| Full name | Redhill Football Club | ||
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| Nickname(s) | The Lobsters or Reds | ||
| Founded | 1894 | ||
| Ground | Kiln Brow, Redhill (Capacity: 2,000) |
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| Chairman | John Park | ||
| Manager | Simon Colbran | ||
| League | Sussex County League Division One | ||
| 2010–11 | Sussex County League Division One, 8th | ||
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Redhill F.C. is an English football club based in Redhill, Surrey. The club are currently members of Sussex County League Division One and play at Kiln Brow.
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The club was formed in 1894. Redhill only played friendly matches for their first four seasons but in the 1898-99 season they competed in the South Suburban League, finishing 6th. Then followed another three seasons of friendlies before they were admitted to the East & West Surrey League, which they won in their first season. Another two seasons of only competing in friendlies followed between 1904 and 1906.
Redhill were accepted into the South Eastern Division Two in 1906 and played in this division for three seasons, finishing fourth in 1908-09. They also finished 2nd in the Mid Surrey League during the same season. Following that they were 3rd in the Spartan League in 1909-10 and 3rd in the South Suburban West League in 1910-11, before becoming South Suburban Champions in the 1911-12 season.
Redhill F.C. became London League members from 1921 to 1923, and finished runners up in their division. In 1923 they joined the Athenian League.
Redhill spent many years in the old Athenian League with such clubs as Barnet, Bromley, Sutton United and Grays Athletic. Fortunes were very mixed over the years, with Championships in 1924–25 and 1983–84. They were runners-up in 1923–24, 1925–26 and 1927–28. However, they also finished bottom of the league on several occasions: 1945–46, 1952–53, 1958–59, 1962–63, 1964–65 and 1977–78.
During their time in the Athenian League, the club enjoyed its best performance in the FA Cup. They reached the First Round proper for the only time in 1957 and took several thousand fans with them to Division Three (South) leaders Norwich City. They lost 6-1 but the Redhill team won great praise in the national press for a brave performance. A copy of the match day programme and an admission ticket are on display in the Clubhouse, along with other historic photographs. Crowds at the old Memorial Ground in the centre of the town would often be close to the 4,000 mark and the main road outside the ground would be closed off for half an hour at the final whistle, such was the volume of people vacating the ground.
They won the last ever Athenian League championship in 1983–84 and were due to gain promotion. However, after being given notice to vacate their Memorial Sports Ground in the centre of the town, they were moved to Kiln Brow, situated about 2 miles to the south of the town. Without the required facilities, the club actually moved down the pyramid into the London Spartan League. At the start of the 1987-88 season, after resigning from the London Spartan League, they joined the Sussex County League Division One. This sideways move effectively moved them up a place in the pyramid. They were relegated to Division Two after two seasons. In 1996-97 they won promotion to Division One again by finishing third. They finished fifth in their first season back in Division One, yet all subsequent positions have hovered around mid-table.
After several years struggling at the wrong end of the table and looking to consolidate in the 1st Division of the Sussex League, the club signalled their intention to move on and gain promotion to the Isthmian League. In July 2007, non-league legend Tommy Sampson was appointed manager with former Kingstonian and Bromley Manager Stuart McIntyre becoming 1st Team coach.
The club has since then been very unlucky with its managerial teams. Sampson suffered a stroke in December 2007, his replacement, Stuart McIntyre, took the team to the semi finals of the Sussex RUR Cup and the Surrey Senior Cup, and also finished the season in 8th place. The clubs first top ten finish since 1997/98. Mcintyre stepped down early the following season due to other commitments and former Brighton & Hove Albion player John Crumplin took charge, only to walk out on the club in the summer after only reaching 7th place despite a very strong squad.
Dean Forbes then took over but struggled to commit due to business reasons and Marcus Alcindor, who was Forbes' assistants, took charge in December 2009, however, the start to this season was disappointing, having fallen at the first hurdle of both the FA Cup and FA Vase competitions, and the league campaign hadn't begun the way the clubs board hoped it would. After a 1-1 draw away from home on the 9th October at bottom of the table Eastbourne United, Redhill parted company with Alcindor and Steve Johnson was named his replacement. On April 18, 2011 Redhill announced that Johnson had left the club by mutual agreement, leaving Director of football Nigel Abbott to take over for the remaining 4 matches. In June 2011 after receiving many applications, some of which non-league "house-hold names" and others of quality, the club appointed Simon Colbran, formerly of Worthing FC and Crowborough Athletic FC, where he won all three Sussex County League Divisions, including the Division One championship.
There are stories that the club acquired the nickname "The Lobsters" in 1994, and indeed, a competition was held in the 1990s for people to think up a nickname for Redhill other than "The Reds". A local woman won the vote and the clubs official nickname is The Lobsters, however, many do not use, understand, or indeed, like this name due to the clubs location being nowhere near the coast.
However, the name Lobsters had been used before. In a 1928 Redhill FC handbook, "The Lobsters" was mentioned in the clubs brief history. It is popular belief that the inspiration the name came from the kit the club used in its very early days (which was still red & white stripes). When shirt manufacturing was not as it is today, the colours in the material would bleed together and the shirt would become a red-pink-ish lobster colour.
One of a handful of Sussex County League clubs actually located in Surrey, Redhill’s Kiln Brow ground is situated next to the A23 near East Surrey Hospital. Redhill were moved to the ground in 1984, and effectively, the area was a landfill site. The club worked tirelessly over the years to build what now looks like a real football stadium. Kiln Brow boasts a 162 seat stand, a clubhouse with licsensed bar and function hall, modern changing room facilities, a canteen and a club shop. Kiln Brow was granted its E grading, making the club eligible for promotion to step 4, in March 2010.
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