Ramsgate Football Club are 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 ...

team based in

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Southwood Stadium. The main local rivals of the club are

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

who are situated just 4 miles away. When the two teams meet, it is known as the Thanet derby.

History

The earliest incarnation of Ramsgate FC had played since at least 1886 but folded in 1924, with local rivals Ramsgate Glenville taking over their Southwood Stadium. Glenville did not reform after World War II and a new club dubbed Ramsgate Athletic took over Southwood. The club retained the Athletic name until 1972. Athletic played in the original incarnation of the Kent League from their formation until the collapse of the league in 1959. This was the club's best period for nearly 50 years, with two consecutive league titles, several county cups, and a run to the first round of the

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 ...

. With the collapse of the Kent League the Rams migrated to the Southern League, where they initially did well but were forced to resign and drop down to the re-formed Kent League in 1976. For nearly thirty years the club performed well without seriously challenging for promotion, but their fortunes changed in 2004 with the return of former manager Jim Ward. He led the club to two consecutive championships (

Kent League Premier Division The Southern Counties East Football League is an English football league established in 1966, which has teams based in Kent and Southeast London. Until 2013, it was known as the Kent League. There was a previous Kent League, that existed from ...

and

Isthmian League First Division 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 ...

), taking the club into 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 ...

Premier Division for 2006–07, which therefore offered the first derby matches for many years against Isle of Thanet rivals

. In the club's first season in the Premier Division the Rams finished in 9th place, and followed this with an even better season in 2007–08, finishing in 5th place to reach the play-offs, although they were beaten 2–1 in the semi-final by Staines Town. The Rams also won the Isthmian League Cup, beating

AFC Sudbury Amalgamated Football Club Sudbury is a football club based in Sudbury, Suffolk, England. The club was formed in 1999 by the merger of Sudbury Town and Sudbury Wanderers, the process giving rise to the name Amalgamated Football Club Sudbury. ...

on penalties at

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

's Princes Park ground. The following season, however, Ramsgate finished bottom of the table and were relegated.

Stadium

Ramsgate play their home games at the Southwood Stadium, Price's Avenue, Ramsgate, CT11 0AN. Southwood Stadium was the home of earlier Ramsgate clubs Ramsgate Town and Ramsgate Grenville, and became the home of Ramsgate Athletic upon their foundation after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The largest crowd registered at the ground was 5,038 for the visit of local rivals

in 1955.

Supporters

In the 2007–08 season, Ramsgate's average attendance was 369, the twelfth highest figure in the

Premier Division. For the visit of rivals Margate the crowd was 1,210, nearly double the attendance at any other match. The 2011–12 season had an average attendance of 159, 2012–13 was 157, 2013–14 was 269, 2014–15 was 248, 2015–16 was 207 and 2016–17 was 237.

Current squad

''As of 27 January 2023.''

Club officials

Ramsgate FC

President: Lord Pendry
Directors: James Lawson & Richard Lawson
Vice-Presidents: Martin Able, Kevin Barham, David Butler, Ian Heath, Paul Jefcoate, Richard Lawson, Malcolm Mitchell, Steve Redford, Foy Turner, Colin West
General Manager: Ian Heath
Club Secretary: Caroline Greenfield
Matchday Secretary: Kevin Barham
Media Officer: Dan Whitehead
Safety & Welfare Officer: James Lawson
Equality & Diversity Officer: Elliot Austin
Programme Editor: Martin Able

Football management

Manager:

Steve Lovell Stephen William Henry Lovell (born 6 December 1980) is an English former footballer who played as a striker. Lovell played the majority of his career in the Scottish Premier League, representing Dundee, Aberdeen and Falkirk, but also played i ...

Assistant Manager:

Mark Lovell Mark Lovell (27 March 1960 – 12 July 2003) was a British rally driver. He won the 1986 British Rally Championship in a Ford RS200 Group B, the 1987 and 1988 Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, the 1988 International Dutch Rally Drivers' Ch ...

First Team Coach & Goalkeeping Coach: Lee Hook
Kit Man: Carl McCourt
Physiotherapist: Marc Wheeler

Managerial history

Honours

**First Division Champions 2005–06 **League Cup Winners 2007–08 * Kent League **Champions 1948–49, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1998–99, 2004–05 **League Cup Winners 1948–49, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 2000–01, 2004–05 *Thames & Medway Combination Champions' Cup **Winners 1959–60 *Thames & Medway Combination Eastern Division Champions **1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61 * Kent Senior Cup **Winners 1963–64 *Kent Senior Shield **Winners 1960–61, 1967–68, 1968–69 *Kent Senior Trophy **Winners 1987–88, 1988–89, 1998–99 *Kent League Charity Shield **Winners 1994, 1995, 1997, 2005

Records

*Best League performance: 5th in

Premier Division, 2007–08 *Best

performance: 1st round proper, 1955–56 and 2005–06 *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: 3rd qualifying round, 1969–70, 1975–76, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2012–13 and 2013–14 *Best

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 ...

performance: Quarter-finals, 1999–2000 *Record attendance: 5,038 vs

, 1956–57Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2020) ''Non-League Club Directory 2021'', p573 *Biggest victory: 11–0 and 12–1 vs Canterbury City, Kent League, 2000–01 *Most goals: Mick Williamson

Former players

References

External links

Club website
{{Isthmian League Football clubs in Kent Isthmian League Association football clubs established in 1886 Ramsgate Southern Football League clubs 1886 establishments in England Southern Counties East Football League Football clubs in England