Rainham Kenilworth was
formed as Kenilworth United in 1977 by Ron Jackson and Peter Hinchcliffe whose sons had a group of friends at school who wanted
to play organised football.
Two teams were formed
at Under 12 and Under 14 and training sessions were conducted at the
Oasthouses in Rainham by Colin English who had experience in
football coaching and the Club joined the Medway City Boys League.
Originally all matches
were played at Kings Frith Playing Fields but as the Club expanded
additional facilities at Upchurch Recreation Ground, Wakeley Road
and Fairview Junior Schools were used.
Following sponsorship
from British Gas one team was allowed to play matches at Rochagas
Sports Ground in Darland Avenue.
In 1980 the Club
decided to change it’s name from Kenilworth United to Rainham
Kenilworth Boys Football Club in order to associate its self more
closely with the Rainham Area.
Following the change of
name a competition was organised amongst the Members to design a
Club Badge. The winning design was produced by Lee Woods and this
Badge is still being used by the Club albeit the original green
background has been discontinued since the design is now embroidered
directly onto the shirts.
In May 1985 the Club
established a Five-A-Side Tournament for all age groups with
invitations to all Youth Football Teams in Kent that were affiliated
to the Kent County Football Association. The Tournament became
recognized as one of the best and finest summer tournaments in Kent
as well as becoming a very valuable fund raising mechanism for the
Club. The record number of entries stands at 44 Clubs and 132 teams.
In 2001 the tournament became Six-A-Side to reflect the small sided
football now being played by teams throughout the County.
By 1990 the Club had
expanded to such an extent that Teams from Under 10 to Under 18 were
entered into the Medway City Boys League and Teams from Under 8 and
Under 9 were entered into the Lordswood Friendly League.
During the 1990’s the
Club enjoyed unprecedented success with a number of teams winning
Championships and League Cups and in some cases the double was
completed.
In 1996 the Under 18’s
Age Group expressed a desire to stay together as a team and enter
Men’s Sunday Football and an associated Club Rainham Kenilworth
Football Club was formed.
An application was made
to the Medway Area Sunday Football League which was accepted. The
team has enjoyed considerable success in winning promotion each year
and in 2003 they were promoted to the Premier Division.
Among their other
successes were reaching the last 16 of the Kent County Junior Cup
Competition in 1999 and a League Cup Final appearance in 2001.
In 2002 the Under 18’s
for season 2001 /2002 expressed a similar desire to stay together
and enter men’s football and therefore a second team was entered
into the Medway Area Sunday League.
In 2001 Peter Harrison
established a Development Division with Saturday Morning training
sessions at Cozenton Park for boys aged between 5 and 7 and this has proved very
beneficial to Club in attracting a considerable number of new
members as well as Parents to help the running of the Club.
In 2005 Vince Luckhurst established a
girls training session at Cozenton Park on Saturday mornings.
In 2006 the inaugural girls 7 a-side
tournament was held in the grounds of Rainham School for Girls.
In 2006 the club was accredited with the
FA Charter Standard Award for development clubs.
In 2007 the Club
will celebrate it’s 30th anniversary.
