Tunbridge Wells Football Club is a football club based in

Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sand ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England. They are currently members of the . They play their home games at Culverden Stadium. The club is affiliated to the Kent County Football Association.

History

Tunbridge Wells FC was originally formed in 1886, and played as an amateur side until the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

when they folded. After many seasons of playing friendlies, they joined the South Eastern League in 1905 followed by the Southern Amateur, Isthmian and Spartan Leagues. Tunbridge Wells Rangers were a separate club founded as a professional team in 1903 when they joined the Kent League. They stayed there for three seasons before joining the

Southern Football League The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven a ...

in Division Two for the start of the 1906–07 season. However, after two seasons they rejoined the Kent League and the South Eastern League. They were to stay in the Kent League until they rejoined the Southern League as members of the Eastern Section for the 1931–32 season, after winning the Kent League the season before. Two seasons after joining the Eastern section the club started playing in the Central section as well. In the 1936–37 season the club then played in the Southern section but also competed in the Southern League Midweek Section, becoming champions of this competition in the 1938–39 season. During their time in the Southern league the club managed to get to the second round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

twice. In the 1930s Tunbridge Wells Rangers were a significant force in non-league football. This is evident in an article published in ''The FA News'' in November 2006, in which they looked at all clubs that had played more than 100 FA Cup matches. ''The FA News'' then produced a list of each club's percentage success rate. In terms of winning FA Cup ties, Tunbridge Wells Rangers were the most successful club in the country. Their results were played 105, won 62. The record shows that the percentage of pre-war cup ties won was 59.05%. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Wells briefly returned to the amateur leagues as Tunbridge Wells before re-joining the Kent League for the 1950-51 campaign as Tunbridge Wells United and then the Southern League for the 1959–60 season. During this period the club once again progressed to the first round proper of the FA Cup but unfortunately endured a 5–0 defeat at the hands of Brighton & Hove Albion. In 1961 they fared slightly better, edged out 3–1 by

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

– their last appearance to date in the Cup proper. In the early 1960s Rangers – a name to which they reverted in 1963 – began to struggle in the Southern League and in 1967 the club folded. The supporters formed a new club, once again called simply Tunbridge Wells FC, and re-joined the Kent League. The Wells won the Kent League championship in 1985 and have also won the Kent League Cup on four occasions since the reformation of the club as well as reaching the last 32 of the FA Vase on no less than five occasions. On 31 August 2005, Tunbridge Wells made football history by winning the longest penalty shoot-out ever in a senior cup match. No less than 40 spot kicks were needed before Wells emerged as the victors, 16–15 over Littlehampton Town in the FA Cup preliminary round. After a poor start to the 2007–08 season, Mike Robbins, previously of Rye United, was installed as manager. After a promising start, Wells drifted from the top three to tenth after many players left to play at a higher level. Robbins stepped down from his post at the conclusion of the 2008–09 season, to be replaced in his position of manager by his assistant, Martin Larkin. This appointment turned out to be a masterstroke as Martin Larkin coached Tunbridge Wells to the Final of the

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...

, and they played Spennymoor Town of the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

on 4 May 2013 at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

. Tunbridge Wells lost 2–1 in the Final, despite a Josh Stanford goal 12 minutes from the end. Spennymoor Town took an early lead in the match, scoring after 18 minutes. Stanford briefly equalised before the County Durham team sealed their victory with the winning goal just 90 seconds later. In 2011 the club formed a partnership with Junior Club Tunbridge Wells Ridgewaye FC who changed their name t
Tunbridge Wells Youth Football Club
and they became the only official Junior football club for Tunbridge Wells FC. With the united goal of developing the young players of the Town. In the 2013–14 season the Kent League became the Southern Counties East League and Tunbridge Wells transferred to the new Premier Division where they have remained ever since. Martin Larkin resigned in 2015. During the period he was manager Tunbridge Wells had won silverware for the first time in 25 years, and were runners up in three further cup finals. In terms of where Tunbridge Wells finished in the leagues between 2009 and 2015, the club showed year on year improvement under Larkin.

Colours

The club's colours are all red. Before the Second World War, they were blue and gold stripes, with white knickers. The club had adopted red and white by 1979.

Ground

Tunbridge Wells play their home games at the Culverden Stadium in Tunbridge Wells. The ground's capacity is 3,750, of which 250 is seated. The ground is floodlit and has a sloped pitch. The ground also hosts the annual Courier Cup in August. The Culverden Stadium was opened in 1962 as a permanent home for the club. The occasion was commemorated with a charity football match between Tunbridge Wells and a TV All Stars team which included

Jess Conrad Jess Conrad (born Gerald Arthur James; 24 February 1936) is an English stage and screen actor and singer. As a boy he was nicknamed "Jesse" after American outlaw Jesse James; as there was already an actor named "Gerald James" in Actors' Equity Ass ...

and Bernard Bresslaw. On 31 August 2005, during an

Preliminary Round Replay, the Culverden Stadium was the location of a record set for the most penalty kicks taken in a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. The match was won by Tunbridge Wells against Littlehampton Town 16–15 after 40 penalty kicks. This was recognized as an FA and European record. In September 2006, the Culverden Stadium was subject to a series of vandalism attacks. The clubhouse was broken into and equipment was stolen. A later attempt was thwarted after Tunbridge Wells officials boarded the windows of the clubhouse. A fire on 12 January 2023, started by an electrical fault, heavily damaged the clubhouse and made the venue unusable for the foreseeable future.

Honours

The club has gained the following honours in line with whichever suffix name was being used at the time i.e. Rangers, United, FC.

League honours

Midweek Section **Champions (1): 1938–39 * Kent League **League Champions(2): 1930–31, 1984–85 **Runners-up (2): 1956–57, 1968–69 *

Southern Amateur Football League The Southern Amateur League (SAL) is an association football league in England affiliated to the Amateur Football Alliance (AFA). It is based in and around Greater London and caters for 11–a–side men's adult teams. A feature of the league ...

Section B Champions **Champions (1): 1909–10

Cup honours

* Kent Senior Cup **Winners (3): 1907–08 1938–39 1954–55 *Kent Senior Trophy **Winners (1): 2012–13 **Runners-up (4): 1985–86; 1991–92; 2005–06; 2010–11 *Kent Senior Shield **Winners (2): 1931–32, 1954–55 *Kent League Cup **Winners (7) 1932–33, 1933–34, 1954–55, 1974–75, 1977–78, 1985–86, 1987–88. *

**Runners-up (1):

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Records

Club records

*Highest league position *8th in Southern League, 1938–39 *

best performance: *Second round, 1930–31, 1936–37 *

best performance: *Runners-up, 2013 *Highest home attendances: *1,754 v

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(FA Vase semi final) 23 March 2013. *3,057 v Maidstone United 1962 (FA Cup). *As Tunbridge Wells Rangers, 5,788 v Margate 1930 (FA Cup) at Down Farm *Record win: *10-0 v Deal Town, 1985–8 * Biggest crowds to watch the Tunbridge Wells club away: *Wembley Stadium 4 May 2013 FA Vase Final v Spennymore Town – 16,751. * 1954 FA Cup v Brighton and Hove Albion – 16,000. * 1936 Southern League v Ipswich Town – 14,211. * 1939 Kent Senior Cup Final v Gillingham – 13,500. * 1930 FA Cup v Carlisle United- 11,500.

Player records

*Record appearances: 412 – Jason Bourne *Record goal scorer: 151 – John Wingate

Notable former players

# Players who have played/managed more than 20 times in the football league or any foreign equivalent to this level (i.e. fully professional league) # Players with full international caps * Samuel Abel * Harold Andrews * Harry Anstiss * Jimmy Archibald * Fred Avey * George Ballsom *

George Beel George Beel (26 February 1900 – 30 December 1980) was a professional footballer who played as a centre forward. He is regarded as the best centre forward in Burnley F.C., Burnley's history and holds their records for the most number of goals i ...

* Alf Bentley * George Bratley * Frank Brett * Ronnie Burke * Kevin Clarke * Tim Coleman *

Albert Collins Albert Gene Collins (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993)Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. He was noted for his powerful playing ...

* Herman Conway * Jimmy Dimmock * George Douglas * Jimmy Dunne * George Emmerson * Harry Ford * David Galloway * Ben Garfield * Stan Gullan * Ernest Hart * Syd Hartley * Harold George Howe * George Howes * Willie Hurrell * Gordon Hurst * Albert Iles * Fred Keenor * Bobby Laverick * Johnny McNichol * Jackie Mittell * Stan Morgan * Alf Noakes * Henry O'Grady * Bill Pavitt *

Walter Pollard Walter Pollard (26 September 1906 – 26 July 1945) was an English professional footballer who played as an inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, ...

* Roy Proverbs * Percy Richards * Alf Ridyard * Ernie Robinson *

Tommy Robinson Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon (' Yaxley; born 27 November 1982), better known as Tommy Robinson, is a British anti-Islam sentiment, anti-Islam campaigner and one of the UK's most prominent far-right activists. Robinson has been active in ...

* Harry Rowbotham * Jock Rutherford * John Ryden * Bob Shankly * Wilf Sharp * John Shepherd * Bill Sheppard * Jimmy Smith * Charlie Spencer * Billy Sperrin * John Summers * Jim Taylor * Billy Thirlaway * James Thompson * Hugh Vallance * Jimmy Watson * Horace Williams For a list of all the other players with a Wikipedia profile and have played for Tunbridge Wells:

Former coaches

# Managers/Coaches who have played/managed in the football league or any foreign equivalent to this level (i.e. fully professional league) # Managers/Coaches with full international caps * Jim Taylor

References

External links

Official websiteTunbridge Wells supporters' forum
{{coord, 51, 08, 39.65, N, 0, 15, 03.21, E, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Football clubs in England Sport in Royal Tunbridge Wells Association football clubs established in 1886 Southern Football League clubs Southern Counties East Football League Isthmian League clubs Greater London League Football clubs in Kent 1886 establishments in England Southern Amateur Football League