Cray Valley Paper Mills Football Club is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club currently based in

Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of Elt ...

, in the

Royal Borough of Greenwich The Royal Borough of Greenwich (, , or ) is a London borough in southeast Greater London. The London Borough of Greenwich was formed in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. The new borough covered the former area of the Metropolitan Borough ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. They are currently members of the and play at the Badgers Sports Ground.

History

The club was established in 1919 and joined Division Two of the Sidcup & Kent League.Cray Valley (PM) FC - Our history 1919-2015
Cray Valley Paper Mills F.C. Playing in green and white, the colours of the mill's vehicles, Their first match was played on 20 September 1919, a 1–0 win against Hamilton House. The club won the division at the first attempt, earning promotion to Division One. They later joined the Kent County Amateur League, winning Division Three of the western section in 1936–37. The club left the league at the end of the 1954–55 season. Cray Valley subsequently joined the

South London Alliance The South London Football Alliance was a football competition based in South London, England. It was founded in 1920 and had in its last season 2016/17 a total of 2 divisions with 23 teams. The league was not part of the English football league ...

. They were Division One champions in 1979–80 and won the Premier Division two seasons later. The club won Division One again in 1983–84, and finished as runners-up in the Premier Division in 1988–89. In 1991 they joined Division One of the

Spartan League The Spartan League was a football league in England covering London and adjacent counties. Established in 1907, it merged with the South Midlands League in 1997 to form the Spartan South Midlands League. History The Spartan League was establish ...

. When it merged with the

South Midlands League The South Midlands League was a association football, football league covering Bedfordshire and some adjoining counties in England. It was founded in 1922 as the Bedfordshire County League and merged with the Spartan League in 1997 to form the ...

to form the

Spartan South Midlands League The Spartan South Midlands Football League is an English football league covering Hertfordshire, northwest Greater London, central Buckinghamshire and southern Bedfordshire. It is a feeder to the Southern Football League or the Isthmian League, ...

in 1997, the club were placed in Division One South. Despite finishing as runners-up in the league's first season, they left to become founder members of the London Intermediate League. However, in 2001 they left to rejoin the Kent County League, becoming members of Division One West. In 2002–03 Cray Valley won Division One West, earning promotion to the Premier Division. Two seasons later they won the Premier Division. After finishing third in 2010–11, they moved up to the Kent League, which was renamed the Southern Counties East League in 2013. When the league gained a second division in 2016, the club became members of the Premier Division. In 2016–17 they won the

London Senior Cup The London Senior Cup is the County Senior Cup of the London FA. The London Senior Cup was first won by Upton Park in 1882. Although the leading professional sides in London no longer compete, the Cup has been won in the past by the likes of Ar ...

, beating

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

2–1 in the final, becoming the lowest-ranked team to ever win the trophy. They were also runners-up in the Kent Reliance Senior Trophy in the same season. However they were disqualified from the first round of the

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

for fielding an ineligible player, former Crystal Palace defender

Matthew Parsons Matthew John Parsons (born 25 December 1991) is an English footballer who plays as a left back for Faversham Town. Early life Parsons attended Sedgehill School, Lewisham. Playing career Parsons graduated from the Crystal Palace Academy to si ...

. The club reached the London Senior Cup final again the following season, but lost 4–1 to

Balham Balham () is an area in south London, England, mostly within the London Borough of Wandsworth with small parts within the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. The area has been settled since Saxon times and appears in the Domesday Book as B ...

. The 2018–19 season saw Cray reach the

final for the first time, in which they lost 3–1 after extra time to Chertsey Town at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

.FA Trophy Final
BBC Sport, 19 May 2019 They were also Southern Counties East League Premier Division champions, earning promotion to the South East Division of the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

. In

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

the club reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time, losing 1–0 at

Havant & Waterlooville Havant & Waterlooville Football Club is a professional football club based in Havant, Hampshire, England. The club participates in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, after relegation from the National League in the 20 ...

Ground

The club originally played at the sports ground of the paper mills in

St Paul's Cray St Paul's Cray is an area of South East Greater London, London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley in Greater London. Prior to 1965 it was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent. It is located south of Sidcu ...

. However, the mills closed in 1981 and the club then played at numerous grounds until moving permanently to the Badgers Sports Ground in Eltham. In 2016 Greenwich Borough agreed a 30-year lease to share the ground. The ground includes a 100-seat stand on one side of the pitch and a small covered area on the other.

Honours

*Southern Counties East League **Premier Division champions 2018–19 *Kent County League **Premier Division champions 2004–05 **Division One West champions 2002–03 **Division Three (Western Section) champions 1933–37 *South London Alliance **Premier Division winners 1980–81 **Division One champions 1979–80, 1983–84 *Sidcup & Kent League **Division Two champions 1919–20 *London Senior Cup **Winners 2016–17 *

London Intermediate Cup The London Intermediate Cup is the County Intermediate Cup of the London FA The London Football Association (LFA) is the regional Football Association for inner areas of London. The London FA was established in 1882 and is affiliated to The Foo ...

**Winners 2002–03, 2003–04, 2009–10Honours
Cray Valley Paper Mills F.C. *Kent Intermediate Shield **Winners 2004–05 *Kent Junior Cup **Winners 1921–22, 1977–78, 1980–81

Records

*Best

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

performance: First round,

*Best

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

performance: Third qualifying round,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

*Best

performance: Runners-up, 2018–19 *Record attendance: 663 vs Canterbury City, FA Vase semi-final, 17 March 2019Cray Valley (Paper Mills) 1-0 Canterbury City - If we're not better next week we won't progress, admits Cray Valley boss Kevin Watson
Kentish Football, 17 March 2019

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 51, 27, 2.192, N, 0, 2, 4.891, E, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Football clubs in England Football clubs in London Association football clubs established in 1919 1919 establishments in England Kent County League South London Football Alliance Spartan League Spartan South Midlands Football League Southern Counties East Football League Isthmian League clubs Sport in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Works association football teams in England

History

Ground

Honours

Records

See also

References

External links