Merstham 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 based in

Merstham Merstham is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It lies 25 miles south of Charing Cross and 2 miles south of the Greater London border. Part of the North Downs Way runs along the northern boundary of the town. Mers ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

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 ...

. Affiliated to the

Surrey FA The Surrey County Football Association was founded in 1877 and affiliated to The Football Association in 1882, at the same time as a County Senior Cup competition, the Surrey Senior Cup, was established. The organisation administers all levels o ...

, they are currently members of the and play at Moatside.

History

The club was established in 1892. In 1897 they were founder members of the Redhill & District League.Our history
Merstam F.C. In 1926–27 the club were Redhill & District League champions, and in 1929–30 they won the East Surrey Junior Cup. Merstham won back-to-back titles in 1934–35 and 1935–36 and again in 1949–50 and 1950–51, after which they moved up to the Surrey Intermediate League, going on to win the league at the first attempt. In 1965 the club moved up to the Surrey Senior League. They were champions in 1971–72, but left the league in 1978 to join the

London 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 ...

, largely composed of clubs to the north of London. Their first season in the league saw them win its Challenge Cup and the Surrey Senior Charity Cup, before winning the East Surrey Charities Cup in 1979–80. In 1984 Merstham transferred to the Surrey-centred Combined Counties League to reduce their travelling. They were runners-up in 1987–88 and 1989–90, a season that also saw them win the Elite Cup.Honours
Combined Counties League When the league gained a second division in 2003, Merstham became members of the Premier Division. After winning the Premier Challenge Cup in 2004–05 and finishing as runners-up in the Premier Division in 2005–06 and 2006–07 (also winning the Premier Challenge Cup and the

Southern Combination Challenge Cup The Southern Combination Challenge Cup is a football competition contested by non-league clubs. An independent cup, it was directly affiliated to the Football Association until 2015, when a change in FA Rules required such competitions to affili ...

), the 2007–08 season saw the club win the Premier Division title, the Premier Division Cup and the

Surrey Senior Cup The Surrey Senior Cup is the senior Saturday cup competition of the Surrey FA. It is currently competed for by teams playing in the top nine levels of the English football league system who are affiliated to the Surrey FA. The competition was i ...

. Winning the Combined Counties League title resulted in Merstham being promoted to Division One South 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 2014–15 they finished fourth in the division, qualifying for the promotion play-offs. After beating Faversham Town 5–4 on penalties in the semi-finals, they defeated

Folkestone Invicta Folkestone Invicta Football Club is a association football, football club based in Folkestone, Kent, England. They are currently members of the and play at Cheriton Road. History The club was established in 1936 and joined the East Kent Wedne ...

3–0 in the final to earn promotion to the Premier Division. They finished the season by winning the Surrey Senior Cup for a second time. In 2016–17 the club reached 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 ...

for the first time, losing 5–0 at home to

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

in front of a record crowd of 1,920.FA Cup: Oxford United chairman donates gate receipts share to Merstham
BBC Sport, 7 November 2016 They won the Surrey Senior Cup again in 2017–18.Merstham - Trophies
Soccerway The 2018–19 season saw them finish fifth in the Premier Division. In the subsequent play-offs, they beat

Carshalton Athletic Carshalton Athletic Football Club is an English football club based in Carshalton in the London Borough of Sutton. They currently play in the and are based at the War Memorial Sports Ground. The club also field a women's team playing in the Lo ...

2–1 in the semi-finals before losing the final 2–0 to

Tonbridge Angels Tonbridge Angels Football Club is a professional football club based in Tonbridge, Kent, England. The club was founded as Tonbridge Football Club in 1947 and became known as "The Angels" in 1949 when they started playing at the Angel Ground. S ...

. In 2021–22 the club finished bottom of the Premier Division and were relegated to the South Central Division.

Ground

The club originally played at Limeworks Meadow, a pitch based in the Merstham Lime Works. Players initially had to change in nearby hedges before being allowed to use the nearby Jollieffe Arms pub. In the early 1910s the club temporarily relocated to the Weir ground. They moved to Moatside in the early 1920s. Changing rooms were built in 1960 and a 90-capacity stand opened in 1974. Floodlights were erected during the 1990–91 season and were inaugurated with a friendly match against Crystal Palace. A record attendance of 1,587 was set on 9 November 2002 for a league match against

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

. This was broken in 2016 when 1,920 watched the club's FA Cup first round match against Oxford United.

Honours

*Combined Counties League **Premier Division champions 2007–08 **Premier Challenge Cup winners 2004–05, 2006–07, 2007–08 **Dan Air Class Elite Cup winners 1989–90 *London Spartan League **Challenge Cup winners 1978–79 *Surrey Senior League **Champions 1971–72 *Surrey Intermediate League **Champions 1952–53 *Redhill and District League **Champions 1926–27 1934–35, 1935–36. 1949–50, 1950–51 *Surrey Senior Cup ** Winners 2007–08, 2015–16, 2017–18 *Surrey Senior Charity Cup ** Winners 1978–79 *East Surrey Charities Cup **Winners 1979–80 *East Surrey Junior Cup **Winners 1929–30 *East Surrey Hospitals Charity Cup ** Winners 2004–05 *Southern Combination Challenge Cup **Winners 2006–07 (shared)

Records

*Best

performance: First round, 2016–17 *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: Second qualifying round, 2009–10, 2012–13, 2016–17 *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, 2007–08 *Record attendance: 1,920 vs

, FA Cup first round, 5 November 2016 *Heaviest defeat: 8–1 vs Aldershot Town, FA Cup first qualifying round, 1996–97

References

External links