Page 9 - Raynes Park Vale v AFC Croydon Athletic
P. 9

ODA
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  VISIT
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 AFC CROYDON ATHLETIC
 AFC  Croydon Athletic  was  officially
 born on 6th February 2012 after a
 group of supporters gathered at Sel-
 hurst Evangelical Church in South
 Norwood to form a new club.
 Worthy of a place
 The newly appointed Committee had
 just 7 weeks to put everything in place
 to convince the Football  Association
 and the League that they were worthy   back to the team. On 29th May the Club  This was later than had been expected
 of a place at Step 6 in the pyramid. De-  there followed a long wait to see if they   announced the appointment of Antony  as there were problems with the pitch
 spite the challenge it was a successful  would endorse the application. On the   Williams as its first manager and along  and floodlights. Despite these problems
 journey.  day  of  the  first Annual  General  Meet-  with his management team he set about  and having to play their first 10 match-
 Cricket match-fixing scandal  ing, on 10th May, the Club got the call   the task of putting together a squad ca-  es away from home the club maintained
 The need to form a new club had about  that they had been recommended to be   pable of competing in the division. The  a promotion chasing position all season
 because of the demise Croydon Athletic  placed at Step 6.  preparations begun in earnest with the  and finally clinch 2nd place with a 3-0
 FC who had become the innocent victims   Clubhouse was destroyed by fire  first  pre-season  friendly  against  Fisher  victory over Cobham FC. The club also
 of  an  international  cricket  match-fix-  The biggest challenge had been secur-  FC and the journey had really begun.  won  its  2nd  piece  of  silverware  when
 ing scandal by their then owner. Valiant  ing a stadium to play at. The club’s real   We completed our initial season in Di-  winning the London Senior  Trophy
 attempts to find a buyer, which looked  home  remained  the  Mayfield  Stadium   vision One of the Combined Counties  beating Interwood 4-3 after extra time.
 very positive at times, turned out to be  off Mayfield Road but that currently lies   League in a creditable 8th position. The   Following promotion
 fruitless and  with debts  mounting  and  empty as the owners of the old Club re-  club  also  won  its  first  piece  of  silver-  With the FA Leagues Committee having
 owners unwilling to pay what they owed  fused to give it up and back to the Coun-  ware by winning the Lemon Recordings  placed the club in The Southern Coun-
 the club folded playing its last game in  cil and whilst unused the clubhouse was   Division One cup by beating Staines  ties East Football League (formally the
 December 2011.  destroyed by fire.  Lammas 5-0 at  Windsor.  The 2013/14  Kent League) following promotion for
 The club got the call  Both Croydon FC & Croydon Council  Season was more a season of continued  the 2015/16 season the club then main-
 Having secured the support of the Com-  For  the  first  season  the  Club  was  in-  consolidation.  We  finished  one  place  tained their position in the League by
 bined Counties League and the London  debted to both Croydon FC and Croy-  higher in the League and with a little bit  finishing 11th.
 FA, representatives of the Club met of-  don Council who facilitated the use of   more consistency could have been in the  Antony Williams resigned to take over
 ficials from the FA and made their case  Croydon Sports Arena as the Club’s first   final shake up for promotion.  The Club  at Chipstead FC and the club replaced
 for being placed in Division One. Hav-  home.  returned to its Spiritual home of May-  him with Kevin Rayner as they looked
 ing made a presentation and answered  With a place in the League secured, the   field Stadium on 15th November 2014  to continue the progress they have made.
 questions for more than ninety minutes  focus shifted from off the field priorities   with a game against Banstead Athletic.                                               Continued....
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