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History
VCD Athletic
are one of only a few football clubs to have originated
during the Great War, when formed in 1916 by workers at the
Vickers armaments factory at Crayford. The club had always
played at the firms sports ground "Oakwood" in Old Road,
Crayford, until season 1998/99 when they entered a ground
share agreement to play at the home of Thamesmead Town FC.
This season a new agreement was made to play at Lordswood
FC, whilst the outcome of a floodlight application is
waited.
Early records show that a
club called Vickers (Erith) joined the reformed Kent League
in 1919, changing their name to Vickers (Crayford) a year
later, and then in 1921 joining the Dartford and
District League. In the 1919 season they visited Maidstone
United on Boxing Day, and played in front of a crowd of
13500 spectators. The Vickers team that day contained seven
Arsenal players who were finishing their war service.
Four years later
they joined the newly formed Kent Amateur League in Division
One, and lifted their first trophy in 1927, when winning the
Kent FA Junior Cup and the Kent Benevolent Cup.
It was a further 25
years before more silverware came to "Oakwood", when they
won the Division One title in 1953. The Kent Amateur Cup was
won in 1962 and again in 1964, but unfortunately the
following season was a disaster, and saw the club relegated
with a dismal record of P24, W0, D2, L22, goals for 25,
goals against 199. Promotion was gained in 1969, but after a
mediocre period during the 1970's they were relegated in
1980 back to Division Two. A season later they were promoted
to Division One and in 1985 won the Championship and joined
the restructured Premier Division. By now the Kent Amateur
League had changed its name to the Kent County League and
success continued when VCD won the Kent FA Intermediate
Shield in 1988. The same year the club was also involved in
the last ever match to be played at Maidstone Utd 's London
Road ground, when they won the West Kent Challenge Cup.
In 1993, the
current Manager Martin Ford joined the club and two seasons
later they achieved the "treble" in winning the Kent
Intermediate Shield, the Kent County League Cup and the
Erith Hospital Cup.
Season
1996/7 saw the club set a Kent County League record when
winning for the first time in the clubs history the Premier
Division title by a record 15 points. Senior status was
awarded the same year and a successful application was made
to join the Winstonian Kent League. In season 1998/99 VCD
Athletic reached the final of the Kent League Cup but lost
the final to Deal Town 1-0 in a closely fought game. The
following season however they went one better when after
again reaching the final they won their first senior trophy
with a 4-0 victory over Faversham Town.
Season 2000/1 saw
the club make its third consecutive cup final appearance
when contesting the Kent Senior Trophy final but narrowly
missed winning more silverware when losing 10-9 on penalties
to Whitstable Town.
In the league the
club has shown an improvement over the previous season for
five consecutive years, culminating in a second place finish
in 2002/3 when after leading the table for most of the
season, they narrowly lost the championship on goal
difference. Last season, after a mass exodus of players, a
creditable 7th place was achieved in the league, together
with runners up in the Kent League Cup as club continues to
flourish.
The club emphasis is now
on returning to their "Oakwood" ground and moves are
underway to try and bring about a return.
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