Page 28 - RPVFC v Erith & Belvedere

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ERITH & BELVEDERE

Erith and Belvedere FC began
their 100th season under new
management: Danny Murphy,
former player with QPR, Moth-
erwell and Cork City, took over
in June when his predecessor
Del Oldfield stepped down for

family reasons. Del had stead- honours with Cannes and Sête. In 1939 the Deres lost the Lon-
ied the ship following a tur- Cannes won the French Cup in don Senior Cup Final to a Dul-
bulent period when the Deres 1932 and were runners-up in wich Hamlet side fielding seven
had lost a manager, most of the inaugural French League in amateur internationals, and on
the first team and all but two Chatham. In 1924 the Deres 1933 with Hillier, who went on the outbreak of war four months
directors in January 2020, but reached the FA Amateur Cup Fi- to manage them later in the 30s: later they joined the South-East
had only two games in charge nal, losing 3-0 to Clapton at The they have never repeated this Combination with other ama-
before lockdown and just 17 in Den in front of the biggest foot- level of success! teur clubs continuing through
the curtailed 2020-21 season. ball crowd in England on a day FA Amateur Cup Final hostilities. Since local industry
This season sees the club in a with a full First Division pro- Apart from two seasons (1929- was important to the war effort,
more stable position and look- gramme. In the same season 31) in the London League, the Erith lost few players to the Forc-
ing forward to the challenges they won their first trophy, the Deres remained in the Kent es, and became one of Kent’s top
ahead. Kent Amateur Cup. The Ama- League until the war. In a league clubs. In 1941-42 they won the
Biggest football crowd teur Cup run earned them a bye featuring many semi-profession- Kent Senior Cup (the first ama-
The Deres were formed in 1922 to the fourth qualifying round of al and nursery sides, third place teur club to do so for 30 years)
following the restructuring of the FA Cup, losing 2-0 at home to in 1928-29 was their highest and the South East Combination
Belvedere and District FC, a Third Division Reading. In 2015 finish, but greater success came League and Cup double: they
club founded in 1918 (although the Royals became the only club in cups. They reached succes- dropped only one point, scored
the original Erith FC, formed in to have played at both Erith & sive Kent Amateur Cup Finals 253 goals in 44 games and had
1885, played in the inaugural Belvedere and Wembley Stadi- in 1934/5. The FA Amateur Cup a 64-game unbeaten home run
FA Amateur Cup in 1893.) The um in the Cup! Final was reached again in 1938: ended only by an Army side field-
new club played its first Kent Joined French clubs although they lost 1-0 to Brom- ing four full internationals. For-
League match on 26 August Later in the 20s several Deres ley, again at The Den, the 33,346 mer Grimsby Town professional
1922 at its original home – Park players joined French clubs and crowd was the biggest ever for a Martin Ruddy scored an aston-
View, Belvedere – losing 3-1 to one, Stan Hillier, went on to win Deres match. ishing 84 goals and ex-Dartford

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