Margate

Margate FC is based in the seaside resort in Kent, having being formed in 1896. It is fair to say that they have an extremely tempestuous history.

In their formative years they played in several amateur leagues at different grounds before they moved into the Hall-by-the-Sea Ground which would later become the Dreamland amusement park.“The Gate” joined the Kent League but they were suspended owing to financial irregularities in 1923, with the club folding.






A year later Margate Town were formed but they didn’t last long either. In 1929 they reformed again with their present title, moving into Hartsdown Park, which was rented from the local council. Around this time the club signed goalkeeper Gerrit "Gerard" Keizer, which was unusual as he was a foreigner signed from Ajax.

Between 1934 and 1938 Margate were an official feeder club to Arsenal while playing in the Southern League. In 1936 they reached the third round of the FA Cup before going out to Blackpool. After the Second World War, Gate played in the Kent League, until rejoining the Southern League in 1959 when it folded. In the mid sixties the club tried a season as full time professionals but this backfired as the team were relegated before regaining their Premier division status.

They had many seasons of mediocrity in the 70’s but did appear in two very memorable FA Cup games.In 1971 they lost 11-0 to Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic (as AFC Bournemouth were called at the time) with Ted MacDougall scoring a record nine goals. The following season, Gate reached the third round and were drawn at home to Tottenham Hotspur. Over 14,000 fans crammed into Hartsdown Park as the visitors run out 6-0 victors.

There was much talk of a merger with Ramsgate FC to try and ease both clubs continual financial worries but it came to nothing. Margate changed their name to Thanet United between 1981 and 1989 in an attempt to win funding from Thanet Borough Council, but that came to nothing. Instead the club nearly went bust until a new board came in and reverted back to Margate FC.

In 1996, a new manager, Chris Kinnear came in and led the club in its greatest era. In his first year Fulham visited Hartsdown Park in the FA Cup and won 2-1 in front of a crowd of 5,100.














By 2001 Gate had reached the Conference after much ground improvement work. Gate shared The Crabble, home of Dover Athletic while Hartsdown Park was scheduled to be completely redeveloped. However various problems delayed the work and the club were relegated despite finishing in sixteenth place. In 2004 Gate shared grounds with Ashford Town and were relegated from the Conference South into the Isthmian League.

In 2005 they returned to a mostly demolished Hartsdown Park with additional temporary structures while Kinnear was suspended. Action by the HM Revenue and Customs was averted and the club were reprieved from relegation on two consecutive seasons owing to other clubs folding and not meeting obligations.

More planning applications to improve Hartsdown Park were lodged with the local council in 2011 and were approved, but unfortunately the hotel group involved in the project pulled out leading to a further delay.


Margate FC will be playing in the Isthmian League Premier Division for the 2012-13 season.











My visits

Margate 1 Scarborough 1 (Saturday 26th January 2002) Football Conference (att: 637)





The weather was wet and blustery in London as I set off on the train for the coast. I was quite looking forward to the match as I always enjoy being by the sea and Russell Slade’s Boro were having a decent run and slowly clawing their way from relegation. The team gave 100% every week despite not being the most skilful of individuals. I was met on route by Butch and a pal of his who he’d met in his night clubbing days. He was called Peter and he was a nightmare (he later appeared on TV on one of those daytime TV programmes as a neighbour from hell).

We alighted to be hit by gale force winds and the threat of the game being postponed. The rain was also falling heavily. The pub doors were swinging open of their own accord. After a couple of beers, which ignited our new “pal” further, we caught a couple of cabs to the ground as our group had now grown. Our driver was from Filey, near Scarborough! We got to the ground where an inspection was taking place. We had a brief chat with the amiable Boro boss who agreed we had to get out of this league ASAP. How little we knew!













It was decided the game would go ahead but the slight covered terrace at the far end was deemed out of bounds for safety reasons. We were at the other end which also had a sheet roof, terracing and the clubhouse at the rear. To the right was open terracing with an old wooden Main Stand on the half way line. The players’ facilities were underneath it and they entered the pitch up some steps. To our left was a thin open terracing where there had once been another seated stand.

The match itself wasn’t too bad considering the conditions. Boro came from behind to draw through a Paul Sheppard penalty. I wandered off after the game through the adjoining park and into the town for a look around before catching my train home.

Friday 16th July 2010














I was on annual leave from work so I decided after plenty of research to have a day’s groundhopping in North Kent. I had already visited Ramsgate and my next call was to be Hartsdown Park to see it in nicer weather and to see how it looked after demolition and being tarted up for use.


The original plans were for a leisure centre, a hotel and new stands to take the capacity to 5,000. Planning applications and lack of funding meant the ground was in its present condition. The redevelopment was pending at the time of my visit. I entered via the club offices which is where players also booked and signed in for the open artificial five a side facility in the park next to the ground. A kind lady let me out onto the terrace behind the goal while we had a pleasant chat.











The Clubhouse End of the ground had been minimised further owing to modern office space. There was still a mixture of open and covered standing, plus the clubhouse. To the right there was no spectator places, but portable changing rooms and the benches. The opposite side composed of two temporary covered seating stands and open standing. The far end was just a small area of flat open standing, which was used for visiting fans when segregation was in force. There was plentiful space for future developments and The Gate have done very well using what has been on offer. A car park had been added behind the disused side. The massive advantage that Gate have had during their endeavours is the ammount of open flat land around the ground. Not every club could perform what has been achieved at Hartsdown Park, at least in my honest assessment.

I walked back and had a few minutes to view the seafront. The area where Dreamland once stood was derelict and an eyesore, although further along everything looked quite pleasant, aided no doubt by the blue skies. The pub by the station where we'd drank on my previous visit, The Flag and Whistle was now boarded up. Margate, like its football club and ground appeared to be in a state of transition.