Hampton & Richmond Borough F.C.

Football club infobox
clubname = Hampton & Richmond Borough
fullname = Hampton & Richmond Borough Football Club


nickname = The Beavers, Hampton
founded = 1921 (as Hampton)
ground = Beveree Stadium
capacity = 3,000
chairman = Vacant
manager =
league = Conference South
season = 2007-08 | position = Conference South, 3rd
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leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=FFFFFF
shirtsupplier=KITZ
shirtsponsors=M. M. Cox Properties Ltd.

Hampton & Richmond Borough F.C. are a football club based in the suburb of Hampton, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, London, England. They were founded in 1921 and formerly known as Hampton F.C. until 1999 when they changed their name in an attempt to draw a wider support base from around the Borough. In August 2007, the club started their first campaign as members of the Conference South.

The club has a core support base of around 300 to 350 people, average attendances have been rising for the past two seasons and continue to do so. [http://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/attendances.jsp?team=232] . The club remains the only senior level football club to represent the borough (which includes the towns of Hampton, Teddington, Twickenham, Whitton and Richmond), and is consequently seen as its football club. However, the club arguably struggles in attendance due to the close proximity of other London football clubs, and the popularity of rugby union in the borough.

History

Records & early years

The club's record victory is an 11-1 triumph over Eastbourne United in the division two South of the Isthmian League in 1990/1991. Their record defeat is a 13-0 loss against Hounslow Town in the Middlesex Senior Cup in 1962/1963.

Hampton's early years were spent in the Kingston & District and the South West Middlesex Leagues. Although twice winning the Kingston & District title in the early 1930s the club never managed to capture the South West Middlesex League title during their 26 year stay.

enior Football

In 1959, Hampton entered the Senior football ranks as members of the Surrey Senior League, despite being based in Middlesex. In 1964 they won the championship and stepped up into the Spartan League where they enjoyed seven seasons of unparalleled success. The club captured the Spartan League title four times in 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1970 as well as finishing runners-up in 1968. They never finished outside the top four places during their stay.

In 1971 they were elected to the Second Division of the Athenian League. After narrowly missing promotion in their first season, Hampton finished runners-up to Ruislip Manor in 1973. By this time, though, the Beavers had already been elected to the newly formed Second Division (now First Division) of the Isthmian League.

Isthmian League to 2003

The club were to remain in Division Two of the Isthmian League until 1990, when they suffered their first relegation. Worse was to follow as the two regionalised Second Divisions were split in 1991 to form a Second and Third set-up. The Beavers found themselves one place below the dividing line and were relegated to the Third Division for the 1991/92 season. Although missing automatic promotion by one place, the club was promoted at the Isthmian AGM to fill a vacancy in the Second Division and so began the recovery.

In the mid-1990s, under long-serving manager Chick Botley, the Beavers began to climb up the leagues again, winning promotion from the second division in 1995/96, and then gaining promotion from the first division in 1997/98 after finishing in 3rd place. Hampton started 1998/99 in the Premier Division - now the top tier of Isthmian League football. In 1999-00, they became the first winners of the George Ruffell Memorial Shield. They remained in the Premier Division until 2002-03, which led to relegation and a return to Division One.

The Devonshire Years

In the Summer of 2003, the club invited experienced manager Alan Devonshire, who had just left Maidenhead United, to the Beveree. Alan signed as manager and had the task of winning promotion back to the Premier Division, this was achieved on the last day of his first season in charge with a 3-0 win at Leatherhead.

Hampton & Richmond subsequently spent three seasons in the Premier Division, each time coming close to promotion to the Conference South after finishing as runners up in the play-off competition in 2005-06, and narrowly missing out on a play-off place in 2004-05. [http://www.hamptonfc.com/History.htm official club website] .

On 28th April 2007, Hampton & Richmond Borough were promoted as champions of the league to the Conference South after a 4-2 victory over Slough Town. The crowd of nearly 1,100 witnessed an epic match in which Hampton led 2-1 until a late Slough goal looked to have given the championship to promotion rivals, Bromley. This would have forced Hampton into 2nd place, meaning that they would have had to compete in the playoff competition for promotion. However, 90 seconds later Hampton retook the lead through a goal from captain Dean Wells and shortly afterwards a penalty was awarded and scored, resulting in a 4-2 victory, and automatic promotion for the Beavers.

Hampton & Richmond Borough quickly established themselves in the Blue Square South league in the sixth tier of English football. In 2007/08 they finished in 3rd position in the league, reaching the play-off final which was narrowly lost to Eastbourne Borough. The club also reached the First Round Proper of the FA Cup for only the 2nd time in their history, losing to League Two side, Dagenham & Redbridge in front of over 1,000 fans. In September 2007, the Mayor of Richmond Borough, Cllr. Marc Cranfield-Adams, attended a home match at the Beveree Stadium as a special guest, highlighting the increased local awareness of the side.

Honours

Hampton & Richmond Borough FC's most recent honour is their Isthmian Championship victory of 2006/07. Their previous trophy had been the Middlesex Super Cup, a regional cup for the old county of Middlesex, whereby the winners of the previous season's two local tournaments face each other. Hampton & Richmond won this on 10th October 2006, they entered as the Middlesex Senior Cup holders, and were victorious over Harrow Borough, the Middlesex Charity Cup holders.

Throughout their days in the Isthmian League, between 1973 and 2007, Hampton & Richmond Borough picked up a respectable amount of honours. These are as follows;

*Isthmian League Premier Division
**Champions: 2006-07
*Isthmian League Division One South
**Promoted: 2003-04
*Isthmian League Division One
**Promoted: 1997-98
*Isthmian League Division Two
**Promoted: 1995-96
*Isthmian League Division Three
**Promoted: 1991-92
*FA Cup
**Best performance: First Round Proper 2000-01 & 2007-08
*Isthmian League Cup
**Best performance: Runners-up 2001-02 and 2004-05
*Middlesex Senior Cup
**winners: 2005-06 & 2007-08
**Runners-up: 2004-05
*Middlesex Super Cup
**Winners: 1999-2000 and 2006-07

Stadium

The home of Hampton & Richmond Borough is the Beveree Stadium. It is situated in Beaver Close, off Station Road in the heart of Hampton village. It has a total capacity of 3,000, with roughly 300 of this being seated and 900 in covered terracing. On 11th October 2005, that capacity was tested with a record crowd of 2,520 turning out for an Isthmian League match between Hampton & Richmond Borough and AFC Wimbledon. The match ended in a 2-1 victory for the home side.

The Beveree, which can be shortened to 'the Bev', has been the home of the club since 1959. It is also the home of other affiliated clubs such as Hampton & Richmond Borough Women F.C., Hampton Under 18s, Chelsea Ladies FC before May 2006; and the Hampton & Richmond Borough reserve team, which was restarted in 2008 after a 4-year stretch with no reserve squad.

Not just a football ground, the Beveree is also used for social events. The clubhouse is available for hire, and the club's ground has been used as a polling station for all local, general and European elections for a long time.

In June 2006, work began on transforming the clubhouse and changing rooms at the Beveree into a more modern facility. Work was completed by the end of Summer, and the new look clubhouse was officially opened by FA Chief Executive, Brian Barwick, on 26th August 2006. The new facility has a pool table, flat screen TV's and is WiFi enabled.

In April 2008 the Club received a Conference B grading for Beveree, following several weeks of work, which included the instilation of additional toilet facilities, an extra turnstiles, new dugouts and the extension of the Main Stand with 60 additional seats and the purchase of 250 seater semi-permanent stand. The B grading enables the club to remain in the Conference South.

Should the Club gain promotion to the Conference National plans are in place for a new 250 seat stand and further turnstile's, segregation and catering facilities.

The Nickname

Some years ago, a popular Football Magazine voted Hampton's nickname 'The Beavers' as the worst in Football! There is some debate as to its origins. The ground is known as Beveree and it lies adjacent to Beaver Close, which would seem to suggest as to where the tag originates. Furthermore an ancient stream (which currently flows underneath the pitch)heads towards the river Thames some 200 yards away may indicate that the area could have been the habitat of the animal before it became extinct in the UK hundreds of years ago.

Following the renaming of the club from Hampton to Hampton & Richmond Borough, occasionally 'come on the Borough' is heard but in essence the fans prefer 'Beavers' to anything else, reflected in the naming of the club's youth group as the 'Hampton Beavers' and the supporters sometimes referred to as the 'Beaver Patrol'. An alternative and somewhat humorous chant often heard emminating from the crowds behind the home goal is 'Up the Beavers'.

Club Rivals

Hampton & Richmond's main football rivalry is with Staines Town FC. The two sides have played against each other in the 'Thames side derby' many times, the most recent encounter being in April 2007 when the sides played out a 2-2 draw at Wheatsheaf Park, Staines. The rivalry started around 40 years ago when the two sides played each other in a thrilling match. Although the two clubs have always enjoyed a smooth relationship, this is one of the oldest and most important rivalries in the pyramid, Thames Side Derby matches tend to attract a much increased crowd figure.

More recent and low key local rivals, which have resulted from Hampton playing in the same division as the sides, are with Walton & Hersham, Molesey, Chertsey Town and Kingstonian.

Famous connections

Famous scriptwriter Alan Simpson is the president of Hampton & Richmond Borough Football Club. Alan is noted for the famous TV series that he co-wrote with Ray Galton, Steptoe & Son. Simpson and Galton were awarded OBE's in the 2000 Honours List for their contribution to British television. The seating stand behind the goal at the Beveree Stadium is named after Alan Simpson, the 'Simpson Stand'. Alan has been club president since 1967, making him one of the longest serving club officials with over 40 years service to his name.

For a period in the 1950s, famous pianist Winifred Atwell was club patron.

Television personality and comedian, Paul Merton, has been present at a number of Hampton & Richmond Borough matches. The Times newspaper reported in May 2007, that Paul had been to three matches, with the club winning on each occasion! [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article1722780.ece]

Current First-Team Squad

"As of May 22 2008:"

Notable former players

Hampton & Richmond Borough, although a non-league side themselves, have produced over the years many notable players who have gone on to play football at a higher level, and even the Premiership in the case of Darren Powell.

*flagicon|England Craig Maskell
*flagicon|Ghana Derek Asamoah
*flagicon|Ivory Coast Raphaël Nadé
*flagicon|England Derek Bryan
*flagicon|England Darren Powell
*flagicon|England Ashley Sestanovich
*flagicon|England Leroy Griffiths
*flagicon|England Gary Holloway

ources

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External links

* [http://www.hamptonfc.net/ Official Website]
* [http://hamptonfc.co.uk/forum.html Official Fans' Forum]
* [http://www.hrbsc.co.uk Supporter's Club Website]
* [http://www.isthmian.com Isthmian Football League]