Aylesbury Vale F.C.

Football club infobox
clubname = Aylesbury Vale
fullname = Aylesbury Vale Football Club
nickname = The Moles
founded = 1930 (as Stocklake)| ground = Haywood Way
capacity =
chairman = flagicon|England Steve MacDonald
manager = flagicon|England Keith Walker
league = Spartan South Midlands Premier League
season = 2007–08
position = Spartan South Midlands Premier League, 13th
shirtsupplier=
shirtsponsors=
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=AAD0FF|body1=AAD0FF|rightarm1=AAD0FF|shorts1=970045|socks1=AAD0FF

Aylesbury Vale F.C. are a football club based in Aylesbury, England. They changed their name from Haywood United F.C. to their present name in 2005, and before 2000 were known as Stocklake F.C.. For the 2008-09 season, they are members of the Spartan South Midlands Football League Premier Division.

The club play their home games at Haywood Way in the northern outskirts of the town and have a regular home attendance of a few dozen.

History

Aylesbury Vale F.C. (as a name) only came into existence in May 2005 but the club has enjoyed a long history in senior and junior football dating back to the 1930s under the previous names of Haywood United, Belgrave and Stocklake.

Stocklake F.C. and Belgrave F.C.

Stocklake F.C. was founded in the 1930’s by workers at the Negretti and Zambra company which was then based in London’s King’s Cross district. The name Stocklake was adopted after a move to the Stocklake Industrial Estate, Aylesbury, in 1949. The football club joined the Aylesbury and District League in 1954. Under the chairmanship of Mr Ernie Crotty the club gained many honours including runners-up in the ADL’s top divisions before gaining intermediate status in the Wycombe and District League’s First and Senior divisions. After gaining senior status and promotion to the Chiltern League in 1988, Stocklake enjoyed many further successes including Division One runners-up in 1991, Premier runners-up and League Cup runners-up in 1991, and Wycombe Senior Cup winners in 1995.

Belgrave F.C. was started up in 1983 by Jim Sullivan of Belgrave Road (just one street away from the present ground at Haywood Way). Jim had two sons who were passionate about football but at that time there was little choice of where to play so he decided to organise a team himself with help of his neighbours, Lynne and David Hatcher. By 1990 Belgrave had grown to five youth teams, providing over ninety boys with training and league competition. In 1996 the club expanded to include two senior (men’s) teams and by the new millennium there were squads at every level from under-8s to seniors, totalling over 200 registered players including Stocklake Ladies. In 2000 four Belgrave youth squads won league and cup honours while the seniors won the Aylesbury District League Cup, the Field Shield and finished ADL Premier runners-up.

Haywood United F.C.

For the 2000/01 season Belgrave and Stocklake merged (though the juniors remaining as Belgrave Youth for another year) to form Haywood United, named after the road their ground was on. United joined the Spartan South Midlands League and won promotion into Division One after two seasons. Notable achievements during the 2001/02 season included league awards for best kept ground, most improved ground (that included the installation of floodlights and perimeter fencing) and best matchday programme in recognition of how much the club was developing.

Promotion to the South Midlands Premier was gained in the 2003/04 season under manager, Jon Franklin after a campaign that saw 23 wins, 7 draws and 4 losses. That season also saw four Haywood United Youth teams (Under 11s, 12s, 15s, and 16s) finish as Champions of their respective divisions in the Wycombe and South Bucks Minors League. Haywood proved themselves capable of staying up in the Premier when they finished in 3rd place in season 2004/05 after a campaign that included only one loss in the twenty matches after the Christmas period. The club also entered the FA Vase for the first time.

Aylesbury Vale F.C.

At the beginning of the 2005/06 season the members of Haywood United voted to change the club’s name to Aylesbury Vale F.C. in order to enhance it’s identity both with local people as well as those outside the town as the club was entering the FA Cup for the first time in its history. The club again finished high up the South Midlands Premier League table and owing to the restructuring of the league system almost gained promotion.They reached the second qualifying round of the FA Cup in season 2008-09.

Ladies Team

Stocklake Ladies and Girls F.C. was formed in 1996 when Jason Davies and Samantha Davies started training a handful of girls, every Saturday without fail, but it was hard to find another team to play against. In fact, by the end of the season they had played only once, in a friendly game against Thame (which they won). During the next summer Jason managed to find a small league in Milton Keynes and entered two Under 14 teams and for the first time the girls were playing competitive football. They then joined a bigger league in Oxford and had by now had enough players to put out an under 14s and an under 16s team playing in a 7-a-side outdoor league and a 5-s-side indoor league, with a league cup at the end of the season. Major success came at the end of last season when the Ladies won the Women's Southern Region (Northern).

In 2002, Belgrave Youth and Stocklake Ladies and Girls were also amalgamated under the umbrella of Haywood United, and the club became one of the largest single-identity football clubs in Buckinghamshire with over 230 registered players.

In 2003/04 Haywood Ladies won the Chairman’s Cup, beating Slough 2-0 in the final at Thatcham Town.

The Moles

Aylesbury Vale adopted the nickname of "The Moles" after the moles that live under their pitch as Haywood Way. The moles there proved so stubborn and hard to eradicate that the club took them up as the team's nickname.

Club Ambitions

Aylesbury Vale Football Club prides itself on clear ambitions:

*to progress to higher league football

*to achieve higher league status with squads based on local talent.

*The club hopes to continue to work with other local community groups and enhance the club’s facilities for the benefit of local people.

enior Club Honours

Wycombe Senior Cup, winners 1995 (as Stocklake F.C.)

Aylesbury & District Thomas Field Shield, winners 2000 (as Belgrave F.C.)

Spartan South Midlands Division 1, champions 2003/04 (as Haywood United F.C.)

Links

* [http://aylesburyvalefc.site.io/index.html Aylesbury Vale F.C. website]