Welling Town

Welling Town - A Short History

Founded as recently as 2014, Welling Town FC started out as a Sunday side playing on a Council pitch at Hall Place, Bexley in the London and Kent Suburban League.

Achieving two promotions in as many seasons, the club then expanded to include a second Sunday side with both playing in the Woolwich and Eltham Sunday Football Alliance.

The move to Saturday football was inevitable and we were accepted in to the Kent County Football League in the summer of 2016 despite having no past playing record in Saturday regional football on the basis of our good Sunday record, excellent conduct and professional setup demonstrating ambition and organisation beyond many sides at that level.

Our debut season in 2016/17 saw us win promotion and the West Kent Challenge Shield beating four teams from higher divisions in the process – our first ever silverware.

The 2017/18 season was extraordinary – winning the Kent County Second Division, as well as defending our West Kent Challenge Shield. However, the real peak of the season was winning the Kent Junior Cup, a competition with over 160 entrants, ranking us as the top amateur side in Kent. A rare treble had been achieved, scoring over 130 goals in the process, and losing just one match in 53, over a 21 month period.

Meanwhile, our success on the field, had been mirrored by an application off the field to the FA to move in to the semi-professional ranks for 2018/19. After many months of paperwork, calls and meetings, the agonising wait was over, and we were approved for membership of the Southern Counties East Football League First Division, Step 6 of the non-league pyramid, for the new season ahead.

Not wanting to have gone to such lengths in gaining entry just to make the numbers up, we were determined to prove our worth and be up towards the top of the table pushing for another trophy and promotion. Gaining a huge points advantage early in the season and setting the early pace, we were slowly clawed back as others made up their games in hand, but a strong run in the last two months of the season ensured another historic title win, lifting the Southern Counties East First Division title at the first time of asking, and therefore promotion to their Premier Division for 2019/20. As a result of our new found level we were also drawn in both the FA Vase and FA Cup for the season ahead.

During 2019/20 we made our debuts in the FA Cup losing at the first hurdle to AFC Uckfield, as well as the FA Vase, where we faired better winning four ties before being eliminated by Chatham Town in a 1-0 away defeat in the 3rd Round proper – in front of nearly 300 people.

Our debut league season in the SCEFL Premier started well as we went on an eight game unbeaten run from September through November 2019, which including cup games, saw a significant unbeaten run and a strong top 6 position, before a poorer run from December until the Covid-19 lockdown ending the season prematurely, saw the curtailed season leave us in a highly commendable 9th place above many established sides at this level with decades of history.

Following a disjointed period for the club and football in general due to Covid-19 we briefly topped the table at the start of the 2020/21 season having won all of our first four league games, before that season was too curtailed with us sitting in mid-table.

2021/22 started with a new groundshare at Kent Football United’s Efes Stadium and after a difficult start we finished the season strongly ending up in 14th place in our first completed season at SCEFL Premier Division level (Step 5).

In the Spring of 2022 and agreement was put in place to move in to a groundshare with Chatham Town at their Bauvill Stadium one of the best facilities at this level of non-league football, to create an exciting future for the first team on the field and give them the environment to continue pushing towards further success. At the same time a Development side was accepted in to the new SCEFL mid-week league offering a better pathway for the club to develop its own players in conjunction with the long-term working relationship alongside Charlton Athletic Community Trust. An additional side at Under 16 level also joined the club.

Ending the 22/23 season just above the relegation zone, an exciting opportunity to take on as many as 20 youth sides from the now defunct K Sports Youth means we’ll field side across almost all age-groups from senior men’s to under 7s for the season ahead, as well as mid-week development football, and Sunday adults. Our continued working relationship with CACT means there is a clear pathway for footballers who excel from Under 13 Kent Youth League all the way to Under 18, as well as Junior Premier League, Kent County and the SCEFL Development League, all supporting our SCEFL Premier Division men’s side.

Welling Town have therefore progressed from recreational Sunday football in the park, to semi-professional football in stadiums, in a little over three years, including numerous promotions, title wins and cup victories along the way, and we’re told moving from one to the other in such a short period is unique. We now play at our highest ever level, and have more players and club members than at any point.