Thamesmead Town F.C.

Football club infobox |clubname = Thamesmead Town|

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Thamesmead Town F.C. is a football club based in Thamesmead, England. They joined the Kent League in 1991 and reached the 5th round of the FA Vase in the 1995-96 season. In the 2007-08 season, they were champions of the Kent League Premier Division and were promoted to the Isthmian League Division One North for the 2008/09 season.

History

Thamesmead F.C. was formed in 1969 as a community team for local youngsters. The club merged with Southlake FC in 1973, and by 1979 were fielding a Saturday team, playing on park pitches at Crossways. In 1980 the club entered the London Spartan League at the Intermediate Division Three level. They dominated the intermediate divisions in the early 1980s, but were unable to gain promotion to the Senior Division until they gained senior status. At around this time, they played matches at the Meridian Sports Ground in Charlton.

In 1985, the club changed its name to Thamesmead Town FC, and later that year they relocated to Bayliss Avenue. The club finally gained senior status during the summer of 1987 and were accepted into the London Spartan League Premier Division for the 1987-88 season.

The club joined the Kent League in June 1991, where they remained until 2008, generally finishing amongst the top half dozen in the table.

In 2002-03, they missed the runner-up spot on goal difference, despite having more points than Cray Wanderers, who won the League! This was due to placings being decided on points per game after Faversham Town failed to complete the season.

In 2007-08, Thamesmead Town were champions of the Kent League, winning the title on the last day of the season. The title ensured promotion to the Isthmian League, where they were elected to play in Division One North in 2008-09.

tadium

The club plays at Bayliss Avenue, with an official capacity is 6,000 (the vast majority standing). The ground was officially opened in August 1988 with a match against the then FA Cup holders Wimbledon.

The clubhouse, pitches and car park and other original facilities were constructed at a cost of £450,000, and further improvements were carried out in 2000, including the addition of perimeter railings and hard standing on the dugout side of the pitch.

Improvements have continued since then, including the erection of a new 125 seat stand, replacing two smaller stands with bench seating. Unfortunately, problems with vandalism have led to the clubhouse being fortified and the playing area surrounded with high mesh fencing, which also encloses the players' walkway from the clubhouse/dressing rooms to the pitch. There is also a large car park.

The club have recently announced that work on a new £4m redevelopment of the Bayliss Avenue ground will begin in Autumn/Winter 2008. When completed, the main arena will comprise of a 500 seat stand with a balcony over looking the main pitch from the pavilion. The pavilion will contain a bar, changing facilities and an indoor sports hall and gym. The main arena pitch will be surrounded by covered terracing with the rest of the ground comprising of a second sports pitch and multi use outdoor sports facilities available seven days a week to the local community.

The work on the new stadium should be completed in time for the start of the 2009/10 season.

In the mean time, the club carried out remedial work to the ground in March 2008, in order to comply with ground requirements to play at Isthmian League level. This work included adding an additional 36 seats to the seated stand (increasing the seating capacity to 161), building a temporary covered stand, enclosing the ground with a wooden fence and adding two turnstiles as well as outside toilet facilities. The remedial work was passed by F.A. inspectors on 1st April 2008.

Crest

The club crest is a traditional shield in design and all in green.

The three wavy lines at the top denote the River Thames, which is just 200 yards from the clubs Bayliss Avenue ground. Below this are two cannons, with the club initials (TTFC) and full name in between.

The canons are derived from the town's previous use as a military testing ground for the local artillery munitions works in neighbouring Woolwich.

Before the building of the town of Thamesmead in the 1960's, the land consisted primarily of marshes where, since the 18th century, shots would be fired to test the accuracy and range of heavy artillery designed and built at the munitions works.

upporters

The club has very minimal support, however among them are a small, dedicated group who have become known as the "Thamesmead Hardcore".

The Thamesmead Hardcore attend as many Mead matches as possible and have set objectives for the benefit of Thamesmead Town Football Club. These are:

* To support the club at matches at all levels.
* To positively raise the profile of the club through the media and publicity activities to the local community.
* To provide assistance with any general work required at the ground and club fundraising.
* To set up 5-a-side and 11-a-side matches against other Kent League supporters,to encourage new supporters to Thamesmead Town and to forge links with other clubs and their supporters, for the benefit of clubs and the Kent League.

When attending matches they can usually be seen with a large Thamesmead Town flag, occasionally a colourful banner and tend to inject a little atmosphere with their songs and chants.

The most notable chant is known as "The Foghorn," a 20 second shout of the word "Thamesmead" where the note on each sylible is held for a length of time, similar to a ships foghorn, marking the clubs close proximity to the river Thames and bygone days when foghorns could clearly be heard from industrial ships on this stretch of the river.

Mascot

The clubs mascot is Tommy The Thamesmead Toad. Tommy is a six foot tall green toad, dressed in the Thamesmead Town kit. Tommy can be seen at every home match, warming up with the players, celebrating every time Thamesmead Town score a goal with a slick dance move and regularly berating assistant referee's offside decisions.

Club records

* Best league position: 1st in Kent League Premier Division, 2007/08
* Best FA Cup performance: 2nd qualifying round, 1998-99, 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2008-09
* Best FA Vase performance: 5th round, 1995-96

ources

*
* [http://www.thamesmeadtownfc.co.uk/ Official Thamesmead Town F.C. website]

External links

* [http://www.thamesmeadtownfc.co.uk/ Official website]
* [http://www.pyramidpassion.co.uk/html/thamesmead_town Pyramid Passion feature]