VCD Athletic F.C.
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| Full name | VCD Athletic Football Club | ||
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| Nickname(s) | The Vickers | ||
| Founded | 1916 (as Vickers (Erith)) | ||
| Ground | The Oakwood Old Road Crayford (Capacity: tbc) |
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| Chairman | Gary Rump | ||
| Manager | Ricky Bennett | ||
| League | Kent League | ||
| 2010–11 | Kent League, 3rd | ||
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VCD Athletic F.C. (originally short for Vickers, Crayford & Dartford Athletic F.C.) are a football club based in Crayford, London, England. They joined the Kent League in 1997. They are currently members of the Kent League. They were founded in 1916 by workers at the Vickers armaments factory in Crayford, England.
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[edit] History
VCD Athletic was formed in 1916 by workers at the Vickers armaments factory at Crayford, originally as Vickers (Erith) FC, and joined the original Kent League upon the resumption of play after World War I. In their first season they had the advantage of picking a number of Arsenal players who were completing their war service at the works.
In 1921 the club joined the Dartford and District League, before joining the newly formed Kent Amateur League in 1925, where they were to remain for over 70 years. They won the championship in 1953 and 1964 but spent the next twenty years yo-yoing between Division One and Division Two. In 1984 they were promoted back to Division One for the final time, and just one year later won the Championship and joined the restructured Premier Division of what was now called the Kent County League.
In the 1996/97 season VCD won the Premier Division title by a record 15 points, successfully applied for senior status, and were accepted into the Kent League. They showed an improvement over the previous season for their first five seasons at this level, culminating in a second place finish in 2002/03 when, after leading the table for most of the season, they narrowly lost out on the championship on goal difference. Despite a mass exodus of players after this, the club has continued to do well and consistently finish in the league's top half dozen. They also appeared in three consecutive League Cup finals, winning the trophy in 1999/2000 with a 4-0 victory over Faversham Town. In the 2007/08 season team captain Paul Foley stepped up to become manager and guided the club to 2nd place in the Kent League before going one better in the 2008/09 season securing the league title and Kent Senior Trophy in only his second season in charge.
[edit] Ground
The club played at the Vickers company's Oakwood sports ground in Old Road, Crayford from their earliest formation until 1999 when they entered a ground share agreement to play at the home of Thamesmead Town. More recently they have been sharing with Greenwich Borough pending the outcome of a floodlight application. The club were able to return to Oakwood for the 2006-07 season.
[edit] Honours
- Kent League
- League Cup winners 1999/2000
- Premier Division Champions 2008/09
- Kent County League
- Champions 1952/53, 1963/64, 1996/97
[edit] Club records
- Best league position: 8th in Isthmian League Division One North, 2009/10
- Best FA Cup performance: 2nd qualifying round, 2002/03
- Best FA Vase performance: 5th round, 2005/06, 4th round 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09
[edit] Sources
- VCD Athletic at the Football Club History Database
[edit] External links
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Coordinates: 51°27′21.41″N 0°10′09.94″E / 51.4559472°N 0.1694278°E
