Claygate Royals FC

Club History

Around the time of England’s victorious 1966 World Cup campaign a group of Claygate boys, between the ages of 18 and 24, began gathering on Claygate Rec to play football. They played every evening until it was almost too dark too see and they continued playing through the autumn, when the evenings drew in, by finding street lights such as those on the Loseberry side of Claygate station.

They decided to form a team. There was already a football club in Claygate – Claygate FC – that had first and reserve teams both playing in the Kingston & District League on Saturday afternoons.

The boys had two problems with this. For one thing, Claygate FC had been around a long time and was run by a group of ‘old men’, as they saw it. But more crucially, some of the group were already playing senior football on Saturdays, for clubs such as Molesey FC, Addlestone FC and Corinthian Casuals FC. If the boys were going to play together, they had to play on Sundays.

Many informal meetings were held after dusk at the Rec, or round the lamp-post in Station Road, before they eventually gathered to set up the club in the private room above the Griffin pub in Common road.

Many names were considered but they eventually settled on the name Claygate Royals, despite initial concerns that they might have to ask Buckingham Palace for permission to use the name ‘Royals’ – seriously, someone told them that! One reason that they wanted to be the Royals was because they wanted to play in dark blue. But, again, someone told them that it wouldn’t be allowed because it was too close to the black worn by all referees in those days.

But they persevered and eventually, Jim Theobald, from Station Road, was elected Chairman, Mike Tate, from Hare Lane, was appointed Secretary and Geoff Cushing, from The Roundway, was Captain. They applied to the South Thameside League, a Sunday afternoon league, and were admitted to Division 3 for the 1967-68 season. In their first year they finished fourth and played in a cup final at Molesey FC’s ground, losing 1-0 in extra time.

Right from the start the Royals were more than a football club. In the early days they attracted between 100 and 200 spectators, many of them families and friends, and they even took supporters to away games. They would often hire a coach for longer journeys.
They all socialised together, using the Griffin, then run by Alan and Pat Bevis, as their base. They regularly held dinner/dances, either at the Village Hall, or at venues in deeper Surrey. These were social events, but also opportunities to raise funds to buy strip and equipment.

As time went by, the team changed – some married and moved away and players from outside Claygate were introduced, but its heart was still ‘Claygate’. Mike Tate handed over his responsibilities in about 1978, when he moved to Dorset and he is unsure what happened next. But he is still in touch with several of the guys from those days.

One of the original members was Brian Woolnough, now at the Star newspaper, and host of Sky’s ‘Sunday Supplement’ programme. Brian, or Bruno as he was known, was a wing half (midfield today). Mike believes at least two of the players still live in Claygate – Paul Procter and John Melham. Sadly, two of the originals are no longer with us – Alan Barilli and Colin Gray.

The Original Claygate Royals:

• Mick and Ralph Tate - Hare Lane
• Jim Theobald - Station Road
• Tom Homes
• Mick Stow
• Colin Gray - Coverts Road
• John Melham
• Geoff Cushing
• Barry Hall - The Roundway
• Brian Woolnough
• Kenny Beadle - Brookfield Gardens
• Paul Procter - Stevens Lane
• Alan Barilli - Telegraph Lane
• Richard Chaplin - High Street
• Roy Kwei - Norfolk Road
• Colin Thorogood - Esher

There were others whose names that may come back to Mick! One was Micky Cook, who married a Claygate girl, Hilary White from Vale Road who joined in the second season. Sadly, just two or three years later, he was to die of leukemia.

Mick is currently looking to see if he has any other information that might help produce a more definitive history. If anyone can help then we would be most interested in hearing from you.