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CLUB HISTORY

Chapter Three : The Post War Years   
 

Upon it's resumption in the 1946/47 season, Camberley & Yorktown dropped the Yorktown part of the name and became known as Camberley FC. Krooner Park was not ready for use again by the time the League resumed so the Club started the season with a game against Dorking at the London Road Recreation Ground before moving on to play their games at the Watchetts Recreation Ground. With rationing still in force equipment was hard to come by and the Club gratefully accepted any offers of help that occurred. One anonymous supporter even gave up an entire book of clothing rations just so the team could be kitted out. Camberley finally returned to Krooner Park on the 1st of March 1947 with a home match against Chertsey.

Camberley FC started well finishing as runners-up to Leatherhead in the first season, missing out on the title by just 2 points. Arsenal FC were invited down to mark the return to Krooner Park. The initial date planned for the match due to Arsenal’s fixture congestion and had to be cancelled but Arsenal kept their promise and came to Krooner Park on 1st May 1948.

Camberley were unable to maintain the success of the pre -war period, and in the late forties struggled to avoid the bottom placing on a number of occasions. The 1949/50 season saw Camberley escape the bottom position on goal average thanks to two wins and a draw in their final three matches. Things looked to be turning around when they battled their way through to the Surrey Senior League Charity Cup Final in the 1951/52 season. The route to the final saw them beat Guildford and Farnham. In the Semi Final they travelled to Banstead Athletic, who had at that time only dropped one point at home all season, ironically to Camberley. Camberley came away with a 3-0 win and a place in the Final. The Final saw Camberley take on Chertsey Town. In a see-sawing match which saw both sides take the lead, Camberley edged home 4-3 to claim the cup for the second time.

 

The following two seasons saw Camberley finish sixth and fifth respectively. The latter of those two seasons saw Camberley hit 93 goals and saw the Club sign a striker to rival record scoring Harry Tribe. New centre forward Mick Sharpe went on to break one of Harry Tribe's records by scoring in eleven consecutive league and cup matches.

 

            The 1954/55 season saw Camberley press for the league title. They finished the season with a fine run but a 3-1 defeat away to Molesey on April 11th, a match that Camberley had expected to win, proved very costly as they finished one point behind League Champions Dorking and missed out on second place to Banstead Athletic on goal average. The same season saw Camberley reach the final of the Surrey Senior League Charity Cup again where they met Dorking. In a game played at Guildford they were outplayed and went down 3 -1.

  • In order to develop the ground, in 1925, the Supporters Club was formed with Admiral Sir Frederick Tudor as it's President. One of the Supporters Club’s first actions was to set up a grandstand appeal fund and £50 was immediately donated by an anonymous member and 31 certificates were put up to raise the £500 required to build the stand. Within two years the building of the stand was completed. The appeal had raised £98 in donations, £142 through the £1 share issue and £240 through annual sports, a total of £480 by the time the stand was officially opened on 12 February 1927 at a cost of £525. The difference was soon raised through further donations and subscriptions.

  •         Camberley went through another quiet period in the late fifties when the Club finished mid-table each season except in 1957/58 when they avoided bottom place only on goal average again thus keeping up the proud record of never finishing bottom of the Surrey League. The only bright spot of the mid to late fifties was the winning of the Surrey Senior League Reserves Cup in 1956/57 with a fine 3-2 win over Worcester Park in the final. The reserves also finished runners-up to Malden Town in the Surrey Senior Reserve League in the same season. The reserve team also achieved a record win, thrashing Post Office Engineers 16-0 with Les Goodyear scoring seven.

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  • 1958/59 saw another scoring record broken when Camberley & Yorktown registered their best ever away win when they thrashed Post Office Engineers in a Surrey Senior League match 10-1.

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  • 1960/61 saw another up-turn in fortunes when 4th place was achieved The 1960/61 season also saw the Club make it's first overseas tour. Belgium was the destination during the Easter Period. Two friendlies were played resulting in victories. A goal from Mike Ward and two from John Cole saw victory over VV Wilskracht 3-1. They did even better in the second match. Two goals each from Trevor Roberts and John Cole plus one from Stan Edgell saw Camberley defeat Entente de Leers 5-1.

  • CAMBERLEY FC 1961/62

  • Back Row: Bill Richardson (Trainer), Mike Pratt, Ron Ede (Secretary), John  Runacles, John Hayward, Gerald Champion, Tony Reale, 

  • 'Pop' Howarth (Committee), Mr Rush (Vice-President)

  • Front Row: Mick Sharpe, Mike Ward, Peter Taylor, Len Robins, Peter Coe, Johnny Cole, Pancho Mareno

  • The following season saw Camberley F.C. start with a strengthened squad, due to the demise of Camberley United. Camberley United spent just one season, the 1960/61 season in senior football, competing in Hellenic League Division 1, finishing runners-up to Chipping Norton Town. Camberley United were a team with bold plans and even had a plan for a sports stadium at Frimley Street Recreation Ground, which was opposite Frimley Railway station accepted by the Frimley & Camberley Urban District Council in May 1961. The stadium plans showed a capacity of 10,000 with a clubhouse that could hold functions for up to 300 people, floodlighting, tanoy and covered stands down both sides of the ground. In July 1961 a bombshell was dropped when Camberley United were suspended from the Surrey F.A. after a London Insurance Agency complained about an unpaid bill for players insurance, which was tied in with a personal insurance that Secretary Arthur ‘Pip’ Baker had with the company. In August 1961, Watchetts Recreation Ground had not been hired for the following season and the club lost a last minute appeal against the Club’s suspension. Early September saw the Club’s books seized by The Surrey F.A. and Arthur Baker ordered to produce the club’s accounts within two weeks or face legal action. The accounts were not produced. Arthur Baker left the Camberley area for a caravan park he was running in Littlehampton after a fire left his council home in Newlands Road un-inhabitable.

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  • Of the five Camberley United players who joined the club only Peter Coe and Jim Talylor managed to break into the first team and the Goodyear brothers were to re-appear in Camberley colours later. Camberley FC went on to have a good season and finished runners-up in the league to Chertsey Town. In the final 10 days of the season they needed to win their last four matches to clinch the title. Three of the sides were in the bottom four but a draw at home to bottom side Cobham and defeats at mid-table Malden Town and bottom three side Whyteleafe put paid to their chances. During the 1961/62 season Camberley FC toyed with the idea of joining the Hellenic League themselves but decided that the travelling would be too much and hinder the effort of attracting new players. Maybe they wished they had as the early and mid-sixties did not live up to the promise of the early years of the decade and the side finished in the bottom half of the table for the next five years. Things hit a low in 1966/67 when the side conceded 10 goals twice in friendlies at Didcot and Salisbury and then conceded over 100 goals in the league for the first time in the Clubs history when they conceded 108. 

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  • Talks took place with the Council about a move away from Krooner Park and an application was submitted for a move to Southcote Park Farm. The Council, stating that too much civil engineering work would be required, turned down the request. It turned out that the Council had earmarked the land for the new Tennis Club. With the chance of a move gone, the Club turned their attention to discussions with the other senior team in the town, Camberley Wanderers. The Wanderers had money but no ground to call their own, and Camberley FC had the ground but was struggling on the financial front. The two clubs decided that it made sense to combine the two club's resources and they merged on 2nd June 1967 to become Camberley Town FC.

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  • Camberley Wanderers had been in existence since 1950, starting out as a youth side. In their first competitive season, 1950/51, they ran away with the Ascot Minor League title, scoring 100 goals by the end of January 1951. They won their first ever league match 10-1 against Bracknell on their home ground at the London Road Recreation Ground. A number of players went on to play for Camberley FC once they passed the age limit for youth football. One young player, Ron Tindall, went on to make his full league debut for Chelsea in 1953.

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  • Camberley Wanderers too made a foray into Senior Football entering the Parthenon League in 1965/66 where they finished in a mid table 7th position. They remained with the league in the 1966/67 season when it reverted back to it’s previous name of the Middlesex Senior League.

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