Corinthian

Corinthian FC - History

Corinthian FC was founded in 1972 by Mr RJ Billings (snr) to provide football in a safe environment, whilst teaching the players the principles that he believed to be important in sport. The motto was simply “pro omnium beneficio”- for the benefit of all, but on the pitch the principles were simple; “Hard, but fair”. Losing wasn’t considered before the game, but if the result went against us then the players were taught to take it graciously.
For the first ten years of the clubs existence we were pleased to welcome such teams as Tottenham, Charlton and Norwich amongst other league teams as well as county and district representative sides as our opposition. On top of these games there were many regular visitors to Gay Dawn Farm from local clubs making up a fixture list of over 60 games per season.
During the 1980s with the arrival of an experienced football manager, Mr Tony Sitford, we progressed from youth football into men’s football playing in the old Southern League. This level of football by a totally amateur club made us unique, but caused problems in the long run in attracting new players. Into the 1990’s we dropped back down to the Kent League and enjoyed many a season in this set up.
Early into the new century we reviewed the whole structure of our football club and decided that we had lost our roots in youth football and this was having a detrimental effect on our senior side. So we decided to withdraw temporarily from senior football, whilst we rebuilt the lower levels of the club. In 2008 we had managed to create a club running 5 sides, from 13 years old through to 18 years old and it became obvious that we needed to consider the next step in our restructuring. For two seasons we had a liaison with Welling United, integrating a senior side within Welling United and developed a reserve side initially playing in Kent Division 2 (season 2008/09)and then moving on (2009/10) into the Suburban League South Division. This partnership has now come to an end.
When the opportunity came for us to re-enter senior football as Corinthian Football Club we did not hesitate to take it. Probably 2 years too soon, but the challenge was one we were keen to take. We introduced a second senior side playing in the Suburban League to help us progress our u18’s into men’s football.
The 2010 / 11 season saw Corinthian FC running two senior sides one in the Kent Football League Premier Division and one in the Suburban League South Division plus three youth sides – u14. u15 and u18 in the Kent Youth League. For the 2011/12 season as well as all the above, Corinthian FC had an u18 side in the Ryman Youth League. We feel that that this fills the gap from Kent Youth League to senior football, enabling us to offer a true progression for all our players.
For the 2015/16 season we had 6 teams—as well as the team in the SCEFL, our reserves play in the Suburban League Premier Division, our u18’s played in the Ryman Youth East Division, with u18’s u15’s and u13’s playing in the Kent Youth League.

That Season the First Team ended in an impressive 6th position in the SCEFL Premier Division. This was followed by a 10th place ending in 16/17 and 9th place in 17/18.

The 2018/19 Season was a very impressive one for Corinthian and nearly ended in promotion and a title - but in the end had to settle for second place, despite being in the top spot for much of the campaign.
The following year was looking good, until the Covid pandemic halted us - and the World - in our tracks. We had reached the Kent Senior Trophy Final, were at the top of the table and had made it to the FA Vase semi-final when football was forced to take an early break.

We finally got to play the Vase semi several months later than planned - and unfortunately lost on penalties - but combined strong league showings over the two covid-hit seasons saw us deservedly promoted to the Isthmian league at Step 4.

The squad that had got us there stuck with us for the following season, where we finished in an impressive 8th place, before many moved on and the Club entered a rebuilding phase. Unfortunately that upset our rhythm and we were relegated back to the SCEFL, where we go again in this 2023/24 campaign.