons at Kingsbury for the final hour to catch up with other pals.

It had been a disappointing game attending as Edgware fans, as the team continued to spiral downwards towards the drop zone.