Chatham Town F.C.
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| Full name | Chatham Town Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Chats |
| Founded | 1894 |
| Ground | The Sports Ground, Chatham |
| Capacity | 5,000 (500 seated) |
| Chairman | Jeff Talbot |
| Manager | Darren Anslow |
| League | Isthmian League Division One South |
| 2015–16 | Isthmian League Division One South, 19th |
Chatham Town Football Club are an English Association Football club based in Chatham, Kent. They currently play in Division One South of the Isthmian League and are nicknamed "The Chats".
Former Premier League club Portsmouth and West Ham United played their first ever league matches against Chatham.
The club was formed in 1882 as Chatham United, when Rochester Invicta merged with the Royal Engineers Band football team. Chatham played their home games at the Army owned pitches called "The Lines", where they were to remain until 1889 when they moved to the Maidstone Road Ground. The move to the new ground was prompted when the club reached the quarter-finals of the FA cup in 1888–89, and at the "The Lines" admission fees could not be charged because of Army regulations. This cup run was also instrumental in the Football Associations ruling that all future matches in the competition must be played on fully enclosed grounds, where the visiting club would receive a share of the gate money. So the club moved to the Maidstone Road site which was owned by a George Winch, who allowed the club to enclose the ground and build a pavilion with seats in front for £125.
In 1894 Chatham became founder members of both the Southern League and the original Kent League, winning the Kent League in its inaugural season. For the first two seasons the club competed in both leagues, but left the Kent league to concentrate on the Southern league in 1896. In the 1900–01 season, owing to financial difficulties, Chatham resigned from the Southern League. They played as Chatham Amateurs in 1901 for a season and rejoined the Kent league, where two seasons later in 1903/04, they won the Kent league and repeated the same feat the following season, as well as winning the Kent Senior Cup.
After The First World War, Chatham returned to play and in the 1919 season won the Kent Victory Cup and the Chatham Charity Cup. They rejoined the Southern League in 1920–21, but withdrew at season's end because of the burden of travel costs on club finances. In 1927–28 they rejoined the Southern League for two seasons. Again, the expenses to play proved a financial strain on the club, and returned to the Kent League. The club struggled financially and for the 1933–34 season the club took a voluntary relegation into Division Two of the Kent League. A season later they won the division but decided against promotion, and reverted to Amateur status. Having played in both the Kent League and Kent Amateur League in 1938–39, they decided to limit play to amateur competition the following season, however this was interrupted by WWII.
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