Brentwood Town

Brentwood Town FC are a non league football club, from the Essex suburban town of the same name, which is located approximately twenty miles east of London. The current club were formed as Manor Athletic in 1954, but football in the town has a long history.

The original Brentwood FC were formed in the 1870's, reaching the quarter final of the FA Cup in 1886 where eventual winners Blackburn Rovers defeated them. They later became Brentwood Town. Following World War Two a new club Brentwood & Warley took over and became founder members of the Delphian League in 1951 and going on to become the inaugural league champions. They went on to win another couple of league titles before joining the Athenian League in 1963, where they remained for two seasons.

Brentwood & Warley were replaced in 1965 by a reformed Brentwood Town whop played at The Hive on Ongar Road and competed in the Metropolitan League. In 1967 they progressed to the Southern League, going on to promotion to the Premier Division a couple of seasons later. In the same campaign Brentwood also reached the second round of the FA Cup after battling through five previous rounds and seeing off Barnet in round one. The draw gave them an Essex derby away to Southend United, but the Roots Hall tie ended in a 10-1 defeat.

Brentwood followed this up with another outstanding run in the 1969-70 season as wins over Reading and Hendon saw the club given a home tie with Northampton Town, which attracted a gate of over 4,000, to see a 1-0 reverse. However, at the end of the season Brentwood's owners decided to sell the ground for housing and merge the club with Chelmsford City.

During this time Manor Athletic had progressed to the Essex Olympian League and when Town dissolved they changed their name to Brentwood Athletic in 1970. Four years later Athletic was dropped from their title as the club joined the Essex Senior League. After lifting the League Cup three times, the 2000-01 season saw the club lift the league title. In 2004 their current name was adopted. The 2006-07 season saw 'The Blues' go on to lift the league and league cup double, resulting in promotion to the Isthmian League.

After a third place finish in 2008-09 Town lost in the play offs to Waltham Abbey. In the 2010-11 season they went one better and reached the play off final, but went down 3-2 to Wingate & Finchley. Steve Witherspoon left the club but returned for a second term at the helm.

Brentwood Town FC will play in the Isthmian League Division One North in the 2013-14 season.


My visit

Brentwood Town 1 Needham Market 0 (Thursday 14th March 2013) Isthmian League Division One North (att: 53)

My shifts had finished for the weekend and I was enjoying excellent the company of my old pal Jeff Cards in The Golden Egg pub on Kilburn High Road watching my horses let me down at the Cheltenham Festival. I was in a dilemna whether to go home and have a siesta at tea time so that I could stay up through the night to watch England toil in the Test match against New Zealand or to go to a game.

Jeff as always, was being a source of encouragement in my travels. He asked to my choices of an evening game. Originally I had earmarked a cup game between Molesey and Cove, but after examining the options I summised that Brentwood would be a better grouind to get out of the way when I didn't have to be up for work the next morning as The Arena was located on the outskirts of town.

After a fine portion of pie and chips on the train to Euston, I walked it off with a hike to Liverpool Street station; well nearly anyway. I ended up at Old Street and needed a bus after losing my bearings. After sorting my ticket out and getting the train which seemed to be forever stopping at stations, I alighted at Brentwood and paid for a return on the bus, which dropped me virtually outside the ground.

The Arena was situated next to the Brentwood Centre, which offered plentiful leisure facilities, and the Essex Dog Training School. I paid £8.50 admission, which included a decent enough programme. As I thought that this was such good value, I had no hesitation to buy a 50/50 draw ticket. The lady and gent on the gate were both friendly and keeping an eye on Tottenham's game in Milan on the screen of a smart phone.

The ground was a steady enough venue for the standard of football played there, if showing signs of age and wear in places. There was a decent cover in the centre behind the near goal, which curiously had a leather three piece suite on the back step. The Main Stand stood down the right hand side across the half way line. It looked very much like it had been built in two sections with one added later, with the traffic of the A12 roaring by behind it. The rest of the ground consisted of open flat hard and grass standing, which several portakabins and nissen huts provided extra facilities and storage. The scene was complete with a scaffold down the far side touchline between the dug outs to enable filming.

One of them was near the turnstiles and inside an older gent and younger lady ran a small cafe, serving all the usual football ground fare at fair prices. I settled for a warming cup of tea for 70p and stood outside to be joined by a welcoming groundsman who told me that the original game had been postponed when the pitch was deemed to be waterlogged. He explained that it had been used four times already that week and all he could do was to try and keep it flat. Although it was wet in parts he'd done a very good good job. It seemed to slope slightly from the stand across the pitch and also down to the far end.

The game started well, with both teams looking to play football the right way. As the previous Thursday at Concord I stood by the benches to begin with. On this occasion the coaches offered encouragement minus expletivies and told the players to get on with the game once the referee had made his decision. I was really enjoying myself. Both number 10's looked good to me; Abs Seymoor for Brentwood and Keiron Leabon for Needham Market.

The home keeper Richard Wray made a fine stop from Tom Dew to keep the scores level, before a fine defensive block from the visitors rearguard stopped Alex Read from opening the scoring. I had wandered round to the Main Stand and went inside the clubhouse at the back so I could watch the game and see extra time from Milan. Earlier the TV was showing some loud music channel, but fortunately the young lady behind the bar turned over, or someone did it for her! Outside the half time whistle went with the score still blank as Spurs went through in Italy.

I went back out and warmed with a bovril as I chatted to a gent from Leicester. There were the usual few groundhoppers in attendance as well as twenty or so who'd made the trip from Suffolk to support their team. Louis Johnson, in goal for Needham tipped over well from Darren Blewitt on fifty five minutes. The temperature was dropping rapidly as Needham's Duane Wright missed from a narrow angle and then Elliott Crowe lobbed over. Sam Bantwick missed a volley for Brentwood but it looked more likely that the away team would snatch the points.

Before the game I'd asked a local at the bus stop what time the buses went back into town and he was pretty sure it was at half past the hour. I thought it worth missing the last few minutes to save a long walk, so I left at around 9.27. I stood and waited for ten minutes with no sign of a bus. Eventually I found a website on my IPhone, which told me the bus left at twenty past the hour. To make matters worse the Ryman League app broke the news that Neil Cousins had won the game for Brentwood with just five minutes remaining. I missed the only goal by a minute or so, but missed the bus by a lot longer.


There was nothing for it but to walk back to the station while listening to the cricket from Wellington. The journey took a lot less time than I had anticipated, and I arrived at 10.07. Using my experience I took a train in the 'wrong' direction to Shenfield, before crossing platforms and taking a fast train back to the city. I was back home at 11.30.

I'd enjoyed my evening out at a nice friendly club, even if I hadn't seen a goal. It was certainly a better option than going straight home from the pub.

Cray Wanderers

Cray Wanderers are one of the oldest football clubs in the world, with the club claiming that they are the second oldest after Sheffield FC although there are also claims that Hallam FC hold that distinction with both clubs being formed in 1860. The club are currently based in Bromley in south east Greater London, but they are originally from the Kent villages of St Mary Cray and St Paul's Cray.

Oxford Road - a former home of Wanderers
picture uploaded from the internet

'The Wands' were formed by workers building the railway between London and Kent, going to join the Kent League in 1894. Cray were crowned champions in 1901-13 as they operated as a full time professional concern and acting as a feeder club to Woolwich Arsenal. Games were played at Fordcroft on Star Lane.

Sadly Wanderers lost their home ground in 1937 after spells in the London and Kent Leagues as it was purchased to become a cemetery, meaning that the club had to drop down to amateur league football while sharing various grounds. They rejoined the London League in 1951 and three years later Cray found a new home ground at Grassmeade.

The next twenty years would see Wanderers compete in many different leagues. They won the London League in 1956–57 and 1957–58 before moving to the Aetolian League. After that Cray competed in the Great London, Metropolitan and Metropolitan-London Leagues before joing the London Spartan League in 1975, two years after moving to a new home at Oxford Road.

In 1976-77 Cray were champions of the London Spartan League, before joining the Kent League the season after. The Wands won the championship in 1980-81. A new club chairman Gary Hillman arrived during the 1994-95 season with ambition for the club. He initiated a move to share with Bromley FC at Hayes Lane in 1998 as Oxford Road did not have floodlights, before the team added more titles in 2002-03 and 2003-04, with the final win ending in promotion to the Isthmian League.

After missing out in the play offs the previous season, Wanderers did go up by that route at the end of the 2008-09 season with a victory over Metropolitan Police in the final. 2010 saw the club mark its 150th anniversary with a three team tournament with Sheffield and Hallam. Meanwhile the team continued to consolidate in the Isthmian Premier Division under loyal boss Ian Jenkins who joined the club in the 1993 before his managerial appointment in 1999.

Chairman Hillman worked hard on a plan for Wanderers to build a brand new stadium to include leisure facilities and housing on a green field site at Sandy Lane nearer to their spiritual home.

To see the plans, go to: http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/9409903.Cray_Wanderers_unveil_new_plans_for_stadium_in_Sandy_Lane/

Fans of all clubs were encouraged to add their support for the scheme, with Hillman also lobbying politicians such as Boris Johnson. The plans went before Bromley council in 2012 and were unanimously rejected to strike a crushing blow to the club, whose lease with Bromley was due to run out in 2014.

To see the clubs response and plans to fight the decision, go to:
http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/craywands/news/cray-wanderers-statement-on-planning-application-677127.html

Cray Wanderers FC will compete in the Isthmian League Premier Division in the 2013-14 season.


My visit

Cray Wanderers 2 Tooting & Mitcham United 3 (Friday 27th August 2010) Isthmian League Premier Division (att: 254)

Sometimes on my groundhopping adventures over the years, things don't turn out as I had originally planned, and this trip was a classic case in point. I was to meet my pal Paul Foster on the tube to hand over some tickets for the England match the following week on my way to Colchester United v Carlisle United and a new tick on my way to hopefully visiting all League clubs. By the time we reached Baker Street my plans had changed.

Paul was heading to Bromley to support Tooting. Through Mark Turner, a mutual pal from cricket, he had started going to a few Terrors games. He was due to meet Mark at the Sports Bar at Victoria station. The lure of company and a few beers drew me in hook line and sinker. We watched Stuart Broad give the Pakistan bowling attack a good hiding a couple of days before the famous match fixing scandal broke, before catching the train down to Bromley South.

We met with some other lads heading to the game over the road from the station in the Richmal Crompton Wetherspoon pub, where my mood was enhanced even greater as the fine TEA from the Hogsback Brewery was available. The walk to the ground wasn't a problem! On arrival we went into the fine sports bar near to the turnstiles as we checked the TV for latest updates and met with some other away fans.

To see a description of the Hayes Lane ground, please visit the Bromley page at: http://worldgroundhoptwo.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Bromley

I'd heard about various characters who supported Tooting and I wasn't disappointed. They really made some noise and got behind their side. They were rewarded after a cagey opening when Rob Haworth headed home seven minutes before the interval. I was having a fine evening and spent plenty of time in the company of Gary, a Charlton fan who'd been dragged along by a pal as we discussed the places we'd visited and the game in general.

Wands drew level five minutes after the break when Steve Lozano got down the flank and dragged the ball back for on loan striker Lewis Perkins to sweep home towards goal only for it to be stopped on the line by the hand of Tooting defender Hasim Dean. Laurent Hamici smashed home a penalty with referee Colin Lymer surprisingly failing to issue a card of any colour to the offender as he deemed him to have accidentally fallen on the ball.

The Terrors fans kept the faith with their heroes as young keeper Jamie Butler made some good stops. This led to Tooting regaining the lead against the run of play as a James Nicholls bullet header flew into the Cray net from a Karl Beckford corner. The game was a cracker for the neutral and it got even better when Wands drew level once more. Butler undid his previous good work when dropping a Danny Phillips cross, which Adam Cottrell stabbed home.

Tooting weren't finished and they grabbed the winner with just six minutes left on the clock as Dean whipped in a cross for substitute Barry Stevens to head home. All three Terrors goals had come from headers, something that Cray boss Jenkins was quick to point out in post match interviews.

We caught a busy bus over the road from the ground back to the station. We'd just missed a train, so Paul and I adjourned to a bar to finish off the evening before returning to the city.

I hadn't expected to be at a Cray Wanderers home game when I left the flat, but I was so glad I ended up doing so!

Bromley

Bromley FC are a non league football club from the town of the same name in the south east of Greater London. The club has a rich history since its formation in 1892 after playing friendly matches against local opposition in their first season. By the turn of the century 'The Ravens' had enjoyed spells in the Southern, London and Kent Leagues.

The original Main Stand at Hayes Lane
picture taken from the internet

In 1908 Bromley won the Spartan League before joining the Isthmian League. They went on to be crowned champions in the 1908-09 and 1909-10 seasons, with their first London Senior Cup in the latter season. Although they club were denied a hat trick the following season, they did lift the FA Amateur Cup after defeating Bishop Auckland at Herne Hill.

In 1923 Bromley joined the Athenian League, winning the title in 1922-23. The club had played at White Hart Field, Widmore Road and Plaistow Cricket Ground and then a ground in Hayes Lane before moving three hundred yards up the lane to their present location in 1933. Four years later Bromley reached the second round of the FA Cup. After beating Kings Lynn 4-0 away from home, they were defeated 4-1 at Scarborough. However, consolation came with a second Amateur Cup win, this time over Erith & Belvedere at The Den.

The 1945-46 season was the first campaign after World War Two, with Bromley again reaching the second round. Slough United were overcome 6-2 on aggregate in the first round, before Watford won 3-1 at Hayes Lane. Bromley completed the Athenian League and Amateur Cup double in the 1948-49 season, with the cup final being the first time it was contested at Wembley Stadium. A crowd of 96,000 turned out to see Bromley defeat Romford 1-0. The club won all three finals by the same scoreline, with the player wearing the number eight shirt scoring each time! To add to the excitement Nigeria played a friendly against Bromley at Hayes Lane in 1949, with a record crowd of 10,798 attending.

In 1952 Bromley rejoined the Isthmian League, going on to become champions in 1953-54. The feat was repeated in 1960-61. Unfortunately these glory days began to fade, eventually leading to relegation in 1975. After five years The Ravens regained their Premier Division status, but went back down again in 1984. Promotion came two years later and in 1988 they finished Isthmian League runners-up to Yeovil Town.

1990 saw another demotion but then a promotion at the first attempt. Disaster hit the club in 1992 when the Main Stand at Hayes Lanes was burned down, meaning home games being played elsewhere for a year until the new structure was completed. After a steady period on the pitch Bromley went down once more in 1999.

A new owner Jerry Dolke came to Hayes Lane and invested in the club. Eventually promotion was won back to the Premier Division in 2004-05 via the end of season play offs and a win against Horsham with Billy Smith and George Wakeling in charge of team affairs. After a season of consolidation former owner of Crystal Palace and Dolke's brother in law Mark Goldberg was put in charge of the team in a controversial move.

In Goldberg's second season at the helm Bromley finished as runners up and secured a place in Conference South for the 2007-08 season. However, owing to work commitments Goldberg resigned soon into the new season to be replaced by Simon Osborn. At the end of the campaign Dolke stepped down as chairman to be replaced by Paul Greenwood, but remaining as owner, with Osborn also departing with Goldberg returning to his former role.

In the 2009-10 season a huge crowd of 4,242 attended the FA Cup first round tie against Colchester United, with The Ravens going down 4-0. In January 2011 Goldberg once again departed after an internal disagreement, but returning once more in June 2011 under new chairman Ashley Reading. Bromley continued to ply their trade in non league's second tier.

Bromley FC will play in the Conference South in the 2013-14 season.


My visits

April 1984

My Land Surveying & Cartography course at college in Borehamwood was proving too much for me. I knew I was going to have to call it a day to save wasting any more time and money, so I took a day off to buy a days travelcard and go and seek out some of the locations I'd only read about in wonderment the Non League Annual.

I didn't know what to expect, but so far the day had gone brilliantly. Back then the grounds were left unlocked so it was easy to wander in. My only regret was that I took very few photos. Indeed on the day in question I eventually lost the film before it was developed, which in retrospect was a real sod as I'd already been to The Valley, Erith & Belvedere and Welling United. All three grounds were to later see big changes or disappear totally.

Hayes Lane was a real eye opener and a ground I was so glad to visit. It really was a beauty. There was cover at the rear of both ends. One had terracing and crush barriers, while the other had bench seating. The far side was a decent sized open terrace backing onto Bromley Cricket Club. The final side had the clubhouse and some open standing along with a smashing old wooden Main Stand, which filled much of the side.

I walked away determined to return for a game one day, preferably against Scarborough in the FA Trophy.

Thursday 22nd November 2007

With a day off work I decided it was time to head to Kent and visit a few grounds to update my photo collection. First on my list was Bromley, hoping that it hadn't changed too much from my previous look many years before.

The ground had certainly had a makeover from the outside, looking very professional. Fortunately a gate was open and a gent inside gave me permission to wander around and take my snaps.

Hayes Lane had seen a tidy up inside, although some of the bench seating behind the goal was missing. The major change was one I new about as the old wooden Main Stand had burned down some years previously to be replaced by a smaller but neater brick built construction on the half way line. Some all weather five a side courts had been added to the land behind the benched end.

I went on my way by bus to Hayes station and then on to Beckenham Town FC.


Cray Wanderers 2 Tooting & Mitcham United 3 (Friday 27th August 2010) Isthmian League Premier Division (att: 323)

Go to Cray Wanderers page to see details of this match at: http://worldgroundhoptwo.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Cray%20Wanderers

Bromley 2 Tooting & Mitcham United 0 (Tuesday 12th March 2013) London Senior Cup Quarter Final

Every now and again owing to circumstances beyond my control, and sometimes on a whim I end up somewhere I didn't really intend on going when I left the house. Yet rather spookily it has happened twice with Bromley, and on both occasions the visitors have been Tooting & Mitcham.

A few seasons back I was heading for Colchester to tick off a new ground when I arranged to meet my pal Paul Foster with some England tickets. He was heading to Bromley, where he was meeting with some Tooting pals for their game with tenants Cray Wanderers. I ended up tagging along with him. This time I was standing at Victoria station awaiting a platform announcement for the Three Bridges train. Five minutes before its scheduled departure the board display told us that the service was cancelled. I was informed this was owing to severe weather. Now I know that Sussex had seen some snow the previous evening, but to wait so late before making the decision was a little disappointing to say the least, as the information lady and then the ticket vendor who couldn't give me a refund soon found out.

It was time for Plan B. I couldn't think of anywhere immediate, but then I remembered seeing on Twitter that Bromley didn't foresee any problems with their match being on. A quick check of my IPhone confirmed it had the all clear, so after seeing that a fast train could get me down there for 7.26, I bought a return for £10.20 and jumped aboard.

Alighting at Bromley South I saw a bus that I suspected was heading past the ground pull away as I got close, so with a mixture of brisk walking and a few light jogs I arrived at the sponsored named Courage Stadium after checking return buses, just after the teams came out.

I was slightly taken aback at paying a tenner admission for a county cup tie, but the price had been reduced from the usual £12. A amiable young lady on the turnstile apologised that the teamsheets had run out, but promised that some more were being printed. Sure enough within minutes I had a copy of the double printed sheet which also gave details of that seasons competition. Stewards went round the ground distributing them, which was a really nice touch.

On going through the gates the humorous PA man announced to any fans caught up in the queues to get in that the game would go straight to penalties after ninety minutes if the scores were level. It got a few laughs from those taking down the teams from the info board.

Tooting wore their change kit of blue and white and fielded ten black outfield players, which was a first sighting for me. Within a couple of minutes they should have taken the lead when their centre forward missed an easy tap in from a fine cross, much to the agony of their hardy seven or eight very vocal fans behind the goal. They continued to press in the early stages, playing some fine pacy football along the way.

I went for a walk round the ground, which hadn't changed as far as I could remember. I did notice that all crush barriers had a warning of uneven terracing printed on them, and the benches behind the goal had been treated and kept in tip top condition.

On my last visit a very decent sports bar was open next to the Main Stand, but it was shut on this occasion. However, I saw a sign directing me upstairs to refreshments. I'm glad I followed it. The iQ Comms Suite really was a superb facility with nice furnishings, large and small TV's, a good selection of reasonably priced refreshments and best of all, a good bar serving hand pulled Shepherd Neame Master Brew for £3.20 a pint. The shutters were up in front of the windows so the good sized crowd in there could watch the action. I suspected that would be a privilege too far for Conference South games?

The first half came to a close with The Ravens on top of their opponents of two divisions lower. I secured a place by the window for the second period near to some locals who I got talking to as I was able to answer their questions as to how the Football League matches were going.

The second half started off really poorly with passes not finding their team mates. I was told that Bromley had fielded two or three first teamers along with reserves and academy squad players. It beggared the question if they had ever met each other before, such was the scrappiness of the play. Tooting were no better, and the consensus of opinion was that we were going to see spot kicks decide the tie and who would go on to visit Wingate & Finchley or Hendon in the semi final.

Thankfully the deadlock was broken when Elliot Buchanan put the home side ahead, after Felix Ogeah had been put clean through but had seen his shot smothered by Terrors keeper Darren Behcet. Ogeah from the academy made amends when he broke through the offside trap and slotted coolly home to make it two.

The gents next to me were nice company as we chatted about recent football events and I kept them informed of updated scores via my Soccerway app on my phone. I was a bit disappointed that one of the old boys couldn't fill me in on the details of Bromley's FA Cup tie with Scarborough in 1937! One of his pals said he'd probably got the programme.

I made a run for it at 9.30, missing the last few minutes so that I could  the bus back to the station to enable me to catch the fast train back to the city. I was home in Kingsbury for 10.40.

In truth it had been a poorish game, but a decent night out at a superb venue; especially as I didn't know I was going there until 7pm!