Chessington & Hook United

Chessington & Hook United FC is a non-league football club based in the southwest of Greater London, having evolved from the original Chessington FC who were formed in 1921 initially playing their home games on Leatherhead Road.

In its early years, the team competed in the Kingston and District Football League at Sir Francis Barker Rec and then the Sutton & District League. A move to the Premier Division of the Middlesex League followed in 1967, going on to finish runners-up in 1968-69.

Renamed as Chessington United in 1971 the club joined the Surrey Senior League which became the Home Counties League in 1978, and then the Combined Counties League a year later. The club was placed in the East Division for the 1981-82 season.

The competition returned to a single division, with the club dropping out after finishing bottom in 1982-83. Dropping back down to play local football, the club merged with Hook Youth/United in 1986 to adopt their current title.

They became members of the Surrey County Premier League under manager Eric Wicks before Paul Ellis took up the reins, finishing as runners-up in 1996-97 to win promotion to the Combined Counties League.

This was at a time when the club fielded many teams of different age groups while being proud to sponsor other sports teams in the local area. For many years all players at the club were required to pay subs while the club was run purely voluntarily. Paul Norris became manager in 1998.

The league was expanded in 2003, with the ‘Blues’ being placed in the Premier Division. A run to the fourth round of the FA Vase followed in 2004-05 while improvements were made to their Chalky Lane home. In the summer of 2008, Norris stepped down at Chessy to be replaced by Glynn Stephens.

Norris returned during the 2011-12 campaign as the club was reprieved from relegation. Andrew Ellis was appointed as manager in September 2013, before the club was relegated to Division One several months later. A return to the Premier Division was achieved at the first attempt in 2015-16.

However, Chessy went back down twelve months later. Glen Nichols was manager when replaced by a returning Ellis ahead of the 2021-22 season which saw the club placed in Division One of the Southern Counties East League, finishing bottom of the table.

This led to a move to Division One of the Southern Combination where the team ended in seventh place in 2023-24.

Chessington and Hook United FC will play in the Southern Combination Division One in the 2024-25 season.

My visits

Friday 3rd November 2006

I was taking a trek around some of the non-league grounds in the area when the opportunity arose to take a bus from Leatherhead to Chalky Lane where the club was based. In fact, the bus pulled into the Chessington World of Adventure, which was nearby.

The lane down to the ground gave no real clues as it turned into a track before the entrance to the car park came into view. The gate into the ground was ajar and once inside I was greeted by a very friendly man who doubled up as groundsman and a senior club official. 

He was aided by a youngster. They were very proud of their club and the ground and were delighted that someone was taking an interest in seeking them out. That was the attitude that I generally encompassed on my travels with the odd exception and always added something to my day.

In fairness, the Chalky Lane ground was nothing spectacular, but it was well cared for. The clubhouse, offices and changing rooms were in a corner at the Chalky Lane End, which also had a small wooden cover for standing spectators behind the goal. 

On the halfway line down the right-hand side stood a small stand complete with blue tip-up seats, which the pitch sloped towards. The dugouts were the only constructions opposite. Practice pitches were behind the far goal. The rest of the arena consisted of flat grass and pathways.

I bade farewell to my newfound friends and went back to the theme park to await my bus to my next port of call, Corinthian Casuals.

Chessington & Hook United 1 Badshot Lea 1 (Tuesday 7th May 2013) Combined Counties League Premier Division (att: approx 30)

The season was coming to a close and I was on early shifts at work. Being keen to see a game at grounds where I'd already visited wherever possible, the fixture at Chalky Lane looked a good option.

A train took me to Chessington South station, with the walk to the ground taking another ten minutes or so. I paid what I thought was a rather steep £7 admission to the youth at the gate, who told me that the programmes had sold out.

A cup of steaming hot tea for £1 quenched my thirst as the teams came out. The long-haired enthusiastic C&HU trainer had his reluctant charges doing a few warm-up exercises. The pitch was hard and rutted with several bare patches near the dugouts. 

Shouts of Come on Baggy from the visitor's bench looked to inspire their team. The support seemed to inspire Badshot Lea as they started by far the brighter side and with a bit of fortune would have taken the lead. 

However, the fifty-fifty challenges were being won by the physically stronger home side and they knew it. Their big number five, who I think was Victor Martin ran the show from a deep midfield-come defensive role as he used the ball sensibly and found himself in acres of space.

The floodlights came on after twenty-five minutes as the smell of the country wafted over the stand and I listened to Wigan Athletic's vital Premier League clash with Swansea City. After half an hour C&HU had an effort cleared off the line. 

They were not to be denied a couple of minutes later when a low shot hit the foot of the post before Daniel Harding tapped the ball into the empty net. Theo Woodhouse could have stretched the lead when through on the stroke of halftime, but he somehow managed to hit the same post as earlier with his effort. 

I retired to the tea bar for another cuppa and an excellent cheeseburger for £3. It was advertised that the burgers and hot dogs were sourced from a local supplier, and I thought that this was evident in the quality.

The scores were levelled five minutes into the second period after the referee pointed to the penalty spot following an innocuous trip on a Baggy forward. Josh Pearson slotted home the spot kick and celebrated by mimicking the pros by whipping off his shirt and running to his bench in mock fashion. I'm not sure that the referee saw the funny side of it.

Apart from a scramble in the Baggy box soon afterwards, the game went downhill and became very poor end-of-season fare. The players looked tired and the pitch didn't always help them. I left with five minutes remaining to ensure I caught the hourly train back to the city.

It hadn't been the greatest game ever, but I was still glad to tick off another venue.