worldcup

With the amazing 2002-03 �Double Double� season still fresh in the mind of all the players and supporters of Cray Wanderers FC, it is worth remembering that this is a famous club with a very interesting and absorbing history. Motorists and pedestrians passing along Hayes Lane will have seen the new Bromley FC and Cray Wanderers FC signboard that has been erected at the entrance road to the football ground. This announces that the Wands are the Second Oldest Football Club in the World! This is a true statement. Read On ! /// Founded in 1860, Cray Wanderers FC holds the distinction of being the second oldest football club in the world. Sheffield, in 1857, is the oldest club. Notts County, in 1865, is the oldest Football League club. /// The first origins of Cray Wanderers are linked to the construction of the London, Chatham & Dover railway line during 1858 to 1860. During their leisure time, workers kicked a ball around, and that is how the club originated in the St Mary Cray village. The pitch at Star Lane is now a cemetery, and is located beneath the nine-arch railway viaduct that spans the Cray Valley. /// Cray Wanderers were a strong force in senior county football at the turn of the century. After being Kent Junior Cup semi-finalists and finalists in 1890-91 and 1891-92 they entered the first ever FA Amateur Cup competition in 1893-94. They had a spell as a professional club between 1895 and 1907. They were a nursery club for Woolwich Arsenal during part of this period. They were one of the founder members of the Kent League in 1894-95, and they won the championship in 1901-02. Other honours included Southern Suburban League champions in 1898-99, West Kent League champions in 1903-04, and Kent Senior Cup runners-up in 1899-1900. Also worth a mention is Cray reaching the final of the Sevenoaks Charity Cup in 1895-96. The match was played at the famous Crystal Palace ground, which was the Victorian equivalent of playing at Wembley! Cray lost to Sheppey in the final. /// After World War One, Cray switched to the London League where they remained till 1934. In 1930-31 they won the Kent Amateur Cup, having been losing finalists in 1927-28 and 1928-29. They were again losing finalists in 1931-32. /// Cray rejoined the Kent League in 1934-35, but their four year stay came to grief when 1937 saw the loss of the Fordcroft ground in Cray Avenue, their home since 1898. Cray were forced to drop into a lower level of football, as they drifted from one temporary pitch to another and the club committee dwindled to a perilously small number. The team played in the Kent Amateur League and the South London Alliance, with very little success. /// 1951-52 heralded a new era, and an upturn in the club�s fortunes, when local businessman Mick Slater took over at the helm. The club was elected to the London League and regained its senior status. Cray moved to a new ground at Grassmeade in 1954. Their stay there was a very successful period in the club�s history. After winning the London League Cup in 1954-55, Cray won the London League championship in 1956-57 and 1957-58. In 1959 Cray were founder members of the Aetolian League. They won the championship in 1962-63, and the League Cup the year after. The Aetolian League amalgamated with the London League to form the Greater London League in 1964-65 and Cray won the League Cup that year. The following year Cray won the championship, along with the League Cup again. Cray won the Kent Amateur Cup for three years running 1962-63 to 1964-65 and in 1967-68 they had their best ever run in the FA Amateur Cup, reaching the 3rd round (last 16). By now, managed by Norman Golding the ex-QPR winger, Cray had joined the Metropolitan League where they played for five seasons commencing in 1966-67. Playing against the �A� teams of Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham, they encountered budding young stars such as Charlie George and Trevor Brooking. Cray won the Metropolitan League Cup in 1970-71. In 1971-72 the Met London League was created by a merger of the Metropolitan League and the Greater London League. You�ll notice that Cray made several switches from one League to another during the period from 1959 to 1972. It was a time when amateur football generally in the Home Counties underwent non-stop structural change. Mick Slater wanted to see the Wands gain election to the prestigious Athenian League, but despite Cray�s numerous successes during the 1960�s it never happened. The loss of Grassmeade in 1973 put a temporary end to Mick�s ambitions and forced the club to stay rooted at Met London League level. /// Cray moved to Oxford Road, on the borders of Footscray and Sidcup, in 1973-74. Setbacks quickly followed when Mick Slater died in 1974 and the dressing rooms were burned down a year later. But success on the field was quite constant in the 1970�s under managers Johnny Biddle and Jimmy Wakeling. In 1974-75 Cray won the Met London League and the League Cup, scoring 170 goals in all matches that season. In 1976-77 and 1977-78 Cray won the London Spartan League championship. This was yet another new League that had been created, this time involving a merger between the Met London and the Spartan. Cray enjoyed a memorable FA Cup run in 1976-77, beating Erith & Belvedere and then Maidstone United (then of the Southern League premier division) before losing to Bromley in a dramatic 3QR tie that brought a large crowd to Oxford Road. This was Cray�s equal best-ever FA Cup run: they also reached the 3QR in 1967-68 when they lost to Dagenham. /// Cray decided to return to the Kent League in 1978-79. They have remained there ever since. Success came quickly because Cray won the championship in 1980-81, having been runners-up the year before. The 1979-80 season will be better remembered for Cray�s feats in the FA Vase. Harry Richardson assembled one of the best Cray sides in living memory � perhaps only the 1967-68 side can be held in the same esteem � and they reached the FA Vase quarter final before their Wembley dreams were dashed by eventual winners Stamford. Cray reached the FA Vase last 16 in 1980-81, but after that the 1980�s decade brought only one more piece of silverware, the Kent League Cup in 1983-84. /// For the 125th anniversary celebration in 1985-86, the Wands staged three prestigious friendly matches that drew an aggregate attendance of more than 1,000 spectators to Oxford Road. The opposing sides were Arsenal, Charlton Athletic and Wimbledon. The ex-England skipper Gerry Francis played in the Wimbledon team. A club history book 1860 to 1985 was published. /// After finishing Kent League runners-up in 1990-91, Cray had a lean period during most of the 1990�s, with the exception of 1992-93 when winning the Kent Senior Trophy. On the day that Cray took the field at Gillingham in the final, they were bottom of the table in the Kent League, but they beat Whitstable Town 1 � 0 and they subsequently improved their League placing. /// Oxford Road remained a fairly basic ground, although a few improvements were made in 1992-93, and again in 1993-94 when the reborn Dartford FC had a one-year groundshare with the Wands. /// A new club chairman Gary Hillman arrived in 1994-95, to provide enthusiastic new leadership, and sponsorship from the family business. /// The Wands faced another crisis in 1998-99 when the Kent League brought in their new rule that all premier division member clubs must have floodlights at their home grounds. Like many of their neighbouring clubs in the built-up metropolis of North Kent, the Wands couldn�t comply. Fortunately, a groundshare with Bromley FC at Hayes Lane was arranged, and so began another new era for a club whose name of �Wanderers� seems to be very appropriate! The club duly played its first team matches at Hayes Lane, but maintained its headquarters at Oxford Road, for reserve team fixtures. /// Ian Jenkins was appointed player manager of the first team and his 2001-02 side was hailed as one of the most impressive teams seen in the amber & black for several years. In expectation that the team might finish first or second in the Kent League, plans were formulated to apply for promotion to the Dr Martens Southern League. In the end, a late-season slump saw the Wands fall down the table. More disappointing still, the Wands reached their first cup final for nine years, but in the final of the Kent Senior Trophy at Fisher Athletic they were beaten by Thamesmead Town. /// 2002-03 STAR SEASON!!! This was the most successful season ever in Cray Wanderers FC history. It was the season of the �Double Double�. Cray�s first team won the Kent League championship and the Kent League Cup. The reserve team repeated this feat, winning the Division One (North) championship and the Division One League Cup. The respective player-managers Ian Jenkins and Sam Wright, and all of their players, can proudly take their place in the Wands� Hall of Fame. //// CLUB NICKNAME: The Wands. /// CLUB COLOURS: Amber & black since 1895. Earlier colours appear to have been red & black � this was in 1883 - and �chocolate� in the early 1890�s. /// CLUB NAMES: The first reference to the club using the name Cray Wanderers is in January 1887. The name is attributed to one Arthur �Bowser� Price who remarked after a game: �You looked like a bunch of wanderers�! Temporary name changes occurred in 1919-20 to Cray Old Boys and in 1939-40 to Sidcup & Footscray. When resuming full activity in 1943-44 it appears that the club carried on where a wartime team called Vegpardel had left off. /// SOME CLUB RECORDS: (1) Highest goalscorer. Ken Collishaw, 272 goals for the club between 1954 and 1964. Ken also holds the records of the most goals scored in one individual game (seven, on two occasions) and the longest run of scoring in consecutive games (eight, in 1956-57). (2) Most appearances: John Dorey, centre half and captain, more than 500 games for the club between 1962 and 1971. (3) Highest attendance: At any Cray game, believed to be 6,009 at Hayes Lane on Boxing Day 1921 in a Kent Senior Cup replay, Bromley v Cray. At a home game, believed to be 1953-54 at Tothills when �a crowd of three to four thousand� saw a Kent Amateur Cup tie, Cray v Bromley. (Tothills, also rather confusingly known as Fordcroft, was Cray�s home ground from 1951 to 1954 and is today the location of the RC church in Lower Road.) (4) Biggest win: Sevenoaks 15 � 0 in the Kent League, 1894-95. (5) Biggest defeat : 2 � 15 and 0 � 14, home and away, versus Callendars Athletic in the Kent Amateur League 1948-49. /// CLUB RECORDS AT OXFORD ROAD ONLY (1973 to 1998): Most goals scored: Phil Williams 126, Dave Waight 90. Biggest win: Ramsgate 10 - 1 in 1983-84. Biggest defeat: 1 � 7 at Faversham Town in 1989-90. Biggest attendance: 1,573 for the FA Vase quarter-final versus Stamford in 1979-80. /// FAMOUS PLAYERS: (1) Tommy Wilcox, the Wands� goalkeeper in 1903-04, went on to play for Blackpool in the Football League in 1906-07 and then made two first team appearances for Manchester United in 1908-09. (2) Jim Sanders, goalkeeper in 1944, went on to play for WBA and won an FA Cup winners medal in 1953-54. (3) John Faulkner, half back in 1967-68 and 1968-69, went on via Sutton United to play at centre half for Leeds United in the Football League and the EUFA Cup. He then joined Luton Town where he made over 200 first team appearances. (4) Harry Hutchins, Herbert Berens and George Harland. No history of the Wands would be complete without mentioning Harry Hutchins who was a very popular centre forward and skipper, and local personality in the 1890�s. He was killed in the Handcross Disaster 1906. Herbert Berens also played for the Wands in the 1890�s and his rich family, who owned the house and estate at Kevington, evidently provided financial support to the club. George �Shaver� Harland played in the 1910�s and 1920�s, later becoming manager, trainer, groundsman and a dedicated servant of the club. /// CLUB RECORDS AT HAYES LANE. In their short stay at Hayes Lane the Wands have already created a remarkable number of all-time club records. In 2001-02 there was a run of 18 games unbeaten at home, including 12 straight wins. In 2002-03 there was a record run of 5 games without conceding a goal � in fact the sequence lasted for 564 minutes. When Ian Jenkins scored versus Slade Green it marked his eleventh consecutive season of scoring for the club. This was another club record. Later in the season there came another new entry in the record books when the team did not concede a goal in 7 consecutive away games. The exceptionally successful 2002-03 season also saw the first team and reserve team each score more than 100 goals in all competitions. /// THE END.