Whitstable Town FC will play in Isthmian League Division One South in the 2019-20 season.
My visits
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 been to three grounds before the train took me from Herne Bay to arrive in Whitstable.
The town seemed very pleasant in the short time I was there. The Belmont Ground was less than ten minutes away from the station along Old Bridge and Belmont Roads. I walked to the main entrance past the immaculate Belmont Cricket Club.
The gates were open and a man was having a smoke outside the clubhouse while two men who turned out to be on the committee were working on the advertising boards at the side of the pitch. The Belmont Ground was very neat.
The Oysterman Chairman was tending to the playing surface. It was quite apparent that those in charge of Whitstable Town care deeply about their club. We got chatting and they seemed very pleased I had shown interest in their club and Kent non league football in general.
We agreed about how hard it was for clubs to keep their finances in order, but they enjoyed doing it. They told me of a major sponsor who was once at the club and promised the world. His adverts were placed everywhere and the manager of the time was extravagant with the playing budget.
Then half way through the season the sponsor pulled the plug and left, leaving the committee to sort out the entire mess. It was a sad but regular tale that clubs should be most wary of.
The ground itself was a credit to the club, with ample facilities. There was a lot of flat open standing consisting of concrete and grass. The far end was open standing apart from a small cover. The far touchline had a traditional old seated stand on the half way line with the clubs name on the roof; something I think there should be more of.
Behind the goal where we were chatting was a long cover for standing spectators. Further along there was the club offices by the turnstiles. On the Cricket Ground Side stood the clubhouse and then another small seated stand before more flat open standing.
I got back to the station with plenty of time to spend before my next train through Kent and onto Faversham.
Several years previously I had visited the Belmont to take some snaps.
It was about time I returned for a match. Indeed, I had been in the town a few
weeks previously for a day out with a pal to escape London for a few relaxing
hours.
Jaded after early shift and a latish night at Aldershot I grabbed a nap on the train down from St Pancras. I was greeted by thunder and rain upon my arrival. Fortunately, pubs were now allowing customers indoors rather than my last visit when it was chilly in the yards and gardens.
The JDW Peter Cushing was interesting enough inside converted from a cinema and named after a famous townsperson. My first pint back inside a pub. Wetherspoons divide opinion but I loved just hearing that unmistakable buzz when I opened the door.
Sure, the owner is a jerk, but he offers me a warm pub, cheap ale, a value bite to eat and habitable loos. All I need. The Twelve Taps up the road was as it suggests a veritable choice.
Sadly, all on keg craft offerings but enjoyable all the same. Lovely ambient background music playing and quality customer service. And I got a window seat so I could do some licking if the ale is was strong.
Here’s the beauty of the Non League Matters forum. I’d already more or less put a list of pubs together until I bumped into a regular poster on Aldershot station the previous evening. He alerted me to micropubs in the town, which I wouldn’t even looked for.
I headed to another, the Handsome Sam but was met with a full house. The
gent seating folk was most apologetic and suggested I popped back as they were
all heading to the football at 7.30. Ah well. Plan B. The Labour Club just a
few yards nearer the ground.
Interesting. Surreal even. I asked if I could have a beer and thought my CAMRA card might get me in. The lass behind the counter asked me if I was a red. Daft question. I was welcomed in, even though a gaggle in the corner said that they were the UKIP table.
Both ales’ on offer were OK and at club prices. Happy days. But it will almost certainly my one and only visit. I got chatting to an old lad, much to the relief of the bar lady by her expression. He was a kind soul keen to tell me of his time residing near Thirsk, the lack of common sense in the world and gave the impression he was past caring. He struck a chord.
On towards the game where a group were heading back down the lane. The Kent FA had taken over the ground and deemed we had to walk to the far entrance to gain admission. We ended up along a narrow path by a beck. As well I was following the locals.
All tickets had been sold in advance. It was £7 for an adult with an
online programme available to download. I really liked the Belmont. A proper old
venue. If Walmington-on-Sea had a football team in Dad’s Army they’d have
surely played there.
I find county and local finals strange affairs, especially at lower grade. There is not always the usual non-league fraternity in attendance. It attracts some partisan fans who hit the pop. Some bitters lads tell all and sundry that X and Y are crap, and they are far better players, while they are downing lager.
My pie, chips and tea for £4 from Pat’s Pantry was excellent and probably
the best deal in town while county FA officials confused everyone with ground
regulations that leave the home club shaking their heads. The icing on the cake
being the ref.
He was someone obviously looking to take his way in the game and making sure everyone noticed him. Not that his decision making was poor, it was just the way he gesticulated, making Clive Thomas look shy. God, I’d missed it all!
On the night the right side deservedly won. The weather added to the
attraction as the pitch cut up leading to errors and mistimed challenges as the
young players on both sides gave it their all in a blood and thunder encounter.
The visitors went ahead on nineteen minutes when Charlie O'Neill headed home a James Bush corner. Town levelled a couple of minutes after the interval when Isaak Sergeant finished well after his side ended the first half on top.
Zach Jakubowski had a goal chalked off for offside for Lordswood before their lead was restored by the same player who pounced on a loose ball after the Whitstable failed to deal with a Bush cross on sixty-two minutes.
With around fifteen minutes remaining Damon Lanckmans was brought down in the box. Our official, in a manoeuvre Robin Cousins would have been proud of, pointed to the spot. Bush smashed home the penalty.
I caught up with some Gillingham fans I’d walked with to the ground. They
were three of those who prevented me getting in the pub. They reported the
cider to be potent as they gave me useful advice about future games in the Kent
Post Lockdown Cup, reporting that there had been 500 at Rochester the previous
evening.
I departed when the board went up for injury time to catch the train back to the metropolis and some much needed shut eye. A good night out all told.
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