HISTORY
In the beginning....
In 1986, there were no male teachers at The Royal Kent School and the lady teachers at the time were not particularly up on their football - or so the legend goes! So it was left up to a few dads who decided to take Saturday morning football training sessions at the school playing fields in Waverley Road, Oxshott. Among the dads known to be involved at the time were John Hounsell (who organised the training), Harith Birani, and Phil Beebe. There were too many lads for John Hounsell to cope with and he asked Brian Dale (whose son Peter was one of the players) if he could help. Graham Smith and his son Neil were also involved in the team from an early stage. The first set of club colours were red and white supposedly due to John Hounsell being a fanatic Arsenal supporter. These remain the Club's distinctive colours today.
Eventually organised friendlies began to take place. One of the first was against a team from Welwyn Garden City, and one against a team from Byfleet. It was decided to enter a team into a league and so the first organizing committee was formed. The first chairman was Peter Renard, and the committee met at the Victoria pub in Oxshott. The Club was called the Royal Kent Football Club and they entered the Epsom Parks league in 1988. Graham Smith was the secretary and organized the entry into the league. The team was an under 10 team and was sponsored by the Victoria pub’s owner, Mike Forrester. This team included Ross Marshall and Neil Smith whose dads, Sheldon and Mike both went on to become future Chairmen. The first Christmas Party was held in 1988 at the Victoria pub with a grand total of about 14 attendees…
Splitting from Royal Kent
Despite winning their first game by a double figure margin, overall the first few games weren’t too successful. It was decided that the team would have to be strengthened if it was to hold it’s own. Three more boys were recruited for the team – not from the Royal Kent, but from Danes Hill. Unfortunately, some of the Royal Kent parents took exception to this and thought that the team should only consist of Royal Kent boys. So, the Club decided to go ‘open’ and a special EGM was called. The Club changed it’s name to Oxshott Royals in 1990. The three boys who joined the club at this time were Richard Small, Lawrence Penrose and Alex Jensen, son of Capital Radio’s David Jensen who was an active supporter of the Club. The constitution of the club was drafted with the aim of providing football for boys in Oxshott, Cobham and Stoke D’Abernon. The Club also paid rent to the Royal Kent school for the ground (believed to be about £100 – £200 a season). Cedric Metliss took over as Chairman from Peter Renard.
At this time the pitches at the Waverley Road ground ran North/South due to the fact that a concrete cricket pitch existed in the middle of the ground. The pitch used to be either rock hard with huge cracks in it or like a swamp. Thanks to the efforts of Roy Harris and his helpers the pitches were improved considerably. In the early days before the club had a tractor Roy, Graham, Brian Dale, Martin Sayer and Bill Churchman could be seen cutting the grass with their own lawnmowers! New drainage was put into Waverley Road in 1996 after the club had agreed a new 12 year lease on the ground.
In 1991, as the Under 11’s, the team reached its first Cup Final losing 2-1 to Mead Boys after extra time. Other teams also started to form within the Club and early Club AGM’s were held in the Stoke D’Abernon Village Hall and then moved to St Andrews Church Hall.
In 1992 Sheldon Marshall became the Club's third Chairman and in his six years in the role raised considerable funds for the Club whilst overseeing it progress to a membership of over 150 boys.
Some boys who have represented the Club have developed into excellent footballers. Rhys Weston joined Arsenal having represented England at Schoolboy level. Neil Smith, Graham’s son, had a spell with Chelsea’s youth team and Ray Wilkins could be seen watching his son Ross playing for the Royals. The record victory for a Royals team was recorded in the 1997/98 season, when the U 16’s won 22-0!
In 1998 Mike Gadbury took over as Chairman from Sheldon Marshall with Graham Smith continuing as Secretary. 1999 saw the Under 11’s win the Guildford & Shere Cup Final and the feat was repeated a year later by the Under 13’s. The Club continued to grow and the season 2001-2002 saw teams competing in all age groups from Under 8’s through to Under 16’s with many of the younger age groups fielding 2, 3 or 4 teams. In addition, the Club started a Saturday morning feeder group for 6 & 7 year olds and added further teams at Under 17 and Under 18. In 2005 Mike handed over the Chairmanship to Terry Harrison having presided over the Club’s growth from 9 teams to 25 teams with over 300 boys registered! Presentation Days took place at The Ark at Danes Hill School.
The next major changes came in 2007 when the Club’s Committee was re-vamped by the new Chairman, Mike Smith. Mini Soccer (7 a side) and Youth Soccer (11 a side) was split in terms of meetings and organisational procedure. In September 2010 the Club achieved FA Charter Standard status. In June 2011, after 20 years associated with the Club, as a Manager (Mike’s 3 sons all went through the age groups) and Chairman, Mike passed on the baton of being Chairman to Roger Beech, who had been the Director of Mini Football.
Roger led a fundamental review of all activities of the Club including coaching, website, registration process, financing, accountability and community focus. Over the following 5 years up to the present day the Club has again doubled in size and so now has more than 600 players (boys and girls) playing for 43 teams entered in four leagues. The Club has won numerous awards from Surrey Youth League and Surrey FA including being crowned Surrey FA’s Community Club of the year in 2014. This recognizes the Club for the excellence in the way it is run and organized for the benefit of all those involved in it. On the pitch in 2015 the U14’s became the first Oxshott Royals team to win the Surrey County Cup and all teams below age 12 receive weekly coaching from qualified professional coaches from our partner coaching firm Ultimate Coaching. Looking outwards the Club has a stall at Oxshott Village Day most years and provides support to other charities such as Sports Relief and KitAid - which sees discarded football kit collected and passed to communities far less fortunate than ourselves.
The Future is in Your Hands....
To keep at the top of our “game”, the Club welcomes positive participation from all parents, players and supporters so allowing us to continue to be a major force for all that is good about youth football in Surrey.
In 1986, there were no male teachers at The Royal Kent School and the lady teachers at the time were not particularly up on their football - or so the legend goes! So it was left up to a few dads who decided to take Saturday morning football training sessions at the school playing fields in Waverley Road, Oxshott. Among the dads known to be involved at the time were John Hounsell (who organised the training), Harith Birani, and Phil Beebe. There were too many lads for John Hounsell to cope with and he asked Brian Dale (whose son Peter was one of the players) if he could help. Graham Smith and his son Neil were also involved in the team from an early stage. The first set of club colours were red and white supposedly due to John Hounsell being a fanatic Arsenal supporter. These remain the Club's distinctive colours today.
Eventually organised friendlies began to take place. One of the first was against a team from Welwyn Garden City, and one against a team from Byfleet. It was decided to enter a team into a league and so the first organizing committee was formed. The first chairman was Peter Renard, and the committee met at the Victoria pub in Oxshott. The Club was called the Royal Kent Football Club and they entered the Epsom Parks league in 1988. Graham Smith was the secretary and organized the entry into the league. The team was an under 10 team and was sponsored by the Victoria pub’s owner, Mike Forrester. This team included Ross Marshall and Neil Smith whose dads, Sheldon and Mike both went on to become future Chairmen. The first Christmas Party was held in 1988 at the Victoria pub with a grand total of about 14 attendees…
Splitting from Royal Kent
Despite winning their first game by a double figure margin, overall the first few games weren’t too successful. It was decided that the team would have to be strengthened if it was to hold it’s own. Three more boys were recruited for the team – not from the Royal Kent, but from Danes Hill. Unfortunately, some of the Royal Kent parents took exception to this and thought that the team should only consist of Royal Kent boys. So, the Club decided to go ‘open’ and a special EGM was called. The Club changed it’s name to Oxshott Royals in 1990. The three boys who joined the club at this time were Richard Small, Lawrence Penrose and Alex Jensen, son of Capital Radio’s David Jensen who was an active supporter of the Club. The constitution of the club was drafted with the aim of providing football for boys in Oxshott, Cobham and Stoke D’Abernon. The Club also paid rent to the Royal Kent school for the ground (believed to be about £100 – £200 a season). Cedric Metliss took over as Chairman from Peter Renard.
At this time the pitches at the Waverley Road ground ran North/South due to the fact that a concrete cricket pitch existed in the middle of the ground. The pitch used to be either rock hard with huge cracks in it or like a swamp. Thanks to the efforts of Roy Harris and his helpers the pitches were improved considerably. In the early days before the club had a tractor Roy, Graham, Brian Dale, Martin Sayer and Bill Churchman could be seen cutting the grass with their own lawnmowers! New drainage was put into Waverley Road in 1996 after the club had agreed a new 12 year lease on the ground.
In 1991, as the Under 11’s, the team reached its first Cup Final losing 2-1 to Mead Boys after extra time. Other teams also started to form within the Club and early Club AGM’s were held in the Stoke D’Abernon Village Hall and then moved to St Andrews Church Hall.
In 1992 Sheldon Marshall became the Club's third Chairman and in his six years in the role raised considerable funds for the Club whilst overseeing it progress to a membership of over 150 boys.
Some boys who have represented the Club have developed into excellent footballers. Rhys Weston joined Arsenal having represented England at Schoolboy level. Neil Smith, Graham’s son, had a spell with Chelsea’s youth team and Ray Wilkins could be seen watching his son Ross playing for the Royals. The record victory for a Royals team was recorded in the 1997/98 season, when the U 16’s won 22-0!
In 1998 Mike Gadbury took over as Chairman from Sheldon Marshall with Graham Smith continuing as Secretary. 1999 saw the Under 11’s win the Guildford & Shere Cup Final and the feat was repeated a year later by the Under 13’s. The Club continued to grow and the season 2001-2002 saw teams competing in all age groups from Under 8’s through to Under 16’s with many of the younger age groups fielding 2, 3 or 4 teams. In addition, the Club started a Saturday morning feeder group for 6 & 7 year olds and added further teams at Under 17 and Under 18. In 2005 Mike handed over the Chairmanship to Terry Harrison having presided over the Club’s growth from 9 teams to 25 teams with over 300 boys registered! Presentation Days took place at The Ark at Danes Hill School.
The next major changes came in 2007 when the Club’s Committee was re-vamped by the new Chairman, Mike Smith. Mini Soccer (7 a side) and Youth Soccer (11 a side) was split in terms of meetings and organisational procedure. In September 2010 the Club achieved FA Charter Standard status. In June 2011, after 20 years associated with the Club, as a Manager (Mike’s 3 sons all went through the age groups) and Chairman, Mike passed on the baton of being Chairman to Roger Beech, who had been the Director of Mini Football.
Roger led a fundamental review of all activities of the Club including coaching, website, registration process, financing, accountability and community focus. Over the following 5 years up to the present day the Club has again doubled in size and so now has more than 600 players (boys and girls) playing for 43 teams entered in four leagues. The Club has won numerous awards from Surrey Youth League and Surrey FA including being crowned Surrey FA’s Community Club of the year in 2014. This recognizes the Club for the excellence in the way it is run and organized for the benefit of all those involved in it. On the pitch in 2015 the U14’s became the first Oxshott Royals team to win the Surrey County Cup and all teams below age 12 receive weekly coaching from qualified professional coaches from our partner coaching firm Ultimate Coaching. Looking outwards the Club has a stall at Oxshott Village Day most years and provides support to other charities such as Sports Relief and KitAid - which sees discarded football kit collected and passed to communities far less fortunate than ourselves.
The Future is in Your Hands....
To keep at the top of our “game”, the Club welcomes positive participation from all parents, players and supporters so allowing us to continue to be a major force for all that is good about youth football in Surrey.