In this Kent Tonight Special: We explore the history of Canterbury City FC, from it's glory years at Kingsmead Stadium to the nomadic present as it ground-shares with Margate. With the mission to return City to the City, this is the story of Canterbury's Forgotten football club.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 [Street noise]
00:07 [Indistinct chatter]
00:17 [Indistinct chatter]
00:27 [Indistinct chatter]
00:37 Get in your heads now, we are attacking.
00:40 We are going at them. Like I said, we have to win this game 5-4, we'll win it 5-4.
00:44 I'm fed up of us trying to go, "Right, clean sheets, clean sheets, clean sheets," and we're trying to nick one. No, no, no.
00:49 We're going to outscore them today.
00:51 [Clapping]
00:57 Come on Canterbury.
00:59 We're a city like Canterbury, and I think it's about identity.
01:03 Clubs and cities and little towns have got an identity through their sporting club, if you like.
01:08 I mean, we know we're not going to be in the premiership at the moment, but the pyramid structure allows that, allows dreams to happen.
01:15 [Music]
01:17 [Cheering]
01:18 For Canterbury City football, it's a passion.
01:22 Canterbury City FC plays in Division 1 of the Southern Counties East Football League, or SCFL, which is step 6 of the non-league football pyramid.
01:31 Without a stadium to call their own, the club plays its games at Hartsdown Park, which it pays to share with Margate FC.
01:39 It's almost 15 miles out from Canterbury City centre.
01:43 Canterbury's most recent success was in reaching the semi-final of the FA Vars, where it was one game away from playing at Wembley.
01:50 But once being kicked out of the competition, reality kicked back in.
01:54 The club had to withdraw from the league. It then saw an overhaul of its board of directors, then narrowly avoided total collapse.
02:02 And the club was then relegated from the SCFL premiership at the end of the 22/23 season.
02:08 Determined as ever, the entire club now continues to strive towards the ultimate goal of returning Canterbury City to the city of Canterbury.
02:17 This is the story of Kent's forgotten football club.
02:21 [Music]
02:37 Post-war Britain, 1947. Football is returning.
02:42 Until now, Canterbury has had a few football clubs, but none with the mantle of representing the whole city.
02:49 So when Canterbury City was formed, like today, it was forced to share a stadium at Brett's Corner, where it played against other local teams in the Kent league.
02:58 The number of spectators watching was just astronomical compared with the level that you get currently in the SCFL for all clubs taking part.
03:07 You had the Dovers in there, you had Folkestone's playing, and they were regularly getting threes and four thousands going to watch them.
03:14 For Canterbury, they'd have been disappointed with 1500, just for a home game.
03:19 I think the club would be absolutely blown away if they got anywhere approaching that at the moment.
03:25 With popularity increasing and a Kent Senior Cup under their belt in the mid-50s, the young outfit needed a permanent home solution.
03:33 And in 1958, Kingsmeade Stadium opened for football for the first time.
03:38 Situated on the River Stour, capable of holding thousands, Kingsmeade was the home of football in Kent's eastern city.
03:46 Originally doubling as an athletics track, the stadium ten years later became home to the Canterbury Crusaders Speedway team and then Greyhound Racing in the late 80s.
03:56 For the football club, Kingsmeade meant a chance to put itself on the national stage.
04:01 Once they moved into Kingsmeade, once they moved into the Southern League, they were playing a higher standard of football.
04:09 And managed to get to the first round of the FA Cup in 1964, where they lost 6-0 at home to Torquay.
04:17 But interestingly, the club were drawn at home in 1968 to play Swindon.
04:21 And because they'd lost money on the previous first round appearance, decided to actually switch the tie to Swindon.
04:29 And 18,000 spectators watched the game and the club came within a minute of getting a replay from it.
04:37 It was a last-minute penalty that gave Swindon the victory. Otherwise, who knows what would have happened.
04:43 But Canterbury never would make it to the first round of the FA Cup again.
04:47 Through the 70s and 80s, it did keep trundling along and even had the likes of Bob Harrop, one of Manchester United's original Busby Babes, joining in its ranks.
04:57 But following financial struggles and a slump in results, the club's progress began to slow.
05:03 The Crusaders stopped racing in 1987 and with Greyhound Racing taking over, Canterbury began to lose its identity.
05:10 And in the 90s, it took a voluntary league demotion before the City Council forced the club to leave Kingsmeade in its entirety in 1999.
05:19 I suppose there was one more season, 2000-2001. They ended up rock bottom, no official wins in the league at all that season.
05:29 And really, the writing was on the wall at that time, so it became no surprise when, just before the beginning of the following season, that was it.
05:37 There was no longer a Canterbury City Football Club.
05:40 After six years of only being known as a youth team, Canterbury City reformed in 2007.
05:46 16 years later, one FA Vars semi-final, two boards of directors and one relegation, Canterbury City has recently seen a complete facelift.
05:55 New logo, new kit and a new manager.
05:59 In late 2022, former player and captain Dan Lawrence took on what was his managerial debut.
06:06 Despite it being his first time in a top job, he knew exactly what was to lay ahead.
06:12 Coming back to a club that I know really well and was part of for a lot of my playing days, it's quite a natural transition.
06:18 Do you see the future as one where this club can only grow if you have a stadium, a place of your own?
06:24 Yeah, it does. It limits everything from signing players, even training.
06:30 We only train once a week because we have to pay for that because it's not a facility.
06:34 So if we do want to grow, it's something that we have to have.
06:38 Despite overseeing the club's relegation, Dan is positive about the club's future.
06:43 It's good to emphasise that there's a responsibility on us with the club, hopefully, the ground getting into planning.
06:51 There's a responsibility for us as managers and players to try and get the club moving in the right direction.
06:56 So we owe it to ourselves to make sure we put the club in that position.
06:59 And the players need to feel that pressure and use it in a good way.
07:02 Today, there is no trace that Kingsmeade ever existed.
07:05 It was replaced with a housing estate built in the early noughties.
07:09 Current club chairman Trevor James used to visit the site as a youngster.
07:13 He's now focused more than ever on getting Canterbury back to playing within the city.
07:17 I think we need to be back here and facilitate that for youngsters and let them develop.
07:25 I mean, we're all trying to do the same thing in different which ways.
07:29 And I would be delighted if I could actually deliver the project, shall we call it, of bringing City back home.
07:40 Previous club management have tried and failed to get planning permission granted that would see City with its own ground.
07:46 Now, plans have been drawn up to be included in Canterbury City Council's draft local plan,
07:51 which would see the club sharing but having a stake in a new complex with Canterbury Rugby Club.
07:57 The draft plan is pencilled in to be reviewed in early 2024.
08:01 But regardless of the struggles off the pitch, the beautiful game must continue.
08:06 And as well as striving for promotion in the Scheffel Division One,
08:09 the club still hasn't won a trophy, cup or VARS competition since 1980,
08:15 when it took the Kent Senior Trophy for the first and only time.
08:19 This year, City has been drawn to play Croydon away in the second round.
08:23 A win here means a spot in the quarterfinals.
08:27 I'm asking you today, today isn't about yourself individually.
08:30 Today is about your teammates and how hard you can work for them.
08:33 We've got to start right. We've got to start quick.
08:35 Ask questions, ask questions. As many questions as we can.
08:38 Let's go and get a victory, yeah?
08:40 Come on, let's go.
08:42 Up you go.
08:44 Definitely the ideal is to get playoffs in the league.
08:51 That's the main priority. But everyone loves a cup run.
08:54 Hopefully we can get to the final and get a result.
08:56 Anything can happen in a cup and the excitement of a cup run
08:59 and the atmosphere it can build in the changing room and training and stuff like that.
09:02 So it's definitely something you need to pass on because the buzz when you get later on into the cup run is unbelievable.
09:09 [Music]
09:13 [Music]
09:41 I understand your success, your job role. How are you going to be successful today?
09:45 If that means you turn them around 45 times out of 46, that's success. That's fine.
09:51 Alright? Heart desire, yeah? Come on.
09:54 [Music]
09:57 So annoying.
10:10 Stay patient. It ain't going to come easy.
10:14 Alright? You ain't going to stroll through this half hour and go and win 4-5-2. It ain't going to happen.
10:20 If you want to win, you're going to have to earn it. And then some.
10:23 Alright? It's what we said at the beginning of the game, yeah?
10:26 Alright? No one's going to pat you on the back for it because you've done it for your teammates.
10:29 Alright? You've got to work.
10:31 [Cheering]
10:36 [Cheering]
10:39 When you can't run, you've got to find another yard.
10:52 When you're tired, you've got to find that little bit of quality with your final ball.
10:56 Two choice. A mental game now. This gives up before this.
11:00 And that's easy to set aside. I appreciate how hard you worked.
11:04 And again, you showed that you could toss it off. Okay, we're going to lose the game.
11:07 Or, the winner needs to have to give us a lift. And we've got to say it ain't nothing.
11:10 But that shows how simple it is to get in against them.
11:13 [Cheering]
11:31 And so, for another year, the chance at a senior trophy has slipped through Canterbury City's fingers.
11:37 Yet, in defeat and mirroring the history of such a relentless club, always on tour, this is but one single stop.
11:47 [Music]
11:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]