Holmesdale 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 originally based in

South Norwood South Norwood is a district of south-east London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon, Greater London and formerly in the historic county of Surrey. It is located 7.8 miles (12.5 km) south-east of Charing Cross, north of Wood ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. Affiliated to the

Kent County Football Association The Kent County Football Association, known as ''Kent FA'', is the governing body of football in the county of Kent, England, and was formed in 1881. The Kent FA run over 20 County Cups at different levels of football for affiliated teams across K ...

, they are currently members of the and play at Oakley Road in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

History

The original club was established as Holmesdale Baptists in the early 1920s and was affiliated with the Baptist Church on Holmesdale Road; players were church members and had to attend bible classes. They joined the Excelsior League, where they played for two seasons before joining Division Three of the Thornton Heath & District League for the 1922–23 season. Although they were Division Three runners-up in their first season, the club folded in 1923.Club History
Holmesdale F.C. The club was reformed in 1956 by the 3rd East Surrey Boys Brigade Company and rejoined the Thornton Heath & District League in Division Six. They went on to win the division at the first attempt, earning promotion to Division Five. Another promotion in 1957–58 saw the club move up to Division Four, although they had to recruit players from another church club, which led to them dropping the word "Baptists" from the name. By 1960 the club had been promoted to Division Three. In 1960–61 Holmesdale were Division Three runners-up, earning promotion to Division Two. They following season the club were Division Two champions and were promoted to Division One. The 1971–72 season saw the club win the Division title. In 1986–87 they were Premier Division champions, and were promoted to the Surrey Intermediate League. They were runners-up in Premier Division B in 1989–90, before winning the

Surrey South Eastern Combination The Surrey South Eastern Combination is one of the three intermediate association football leagues based in the English county of Surrey (the others are the Surrey Elite Intermediate League and the Surrey County Intermediate League (Western)). I ...

in 1992–93. The club were subsequently promoted to the Surrey Premier League. They won the league's Charity Cup in 1993–94. In 2000 the club relocated to Bromley and switched to the

Kent County League The Kent County League is a football competition based in Kent, England. The league has seven senior divisions – a Premier Division, Division One East and West, Division Two East and West and Division Three East and West. It sits below the So ...

, joining Division One West. In 2005–06 Holmesdale were Division One West champions, earning promotion to the Premier Division. The following season saw them win the Premier Division title, resulting in promotion to the Kent League. The league was renamed the Southern Counties East League in 2013, and in 2015–16 the club finished bottom of the league, resulting in relegation to the newly-formed Division One. In 2021 the club were promoted to the Premier Division based on their results in the abandoned 2019–20 and

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 ...

seasons.

Ground

The club played at Oaks Road in

Shirley Shirley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Shirley'' (novel), an 1849 novel by Charlotte Brontë * ''Shirley'' (1922 film), a British silent film * ''Shirley'' (2020 film), an American film * ''Shirley'' (album), a 1961 album by Shirley Bas ...

during their time in the Surrey Premier League, but were unable to install floodlights as the ground was owned by

Croydon Council Croydon London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Croydon in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. Croydon is divided into 28 wards, electing 70 co ...

. As a result, they moved to Oakley Road in Bromley to gain promotion to the senior leagues, although three teams continued playing at Oaks Road, later breaking away to form Real Holmesdale Football Club in 2001.History
Real Holmesdale F.C.

Honours

*Kent County League **Premier Division champions 2006–07 **Division One West champion 2005–06 *Surrey Premier League **Charity Cup winners 1993–94 *Surrey South Eastern Combination **Premier Division champions 1992–93 *Thorton Heath and District League **Premier Division champions 1986–87 **Division One champions 1971–72 **Division Two champions 1961–62 **Division Six champions 1956–57 **Senior Cup winners 1972–73, 1979–80Club honours 1923–2008
Holmesdale F.C. *Surrey Intermediate Cup **Winners 2005–06

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: Preliminary round, 2009–10, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16 *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: First round,

, 2021–22 *Most goals: M. Barnett, 410 in 429 gamesMike Williams & Tony Williams (2016) ''Non-League Club Directory 2017'', Tony Williams Publications, p516

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 51, 22, 26.84, N, 0, 02, 14.63, E, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Football clubs in England Football clubs in London Football clubs in Kent Sport in the London Borough of Croydon Sport in the London Borough of Bromley Association football clubs established in 1956 1956 establishments in England Surrey County Intermediate League (Western) Surrey South Eastern Combination Surrey County Senior League Kent County League Southern Counties East Football League