Page 16 - CHUFC vs Westside

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Westside FC was founded by Gra- promotion to the
ham Holder, the current Chairman, Surrey South East-
in May 1996 and are based at West ern Combination
Side Church in Wandsworth, South Intermediate League (SSEC) the follow-
West London. ing season. Unfortunately, the plan went
Graham travelled to the USA in 1994 wrong when the team ended 3rd. Gra-
with Ambassadors in Sport to coach and ham decided to take a gamble and trans-
evangelise in San Jose, California during ferred the team into the SSEC Junior Di-
the 1994 World Cup. While he was there vision 1 and it gained promotion to the
he had a vision to form a Christian foot- Intermediate League in 2002/03 by win-
ball club on his return to the UK. ning the last game of the season against
Dave Doran scored 55 goals promotion rivals Warlingham.
Graham Holder remained Manager un-
In 1996 this happened. With the team til 2008/09 and after 12 years stepped
only having 7 players, they joined Divi- down to manage the Reserves in SSEC
sion 5 of the Kingston & District League Junior Division 1. His Assistant Manag-
(KDL). By the start of the season, the er, Steve Walters then took over the job
team had grown to 17 players mainly of 1st team manager. During those 12
from the West Side Church youth group. years, the club won numerous trophies
In this first season the team, player man- – including being FA Charter Standard
aged by Graham Holder, won KDL Divi- National Adult Club of the Year 2005/06.
sion 5, the Tec Cup, and the Sportsman- We moved again to ground share
ship Cup and were runners-up in the
League Junior Cup. Not a bad start and Steve Walters led the first team to the
with Dave Doran scoring 55 goals. SSEC Intermediate Division 2 title in
The club grew to have three adult mens 2014/15 and Division 1 the following sea-
teams in the KDL with brothers, friends son gaining promotion to the Surrey
and friends of friends joining. The 1st Elite League. We then switched to play-
team progressed through the divisions of ing our home games at AFC Croydon.
the KDL and in 1999/2000 were Division In 2018/19 we finished 4th and gained
2 Champions and were promoted direct- promotion to Step 6 of the National
ly to the KDL Premier Division and win- Football Structure, entering the Com-
ning this the following season 2000/01. bined Counties Division 1. We moved
The club decided to have a further sea- again to ground share with Chessington
son in the KDL Premier and apply for and Hook United and despite a relative-