Club
History
The First 75 Years
A team known as Old Bromleians played as long
ago as 1912. Records show that it was then the 3XI of Bromley Town F C. The
Sportsman of 2nd October 1913 reports that they lost 2-4 to Catford
Excelsior in the London Junior Cup. Bromley disbanded the side a few years
later. The Club as we know it today was formed in 1922/3 by past pupils of
Bromley County School-now after many name changes known as The Ravensbourne
School.
There is indication that there
had been `Old Boys Soccer Activity' not so long after the School was founded
in 1911 but details are disjointed. The first ground was a field behind the
Crooked Billet Bromley. By 1926/7 the Club was playing in the Kent Amateur
League and in 1928 after several successful years, changed its name to Old
Bromleians, which it retains to this day. We joined the A.F.A. in 1928 and
moved to another ground in Crown Lane, Bromley.
In 1928/9 the 1st XI won every
match and throughout the 1930's they were a considerable force to be
contended with, winning the AFA Surrey Senior Cup on 5 occasions, for which
feat were given a permanent trophy. We again moved Grounds-this time to
better facilities at Southborough Lane, Bromley.
The war curtailed our Activities
but in 1946 we resumed on a leased ground in Hayes Lane. There were many
successful years, the highlight of which would have been beating Bexhill
Town 5-3 in the AFA Senior Cup had not their protest that our pitch was too
small been upheld. We were then playing in the Old Boys League but later
moved on to the Southern Olympian League in 1952 reaching the top division
in two years.
In 1954 we acquired our present
ground at Lower Gravel Road although we have to hire other pitches to
accommodate the 8 sides that we now field each Saturday, together with the
successful Vets side on Sundays. We achieved a further long cherished
ambition in 1967 when we were elected to the Southern Amateur League.
Since the War the Club has had
many successes including winning the AFA Surrey Senior Cup on another 4
occasions, the Old Boys Cup 3 times and many other League and Cups
successes. The Reserves had an outstanding Season in 1984/5 winning all 3
cups that they had entered. The 6th X1 won the AFA Intermediate Novets Cup
in 1988/9.
1992 saw the building and
opening of our magnificent Clubhouse at a cost of £135,000. It was financed
by many generous donations from members, grants from the Sports Council, and
the Football Trust together with various Loans.
Significant further funds have
recently been granted by the Football Association for more improvements.
Meanwhile our performances on and off the field have been recognised in
other ways e.g. being invited to stage representative games - next season
(October 14th) the AFA v Oxford University.
Easter tours were once a
highlight of the Season but are now organised by the Vets who go to Holland
in June each year. This year Roosenthal visit us for the first time and join
us at this Anniversary Dinner. Golf days are also now a regular part of our
Calendar.
Throughout our existence we have
been very fortunate that there have been so few changes in Secretaries and
Treasurers, also, John Cooper our President is just completing 50 years as
Match Secretary and Don Collins over 30 years as Chairman alone, whilst we
all owe a great debt of gratitude to our Elder Statesman, Cliff Janes - now
approaching his 92nd year (he remembers the early games) for the many years
of dedicated service in so many capacities. The club is in good hands and
continues to grow in size - long may it continue to do so.
Unfortunately, our links with
the School have become fewer and fewer which is our big regret. However, it
is good to know their football is thriving whilst our club is prospering. To
the many old players and guests joining our celebrations, a very sincere and
warm welcome and some nostalgia. To the present members, this is the Club
which we hope you will carry forward into the Millenium and to its 100th
Anniversary.
Jubilee 1922-1972
CLIFF JANES writes about our 50 years
There are no official club records before 1926, and we have
to rely on notes appearing in the School magazine, the "Bromleian". From
this source it is evident that it was not so very long after the foundation
of the School in 1911 that there was Old Boys soccer activity. These early
reports are however disjointed.
Although there is mention of Old Boys football already in
1919, and again in 1920, there is no indication of continuity until the end
of the 1922/3 season when the "Bromleians" reports that "the Old Boys Club
has an exceillent record for the first year of its life". On the strength of
this it has been accepted that the club began as an organised unit in 1922.
All we know for the next year or so is that the club played
on the field at the rear of the Crooked Billet, a fine strip of turf that
had been used for polo, also on another at a nearby brickfield; and that in
the 1923/4 season the team reached the final of the Gillett Shield, a
competition open to local clubs, losing to National Old Boys. Emerging from
this early mist, we find the club in the 1926/7 season in the Kent Amateur
League, with a second string playing friendlies and a ground at South Hill
Road that produced a unique brand of mud-and odour!
The next season the name of the club was changed from
Bromley County School Old Boys to Old Bromleians and our first recorded
Secretary, Ken Pearce saw to it that we had a Supporters Club, a glamorous
band of tea ladies and our own transport, albeit a van!
It was due to his foresight and initiative that the vital
step was taken in 1928 to enter the A.F.A. with two teams in membership in
the Old Boys League and a new ground at Crown Lane.
Granted the club started with junior status in the new
sphere, nevertheless we could not have made a more spectacular debut. In the
1928/9 season the 1st XI won every match played with a record of 125 goals
to 24 in 25 games-this brought the A.F.A. Junior Cup at the first attempt,
and the championship of their league division. The next season saw another
cup and league success and promotion to senior rank, and we now had four
teams playing competitive football.
The club now made a considerable impact in the highest A.F.A.
circles, the team remaining together under the inspired leadership of Harry
Hunt, whose name became synonymous with Old Bromleians successes. In the
next six seasons, during which we moved to a better appointed ground at
Southborough Lane, we took the championship of the Old Boys League three
times, being runners-up in the intervening years, won the A.F.A. Surrey
Senior cup five times, and in 1933/4 reached the last sixteen of the A.F.A.
Senior Cup when we gave Cambridge Town, then members of the Southern Amateur
League and frequent holders of the Cup, a very good run on their own ground.
To mark this feat in the Surrey Cup, the A.F.A. presented the club with a
replica as a permanent memento, and this adorns our dinner table each year.
The lower sides played their part in building up the club's
reputation, with stalwarts such as Len Chappell who had been our first
recorded club captain, and Arthur Hawkes leading the cheery "C" XI-except in
the plunge bath, a luxury new to us, when the theme of the songs anticipated
by many years the freedom of the permissive society.
Club Honours
Cups
A.F.A. Surrey Senior Cup
1930/31, 1932/33, 1933/34,1934/35, 1935/36, 1969/70.
Old Boys Cup
1953/54, 1970/71
A.F.A. Junior Cup
1928/29.
A.F.A. Kent Junior Cup
1952/53, 1962/63, 1966/67.
Old Boys (League) Junior Cup
1929/30.
Old Boys (League) Minor Cup
1930/31 (joint holders)
Southern Olympian League Mander Cup
1958/59 (joint holders).
Old Boys 4th XI Cup
1971/72
League Championships
Old Boys League - Premier Division
1930/31, 1932/33, 1935/36.
Old Boys League - Division One
1929/30.
Old Boys League - Division Two
1928/29.
Old Boys League - Junior Division One
1933/34, 1935/36.
Old Boys League - Junior Division Two
1932/33.
Old Boys League - Division Four
1929/30.
Old Boys League - Division Five
1931/32.
Old Boys League - Division B (South)
1946/47.
Southern Olympian League - Senior Division One
1959/60, 1963/64.
Southern Olympian League - Junior Division One
1964/65.
Southern Olympian League - Junior Division Two
1954/55, 1959/60, 1963/64.
Southern Olympian League - Minor Division C
1954/55, 1956/57, 1958/59, 1959/60.
Southern Amateur League - Senior Division Three
1967/68, 1970/71.
Southern Amateur League - Third Teams' Division Three
1969/70.
