Holmesdale Putting Down Roots

 

This article originally appeared in the Farnborough & Orpington Local Magazines.  

Along with Bromley & Cray Wanderers, BR2 also boasts another senior football club in the shape of Holmesdale FC. Based in Oakley Road, Bromley Common, ‘The Dalers’ currently play in the Southern Counties East Football League Division One (level six), although they may be due for promotion if restructuring proposals go ahead across non league football in May.

In the last two seasons under manager Lee Roots, Holmesdale have competed near to top of the SCEFL Division One, before both campaigns were cut short by Covid 19, picking up an impressive points per game average of 2.2, which sees them occupy second in the table over all. Dale play some really attractive attacking football, which was starting to pull in larger attendances before things came to an abrupt halt in November 2020 with the team on an impressive unbeaten run.   

Holmesdale began their current existence in1956 at The Oaks in the Shirley area of Croydon, picking up the history of the original club which had folded in the 1920s, before making the move over the border to Bromley Common in 2000. As well as moving up the football pyramid, all the way to the Kent League Premier Division at one stage (level 5), the club have also steadily improved facilities at their Oakley Road ground with a nice bar, excellent playing surface, floodlights and a new main stand built two years ago that replaced the iconic scaffolding structure which had been put up just over a decade earlier.

The club also has an extensive youth set up and an Under 23s side to provide a pathway into the first team for up and coming local football talent. With many players in the current squad having progressed this way.

Last season admission for games was only £7 for adults and £4 for concessions and prior to the campaign being cut short Holmesdale had progressed to the third round of the FA Vase, which is the furthest the club had ever progressed in the national cup competition that has it’s final held at Wembley Stadium.

The club is run by a friendly band of hard working volunteers and a warm welcome is guaranteed for supporters who make the journey to the ground, which is set back from the main road in a very green and pleasant part of the borough. The ground is surrounded by fields, just down the road from Bromley Common Cricket Club. Dale recently appointed Keith Bird as Chairman who had previously been involved on the coaching side at Bromley & Cray Wanderers.

Hopefully by the start of next season in August 2021 things will be back to some kind of normal, at least to an extent that see fans return to watching football at this level and Holmesdale FC can continue to progress on and off the field whether that’s in the SCEFL Division One or Premier.

Col      

 https://www.holmesdalefc.com/     

London Oldest Club Looking to the Future

 

This article appeared in the Farnborough, Orpington & Petts Wood Local Magazines in March 2021.

London Oldest Club Looking to the Future

 

Cray Wanderers FC were formed in 1860 by workers on the rail line from London to Kent, who were constructing the impressive viaduct that still towers over St Mary Cray village today. Their affiliation with the London FA means they are London’s Oldest surviving football team. The club have lived a somewhat nomadic existence over their 160 year history, which has seen them play at eight different home grounds in the area, the most recent being Bromley FC’s Hayes Lane stadium which The Wands have called home since 1998, having moved there from Oxford Road in Sidcup, which had been their base since 1973.

 

The wandering is due to end within the next couple of years though, as club Owner Gary Hillman has secured a new home ground they can call their own at Flamingo Park on the A20 between Sidcup and Eltham. Along with plans for a main stadium with a 3G pitch, there will also be a number of other pitches and facilities available for the whole community. Although building work has yet to begin on the main stadium the club is already using the pitches on site for pre-season games and their impressive youth set up which runs from Under 7s to Under 18s. The youth system has already produced a number of players who have stepped up into the first team squad and some have moved on to the Football League. 

 

A number of former  professional footballers have graced the Cray ranks including Simon Osborn who played for Crystal Palace, Wolves & QPR, plus ex-Charlton Athletic men Grant Basey, Danny Haynes and currently Bradley Pritchard who  has regularly put in impressive performances in midfield over the last couple of seasons.    

 

Since The Wands move to Bromley, 5 miles form the area they take their name from, Cray have gone from strength to strength on the pitch, rising from the Kent League and now playing in the Isthmian League Premier Division, the highest level in the club’s history (two divisions below the Football League). Last season, first team manager Tony Russell’s side were challenging for promotion to National League South, sitting in second place, when Covid 19 saw the season halted in March with eight games to go and all results declared null and void. They had started this season in similar fashion and had good runs in the FA Cup & Trophy also, only for the campaign to be stopped in it’s tracks again by the virus. With no decision on the rest of the season yet made, it looks likely that again they will see the results wiped from the history books and The Wands won’t be back in action until at least the late summer, when fans are hopefully allowed back in to Hayes Lane for the 2021/22 season.

 

Manager Russell and his coach Joe Vines both played for Cray Wands during their careers and alongside coach Nathan White and physio Ally Maloney they have formed a strong back room team. Widley praised for their attacking and possession based style of play, Cray’s brand of football has many admirers and the entrance fee of only £10 for adults and £5 for concessions means it’s an affordable afternoon’s entertainment for the family, with a friendly welcome from the club’s loyal band of volunteers who keep everything running. The club also issue an excellent programme for every home game priced at just £2 and full of interesting stats and articles. Club historians Jerry Dowlen and Peter Gorringe have also produced several books on Cray Wanderers extensive history and links with the Cray area.             

 

Not deterred by the Covid set backs, which has also understandably seen vital sponsorship form local businesses hit, the club’s CEO Sam Wright recently announced a partnership with V Bet that will help The Wands grow their community links with the area they are set to move to and revamp the club’s merchandise, which should hopefully see their famous amber & black colours being worn by many more locals. Cray Wanderers already has a superb Community Scheme for children in the Cray area, which has been running for over 10 years and engages with youngsters through sport & education.    

 

With so much positive work going on and promising plans for the future, despite these difficult times, Cray Wanderers look set to be on the path to even bigger things on and off the pitch as they head towards their 161^st anniversary this summer eyeing National League football and a home ground of their own.      

 Home Grounds – Star Lane, Fordcroft, St Mary Cray Rec, Foots Cray, Fordcroft, Grassmeade, Oxford Road, Hayes Lane. 

   

https://www.cray-wanderers.com/

 

Just for Kicks – Season 1994/95

It’s probably hard for anyone who wasn’t watching Isthmian League Football in the 1994/95 season to believe that this actually happened, but I assure you that it did. For one season the league agreed with the FA to trial the use of ‘kick ins’. The law change basically meaning that a player could choose to ether throw the ball in as normal or kick it instead. The kick would be treated as a throw in, meaning players could not be offside when receiving the ball, but also you could not score direct with a kick in. The idea being that it would provide more goal mouth incident and encourage more attacking play.

The consequence of the new initiative was that teams quickly worked out if you filled your team with 6ft plus, well built giants, you could use any restart from within 70yards of the opposition goal as a set piece and pump the ball into their box. Most Isthmian League games became a 90 minute series of set pieces and goal mouth scrambles. There were a few teams who refused to use them initially, sticking to the principles of football, but the majority embraced the route one nature encouraged by the rule.

Bromley manager George Wakeling saw his team challenge near the top of the table for the majority of the season, helped by the superb set piece delivery of Joe Francis and the aerial prowess of strikers Carl Richards, Micky Brown, Trevor Aylott and Richard Cherry.

There was one game at home to Molesey where Francis scored, or was directly involved in, three goals within a space of five minutes as Bromley won 4-3. One of the goals saw Francis drive the ball from a kick in directly towards goal, if The Moles keeper had left the ball it wouldn’t have counted, but in attempting to tip the ball over the bar he only got his finger tips to it and pushed the ball into the roof of the net for an own goal! Another incident that is carved into Bromley folklore happened away at local rivals Sutton Utd. With the game tied at 1-1 in the final few minutes, Bromley were awarded a penalty. Richard Cherry saw his spot kicked saved and cleared over the touch line by a home defender. Francis quickly returned the ball into play via a perfectly weighted kick in, which found Cherry still stood on the penalty spot distraught, the striker looked up just in time and headed the ball over the stranded Sutton keeper into the net to make it 2-1 to Bromley and win the game, heralding chaotic scenes behind the goal as the Bromley support went crazy.   

It wasn’t easy for teams to adapt to not using kick ins when playing in other cup competitions and teams selections had to change to allow for different types of players. Bromley entered six cup competitions along with a 42 game league campaign, they exited the FA Trophy, Kent Senior Cup, Club Call Cup and Diadora League Cup at the first time of asking, going one round further in the London Challenge Cup before losing 6-4 away at St Albans City. In the FA Cup The Ravens did beat Bognor Regis Town 3-2 at home before losing in a second replay 1-0 to Gravesend & Northfleet Utd, the home game being watched by 805. The biggest home gate of the season came on Boxing Day when 916 watched second place Bromley lose 2-0 at home to Dulwich Hamlet. The lowest home league attendance being the 253 hardy souls who turned up in the pouring rain for a midweek 6-0 home loss to bottom of the league Marlow at the end of March. The game should never really have been played with standing water all over the pitch, but the Ref insisted it went ahead and the visitors adapted better to the conditions.      

The traditional post Christmas slump saw The Ravens challenge for the top fade, slipping to seventh by the Spring before securing a sixth place finish with a decent run in, including a 5-0 win over Walton & Hersham thanks to goals from Mickey Brown (2), Pat Gordon, Keith Sharman & Frank Coles. Club Legend Coles along with Carl Richards, Andy Salako, Dean Francis, Ollie Adedji and Keith Sharman all played over 40 matches in the 52 game season. Joe Francis finished the season as top scorer.                

Unsurprisingly the Kick Ins experiment only lasted one season before being scrapped. For the football purist it was an anathema, it stifled any creative midfield play at all. For the likes of myself, who like the rough and tumble of lower league football, it was a lot of fun, but we knew it wouldn’t last.                

PREMIER DIVISION

 Pos  Name                            Pld    W    D    L   GF   GA  Pts

   1  Enfield                          42   28    9    5  106   43   93

   2  Slough Town                      42   22   13    7   82   56   79

   3  Hayes                            42   20   14    8   66   47   74

   4  Aylesbury United                 42   21    6   15   86   59   69

   5  Hitchin Town                     42   18   12   12   68   59   66

   6  Bromley                          42   18   11   13   76   67   65

   7  St Albans City                   42   17   13   12   96   81   64

   8  Molesey                          42   18    8   16   65   61   62

   9  Yeading                          42   14   15   13   60   59   57

  10  Harrow Borough                   42   17    6   19   64   67   57

  11  Dulwich Hamlet                   42   16    9   17   70   82   57

  12  Carshalton Athletic              42   16    9   17   69   84   57

  13  Kingstonian                      42   16    8   18   62   57   56

  14  Walton & Hersham                 42   14   11   17   75   73   53

  15  Sutton United                    42   13   12   17   74   69   51

  16  Purfleet                         42   13   12   17   76   90   51

  17  Hendon                           42   12   14   16   57   65   50

  18  Grays Athletic                   42   11   16   15   57   61   49

  19  Bishop's Stortford               42   12   11   19   53   76   47

  20  Chesham United                   42   12    9   21   60   87   45

  21  Marlow                           42   10    9   23   52   84   39

  22  Wokingham Town                   42    6    9   27   39   86   27

 

Enfield won the league, but turned down promotion with Slough taking their place in the Conference. Chesham, Marlow & Wokingham were relegated to Division One.

Twenty six years on Bromley & Sutton Utd are highest placed, competing in the National League. Only Dulwich Hamlet & St Albans compete at the equivalent level. Hayes & Yeading merged in 2009, Enfield split into two clubs, the fan run Town in the Isthmian League with the other in the Essex Senior League.

Wokingham (now merged with Embrook) along with Walton & Hesham have slipped the furthest down the pyramid to county league division one level, while Purfleet changed their name to Thurrock before eventually folding in 2017.      

Col

     

Boxing Day Football

 

Boxing Day Football

Boxing Day always used to be a special date in the football calendar. Stuffed with Christmas excess it was a chance for fans to get some fresh air and meet up with mates to cheer on their team. For players I guess it wasn’t always so great, having to be careful what they consumed the previous day and then prepare for what was traditionally a morning or early afternoon kick off.

It was always pretty obvious if some players had been less committed to their dietary restrictions than others as they struggled to move around the pitch and there was also the case on one Bromley player in particular who would always seen to time his fifth booking of the season or a red card to coincide with being banned for the Christmas fixtures.    

There were also some freak results at these matches, Bromley beating Thurrock 8-1 in 2007 one notable score, made even stranger by the 2-1 loss for The Ravens in the reverse fixture five days later on New Years Day.  

With public transport either non existent or greatly reduced, you were reliant on lifts for away games or walking to home matches. I can remember my friends Nige & Martin walking over from New Eltham to call for me on the way to a Bromley Boxing Day home fixture against old rivals Dulwich Hamlet back in 1996. Nige had a box full of sausage rolls to share out made by his Mum. They were delicious and when we asked what the secret ingredient was, the answer was ‘Lard’. I was glad of the walk after that to try and work it off!     

The game kicked off at 11am and it was very cold, as the match went on the pitch at the benches end began to freeze. You could see the white frost forming on the grass during the second half, creeping up to the six yard box and then the penalty spot. The game probably wouldn’t have started if it had kicked off later in the day, but the Ref stuck with it and I’d imagine the Dulwich Keeper must have picked up some bruises diving on the rock hard surface. The match ended in 0-0, watched by what was a good crowd back then of 600.  

We walked back home on frozen feet, chatting all the way, ready for the Boxing Day buffet waiting for us at home.

Crowds for Non League games were always bigger than usual, the games were often against local rivals to minimize the travelling and it was sometimes the one game a season fans of  Premier League clubs might fancy watching some local football. 

For myself family commitments and the like have made Boxing Day football a little more tricky to attend these days, but I will always remember that special buzz around the place at the games the day after Christmas.      

Col.

        

 

The Last Game Before Lockdown 2

 

Wednesday 28th October 2020 – The second week of half term means that Mikey can join my Dad and myself for a midweek game at Hayes Lane, where Cray Wanderers take on Merstham in the Isthmian League Premier Division. 

Covid-19 rules mean that I can’t go into my parents house, but I can go to football with my Dad as long as he sits in the back of the car, I mask up and we sit 1 metre plus away in the stand! 

Mikey is excited about going to a night game, he’s already picked up that there is something special about a game under the floodlights. We arrive at the ground just after 7pm and I find one of the few parking spaces left, the whole area is bathed in the artificial light from the ground. You can feel a buzz and hear the music from the PA, the chatter of fans and the thumping of footballs being kicked about in the warm up. 

We see Peter on the turnstile, (his family have been involved with Cray for decades), we say hello to Sam a former plater and now CEO, buy Golden Goals tickets from Steve and get a programme from Phil. We have a quick chat with all of them mostly about the disappointing FA Cup exit at Canvey Island the previous Saturday. There are hand sanitiser stations dotted around the ground and plenty of signs.  

A quick hello to Mark and I pick up a team sheet to help with my match report for KSN and say Hi to Adrian the kit man. I nod and wave to Ally the physio, then Tony, Joe & Nathan the management team, normally we would exchange handshakes, but in this Covid era that’s not allowed. Mikey would usually stand by the tunnel and high five the players as they head in for the final team talk, but he can’t do that either. We are not allowed in the main stand, which is set aside for officials, so we head to the new Glyn Beverly stand behind the goal to find our seats. 

We settle in and find a good vantage point, more than 2metres away from everyone else, but close enough to say hello to the familiar faces there. Mikey wants some chips, amazing seeing he just had a massive bowl of pasta at home, but I won’t say no. I head over to the Pizza Hatch and pick them up to Stuart who had worked on the catering side at Hayes Lane for well over ten years. He did a fantastic job for my wedding reception there is 2008, which was in the brand new facility at the back of the main stand. I have a quick catch up with Gary the Cray Wands owner, who brought Cray to Hayes Lane to groundshare with Bromley in 1998 and after a lot of knock backs has finally secured his club a new stadium at Flamingo Park on the A20, which should be ready in a couple of years.    

The game gets underway and Cray mean business from the off, clearly stung by the cup exit and manager Tony Russell’s criticism of the performances and lack of clean sheets. Merstham are struggling at the foot of the table and they look visibly rattled by the intensity of The Wands attack. It’s 2-0 after nine minutes, Ben Mundele and Bradley Pritchard on the score sheet. Jay Leader heads a third from a corner after half and hour. The visiting supporters near us take it all in good heart, there’s no anger, finger pointing or waving of arms, there is just genuine encouragement for their young side. 

The second half is pretty much the same, Rhys Murrell-Williamson scores once and top scorer Joe Taylor adds two more to his impressive tally to make it 6-0. Merstham bring on a familiar face up front in Barry Hayles, the former Millwall, Bristol Rovers and Fulham striker. He is now well in his 40s, but clearly loves playing the game still, for some reason the Ref seems to take an instant dislike to him ad calls him up for fouls every time he challenges for a ball, even the Cray players look surprised at some of the decisions. Although his introduction did provide some spark up front, The Wands hold on to their clean sheet and secure a comfortable three points with a stylish display. The win takes them up to fifth in the table with 15 points from 7 games, well placed for a promotion push.  

We clap the players off and head for the exit, little did we know at the time that there would be no more Cray Wanderers games for us to watch this year. The Wands won 3-0 at Whitehawk in the FA Trophy the following Saturday and then came the second lockdown, followed by a Tier system that would see the Isthmian League programme halted until January 2021 at least. 

All the hard work of the people at the club seemingly for nothing for a second season in a row. This one seems harder to take. Teams in the league above carry on playing with money given to subsidise their loss of income, as the game a level lower is left to try and survive on nothing. 

My Dad has been supporting Cray Wands since he was ten, it's a very special club, his Dad also was a supporter before him. Myself & Mikey are happy to carry it on into a third and fourth generation. I just hope The Wands survive this and make it beyond the 160 years they have already clocked up, making then London’s oldest football club.  

Col.          

Butch Dunn - Bromley Legend

Butch Dunn – A Bromley FC Legend 

 

I wrote the article that follows back in December 2017 for The Christmas Issue of ‘In There’ Fanzine. On hearing of Butch’s passing last weekend I thought it deserved another airing. Butch along with Junior Crooks, who sadly died back in 2001, were my two footballing heroes as a kid. They both lit up Hayes Lane with their ability and character giving me and many others fantastic memories that will live with me my whole life.    

 

For the second in my series about Bromley Legends I’ve decided to go back to my childhood and a genuine goal machine of a striker Butch Dunn, who played for the club from 1978 to 1982, scoring 132 goals from 208 games. 

Dunn joined Bromley from Cray Wanderers in September 1978, following manager John Biddle who switched from Oxford Road to Hayes Lane along with a number of his playing squad that summer. In just over a season at Oxford Road Dunn had scored 34 goals. 

He quickly showed what a goal threat he was by scoring a hatrick against Hampton in a 4-2 win later that month and then went on to score regularly from then on. In the 1979/80 season Butch notched 48goals in all competitions and helped Bromley to promotion from the Isthmian League Division One back to the Premier Division (the equivalent to today’s National League South). Every time the ball came to him in the box there was a buzz of expectation in the crowd that it would end in a goal.

Dunn was only around 5ft 10, but his heading ability was phenomenal, similar to Les Ferdinand, he had great spring and timing to beat much taller central defenders in the air. A large number of his goal came from headers, but one scored with his feet stands out. At home to Billericay Town on a Tuesday night, Dunn scored a 30yard half volley that dipped over the 6ft 7inkeeper and under the bar which brought even the old guys in the stand to their feet. I can still remember where I was sat for that goal, sitting next to my Dad and both of us jumping up and down, speechless at what we had just witnessed.    

He always wore the number 8 shirt, unusual for a striker in those days, cutting a distinctive figure with his trademark beard and shirt outside his shorts. Butch was a genuine cult hero, a slightly maverick character who did things his own way, but always delivered a regular supply of goals.    

By the summer of 1981 Dunn was in demand from other local Conference clubs, Maidstone Utd had a bid turned down and Dartford, now managed by Biddle, kept calling. Dunn put in a  transfer request, but Bromley refused to release him to join his old manager with a number of other ex-Bromley players at Watling Street. For a while he didn’t play at all, but then came back to finish the season at Hayes Lane in style, scoring a number of goals that helped Bromley avoid relegation,picking up a vital win on the final day of the season. His last goal for the club came in May 1982 at home to Chelmsford City in the Eastern Floodlit Cup Final Second Leg, we drew 1-1, but unfortunately lost the tie 4-1 on aggregate.      

If you meet any Bromley fan from that era and mention the name Butch Dunn, watch the expression on their face change to a smile and a nod as they remember a true goal scoring legend of the club. 

 

Col.

Wandering Down The Lane

It’s been four months since I last saw a football match played live at Hayes Lane, me and my son Mikey, made the familiar journey from our house to the ground to see Cray Wanderers play Brightlingsea Regent in an Isthmian League Premier Division game. Sadly my Dad Doug couldn’t make up out usual family trio who attend games as he wasn’t well enough to attend.

I love the routine of attending Cray Wands games at Hayes Lane, the familiarity, the match day rituals and seeing the usual friendly faces. It’s only now I know how much I value it and how much I have missed it since it all came to a halt in the middle of March 2020.

We pulled in to the new car park that runs alongside the main stand, Barry The Steward nodded and pointed down to the end. When myself and Mikey got out of the car I realised I had picked up my wife’s coat by accident as I was in a rush and I would have to ‘tough it out’ in a sweatshirt on a blustery early March afternoon. Peter greeted us with his usual welcome on the gate and asks about my Dad, wishing him well. I buy a golden goal ticket from Steve and look at the club merchandise. Then it’s into the bar to buy a programme from Phil and then look for Mark who saves me a team sheet to help with my reporting duties for KSN. I have a quick catch up with Mark and we go through the team for today, who is in, who is out injured or suspended.     

Walking up to our usual spot in the stand I see first tam manager Tony and we have a quick chat, Joe & Nathan the coaches both say hello and high five Mikey, Ally the Physio says hello too. Sam the CEO makes a point of saying Hi as does the club owner Gary Hillman. This is what makes this club so special. I have a quick chat with Roger & Brian who have been involved with Bromley and Cray Wands for years now we discuss the chances of both The Wands and The Ravens this afternoon. Mikey wants to sit in a different spot to usual, but once he discovers that we sit at the back of the stand because the WiFi signal is stronger we moved to the usual seats and we say hello to the familiar faces around us. He voices what I am thinking when he says ‘I wish Grandad was here’.

As the players begin to head to the dressing room after their warm up Mikey goes down to the tunnel and every single Cray player gives him a high five and says hello. A few seconds of their time means the world to him, he’s beaming as he walks back up to our seats ready for kick off.

At half time Mikey makes his biggest decision of the day, will it be chips or a hot dig from the Tea Bar, there are around 180 people here today, but even at 9 years old it’s fine for him to go and buy them himself, so many people down here know who he is, including Chef Scott behind the counter. I send in my Twitter update to KSN and check the other scores. I need a hot coffee, you really do need a coat today, but mine is at home!  

Cray are in brilliant form, unbeaten in 2020, playing some great football, despite dominating he match they only run out 1-0 winners, but it’s three more points, which keeps them in second place and within touching distance of the leaders Worthing. Amazing considering this is The Wands first season back up at this level following last year’s promotion. When the game finishes we wait for the players to come off after their warm down, Tony comes over for a few words and Joe does too, the players high five Mikey again as they head down the tunnel. It’s been a really good afternoon.

I call my Dad to let him know the score, he’s desperate to be well enough to come to the next match and we can’t wait also. Little did we know at the time it would be several of months away rather than a week or so.

Col.