Whitstable Town F.C.
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| Full name | Whitstable Town Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Oysterboys |
| Founded | 1886 |
| Ground |
The Belmont Ground Whitstable Kent |
| Capacity | 3,000 |
| Chairman | Joseph Brownett |
| Manager | Scott Porter |
| League | Southern Counties East League Premier Division |
| 2015–16 | Isthmian League Division One South, 23rd (relegated) |
Whitstable Town F.C. is a football club based in Whitstable, Kent, England. The club was established in 1885 and joined the Kent League in 1950. In the 1996–97 season, the team reached the 5th round of the FA Vase. They were champions of the Kent League Premier Division in the 2006–07 season and were promoted to the Isthmian League. They are currently members of the renamed Southern Counties East League Premier Division
Although the first recorded football match in Whitstable was in 1885, the first record of Whitstable Town's existence was the following year. After a couple of years playing in a field behind the railway station, the club relocated to The Belmont Ground in 1888, where they play to this day.
In 1909 the Oystermen joined the original Kent League, where they played until it folded in 1959, winning the Division Two title three times. They also lifted the Kent Amateur Cup (now Kent Senior Trophy) in 1929. After the collapse of the Kent League, the club played for a while in the Aetolian League, but this meant long trips to play London teams as opposed to the earlier money-spinning East Kent derbies, and this was a period of financial struggle for the club, which dropped into the amateur leagues for a number of years.
In the late 1960s the Kent League reformed, with the Oystermen among the founder members. They also attracted national publicity in 1989 when striker Gerry Allen scored a goal after just 4 seconds of a match.
They had remained members of the Kent League until their promotion to the Isthmian League in 2007. The 2006–07 season marked the best in the club’s history when supporter Tony Rouse took over as chairman from long time servant of the club Joe Brownett. Rouse appointed first team captain Marc Seager as the club’s manager taking over from Matt Toms. Under Marc Seager’s leadership the team won the Kent League and the Kent Senior Trophy.
In 2012 former local referee Gary Johnson took over as chairman from Joe Brownett (after his second spell in the chair) who stepped down after many years at Whitstable Town.
Whitstable Town play their home games at The ‘Belmont Ground’, Belmont Road, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 1QP.
The Belmont Ground boasts a seated stand along one side as well as covered terracing behind each goal. Within the last ten years the dressing rooms and clubhouse have been completely refurbished, a new snack bar built and floodlights erected. Whitstable Town are the best supported Kent team in the Isthmian League South. Their major local rival is Herne Bay. When the two teams were most recently in the same league, their matches regularly attracted 400 or more fans. More recent matches against Margate in the FA Cup and Dover in the Isthmian League have attracted more than 1,000 supporters.
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