Tonbridge Football Archives

When I started pulling together a blog about North Tonbridge Juniors, it was quickly apparent how warmly everyone spoke about the club, whether it was former players, managers or club officials. So many people have been willing to help out in piecing together the various memories, photos, newspaper clippings and paperwork. It has turned this blog into what now appears to be mammoth project on North Tonbridge Juniors. The aim of the blog is to capture the history of the club, the spirit of the club and share great old photographs and stories. I will be splitting the story of North Tonbridge Juniors into three separate blogs, roughly into three different eras that the club existed, as I have gathered so much information, I want to give each era a decent showcase. So the first blog will concentrate on the club's formation and its early years during the 1970s. North End of town Junior football in the early 1970s was played on Saturdays in the Tunbridge Wells & District Minor

Before the Angels - Tonbridge Football Club 1885 to 1936

It has always intrigued me that Tonbridge Angels appeared late starters in the football world, as not being formed until 1947. Did we have a town football team before the Angels? The answer is well yes we did and here is the story of the town's first Tonbridge Football Club. Association football comes to Tonbridge in 1885 Tonbridge Association Football Club was formed towards the end of 1885. They played their first match against Headcorn and won 1-0 on the 16 January 1886, with the club chairman Mr F L Pattision scoring the winning goal. The club's first home ground was the Old Cricket Ground, ie, the Angel Ground, which was used during October to March, ie, outside of the cricket season. The club was set up as amateur team and played a series of friendly matches against all the leading amateur teams in Kent, Sussex, Surrey & London. They played almost twenty years on this basis until 1905. The club played at various venues in Tonbridge during its early years, befo

Last club standing - North Tonbridge Juniors during the 80s

The club entered the 1980s in very much the same way they left the 1970s in dominating the Clark Rural Boys League, with continued league and cup successes. The 1980 Cup Finals Day was no different. Again the matches were played at Lingfield Road Recreation Ground in Edenbridge and here a few photos from finals date, starting with the Under 12s. Under 14s team below winning again at Edenbridge, a regular occurrence. The Under 14s players in the photo include Colin Blewden, Richard Hazel, Paul Brazil, Andy Goddard, Darren Randall, Tony Wolfe 1980/81 - New season new challenges The Clark Rural Boys League continued to the club's choice of junior football leagues for these teams, with four teams Under 12s, Under 14s B team, Under 16s A & B teams. Jean Goss also returned the role as Club Secretary. To the south of Tonbridge, the Crowborough & District Junior Football League was expanding and introduced an Under 14s age group for the first time for the 1980/81 season

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Clark Rural League
Grange Farm Rangers
Invicta
North Tonbridge Juniors
Tonbridge Angels
Tonbridge FC
Tonbridge Invicta
Tonbridge JAC's
Tonbridge Juniors
Tonbridge Olympic

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