Orpington F.C.

Orpington
Full name Orpington Football Club
Nickname(s) The O's
Founded 1939[1]
Ground Green Court Sports Club, Crockenhill[2]
Chairman Steve Hall
Manager Steve Hall
League Kent County League Division One West
2016–17 Southern Counties East League Division One, 14th of 19 (resigned)
Website Club website

Orpington Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Orpington, Kent. Although the club is based in Goddington Park in Orpington, the first team plays at Green Court Sports Club in Crockenhill. They are currently members of the Kent County League Division One West. The club is a FA Charter Standard Community Club.[3]

History

Orpington F.C. was founded in 1880 and had played in local leagues up until the 1920s before folding for unknown reasons. The current incarnation of the club was founded in 1939.[1] From 1970 to 1998 (with a brief spell in the London Spartan League Intermediate Division from 1987 to 1991) the club played in the South London Alliance, winning the league a number of times. Since then the O's have been playing in the Kent County League, reaching the Premier Division in 2007–08 before relegation in 2009–10 left them in Division One West. Despite finishing 4th in 2010–11, the club were announced as founder members of the Step 6 Kent Invicta Football League on 2 June 2011.[4]

In their first game in the Kent Invicta Football League, Orpington lost 2–1 to Bearsted. The club endured a miserable start to the season and eventually finished bottom of the league, with 24 points. Their second season, under the leadership of former goalkeeper Sean Glover, saw a massive improvement as the club finished comfortably in mid-table with a 9th-place finish. The 2013/14 season saw another step forward under Sean Glover as the club finished a respectable 5th.

Byron Beard was appointed as manager of the first team for the 2014/15 with Sean Glover having resigned, Byron later stepped down during the 2015/16 season as Marc Bentz took over until the end of the 2016/17 season. Before the start of the 2017/18 season, Orpington FC decided it could no longer sustain the cost of playing in the Kent Invicta league and decided to merge the first team with their reserve team. Steve Hall will manage the first team for the 2017/18 season as they play their matches in the Kent County league 1 at Westcombe Park Rugby Club - next door to Goddington Park where the youth teams play their matches.

Ground

Orpington FC's First Team play their home games at Westcombe Park Rugby Club. The Ground is directly next to Goddington Park where their youth and other senior teams play on Saturdays and Sundays.

Youth teams

The club operates a soccer school and has 21 youth teams (including 3 girls' teams) from under 7–21 age groups, making it one of the largest youth football clubs in Bromley.[3]. All youth games are played at Goddington Park. All matches are played within the SELKENT league on Sundays.

The youth teams are overlooked by members of the executive committee, each with roles designed to ensure the progression and development of all the coaches, players and the club as a whole.
Club Development Officer: Richard Kettle
Welfare Officer: Jason Loom
Head of Football (U7 - U12): Steven Tindle
Head of Football (U13+): Simon Morris

Honours

Orpington have won two leagues and four cup competitions in their history.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 Club history Orpington FC
  2. ↑ Orpington Kent County League
  3. 1 2 The Club Orpington FC
  4. ↑ Kent Invicta League confirm first sixteen participants Kentish Football, 3 June 2011
  5. ↑ Kent County Football League – History Accessed 20 June 2012

Coordinates: 51°23′29″N 0°09′46″E / 51.39125°N 0.162675°E / 51.39125; 0.162675

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