Team History

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 humble 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 Beaney. 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.

Eventually the first 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 the leagues and 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 Sheldon was of course an active dad. Neil Smith was also in this team. The first Christmas Party was held in 1988 at the Victoria pub with a grand total of about 14 attendees...

The first Oxshott Royals team. The Under 10’s, October 1988. Reproduced from the original press cutting from the Esher News (hence the poor quality).

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 boys from that school. So, the club decided to go ‘open’ and a special EGM was called. The club changed it's name to the 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 to provide football for boys in Oxshott, Cobham and Stoke D’Abernon. The club also paid rent to the Royal Kent for the ground (believed to be about £100 - £200 a season). Cedric Metliss took over as Chairman from Peter Renard. Also at this time the pitches at the Waverley Road ground ran North/South as opposed to today’s East/West pitches. This was 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 todays pitches have 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

The first set of club colours was red and white (supposedly due to John Hounsell being a fanatic Arsenal supporter.)

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 had started to form and Simon Fuller, Martin Sayer, Ian Stuart and Roy Harris all got involved in the club. Roy’s wife, Jill, took over from Graham Smith as secretary for a couple of years before Graham took back the role later.

Early on the 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 clubs third Chairman and in his six years in the role has raised considerable funds for the club and saw 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, Grahams 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!

Fun for all the family - above, three brothers from the Under 14's, 12's, and 9's proudly showing off their respective silverware.
(Photo courtesy of Michael Perkins.)

Recent History

In 1993, Mike Smith joined and has done a great job in getting the teams well kitted out. In 1996 Helen Butler became social secretary. In 1997 the club sent two teams on their first overseas trip to Holland entering the Under 13 and Under 15’s in an international tournament which BOTH teams won.

In 1998 Mike Gadbury took over as Chairman from Sheldon Marshall who had completed six years in the role. Stephanie & Sandy Wynd took over as social secretary and developed the social functions to new heights. and Owen Skinner brought a touch of professionalism to the Treasurers role. Graham Smith continued his great work 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. Since then the club has 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. During Mike’s time as Chairman the Club grew from 9 teams to 25 teams and had over well over 300 boys registered! Presentation Days took place at The Ark at Danes Hill School, which has packed to the rafters year after year!