History

Around the time of England’s victorious 1966 World Cup campaign another momentous footballing landmark occurred that was much closer to home.

A group of lads from Claygate, all aged around 18-24, came together with the hope of forming a team. They trained every night on Claygate Rec and when it became too dark to see they used the lamp posts around the station as floodlights.

Although there was already a club called Claygate FC that the lads could have joined, they played their matches on Saturdays and some of the new group were already playing senior football on Saturdays, for clubs such as Molesey FC, Addlestone FC and Corinthian Casuals FC so if the boys were going to play together as a team, they had to play on Sundays.

A meeting was held at The Griffin pub in Common Road where it was decided that they should form a brand new club. Many names were considered but they eventually settled on the name Claygate Royals, despite initial concerns that they might have to ask Buckingham Palace for permission to use the name "Royals!"

One reason that they wanted to be the Royals was that they wanted to play in dark blue. But someone told them that it wouldn’t be allowed because it was too close to the black worn by all referees in those days. Thankfully, they through caution to the wind and the rest is history.

Jim Theobald, from Station Road, was elected Chairman, Mike (Mick) Tate, from Hare Lane, was appointed Secretary and Geoff Cushing, from The Roundway, was Captain. They applied to the South Thameside League, which played Sunday afternoon matches, and were admitted to Division 3 for the 1967-68 season. In their first year they finished fourth and played in a cup final at Molesey FC’s ground, losing 1-0 in extra time.

Right from the start the Royals were more than a football club. In the early days they attracted between 100 and 200 spectators, many of them families and friends, and they even took supporters to away games. They all socialised together, using the Griffin, then run by Alan and Pat Bevis, as their base. They regularly held dinner/dances, either at the Village Hall, or at venues in deeper Surrey. These were social events, but also opportunities to raise funds to buy strip and equipment.

As time went by, the team changed – some married and moved away and players from outside Claygate were introduced, but its heart was still Claygate.

Mike Tate handed over his secretarial responsibilities around 1978, when he moved to Dorset.

It is unclear what happened to the club after that but there does seem to have been a new-look Royals that emerged in the early nineties which has grown into the club we know today but we have to thank the Team of '66 for kicking things off all those years ago

One of the original members was Brian Woolnough, who was Chief Sports writer at the Star newspaper, and from 2007 was host of Sky’s ‘Sunday Supplement’ programme. Brian, or Bruno as he was known, was a wing half, or a midfielder in today's terms. Brian passed away in September 2012 after a long struggle against cancer.

Sadly, three more of the original Royals, Alan Barilli, Colin Gray and Barry Hall are no longer with us.

The original team of 1966:

Alan Barilli - Telegraph Lane
Kenny Beadle - Brookfield Garden
Richard Chaplin - High Street
Geoff Cushing - The Roundway
Colin Gray - Coverts Road
Barry Hall (scorer of first ever Royals goal in 4-2 win, Sept ’66) - The Roundway
Tom Holmes - Coverts Road
Roy Kwei - Norfolk Road
John Melham - The Roundway
Paul Procter - Stevens Lane
Mick Stow - Oxshott
Mike (Mick) Tate - Hare Lane
Ralph Tate - Hare Lane
Jim Theobald - Station Road
Colin Thorogood - Esher
Brian Woolnough - The Roundway