Canterbury City
CANTERBURY CITY FC
| CLUB NAME | Canterbury City |
| CHAIRMAN | Trevor James |
| CLUB SECRETARY | Peter Campbell
secretary@canterburycityfc.co.uk |
| FIXTURES SECRETARY | Jonathon Lopez-Real
fixtures@canterburycityfc.co.uk |
| PROGRAMME EDITOR | Dave Morgan |
| FIRST TEAM MANAGER | Dan Lawrence |
| MIDWEEK FIXTURES | Tuesday |
| CLUB WEBSITE | www.canterburycityfc.co.uk |
| HOME KIT | Green |
| GOALKEEPER HOME | Blue |
| AWAY KIT | Burgendy |
| GOALKEEPER AWAY | Yellow |
| PITCH DIMENSIONS | TBC |
| CLUB PASSES | 151-156 and 157-158 |
Ground Name and Directions
Margate Football Club, Hartsdown Park, Hartsdown Road, Margate CT9 5QZ
From junction 2 of the M25 take the A2 and then the M2 towards Dover. On reaching the end of M2 take the A299 towards Margate.
Stay on the A299 for 16 miles until you reach the roundabout and take the 2nd turning for the A28 towards Margate. After 4 miles you will see the Margate boundary sign, and the dual carriage way will become a 2-way road.
After passing the BP garage and a pub called the Hussar, both on the right, you will pass through a set of traffic lights, take the 2nd right onto George V Avenue (signposted Ramsgate A254), and follow it up and around to the left passing the Hartsdown Academy School on your right.
At the end of this road, you will reach a T junction, turn right into Hartsdown Road. The entrance to the ground is a little further down on the left-hand side.
Canterbury City – A History
In 1947 members of the pre-war Canterbury Waverley FC Supporters Club and officials from Brett’s Sports FC, a successful local business side, agreed to run a football club to represent the City of Canterbury. William Brett was elected as the first chairman, placing Brett’s Sports ground at the disposal of the club and Canterbury City FC was born and accepted into the Kent League.
City remained at Brett’s Corner attracting crowds that rarely dropped below four figures, until moving to Kingsmead Stadium in 1958. When the Kent League folded the following year, City made an ill-judged move to the Metropolitan League – staying for just one season before joining their former Kent rivals in the Southern League.
Progress was unspectacular with a seventh place finish in 1965/66 the highest they would achieve. The FA Cup brought some degree of success, twice reaching the first round proper. In 1964 City lost 0-6 at home to Torquay United in front of a Kingsmead Stadium competitive record attendance of 3001 and in 1968 a last minute Don Rogers penalty gave Swindon Town a 1-0 win.
City struggled through the 1970s and 1980s, finishing bottom on four occasions before mounting financial pressure in the early 1990s saw them take voluntary demotion, rejoining the Kent League in 1994. Worse followed in 1999 when the club was required, mid-season, to leave Kingsmead Stadium. Unsurprisingly the homeless club finished bottom in successive seasons and inevitably, days before the start of the 2001/02 season Canterbury City folded.
In 2007 the Club was revived and became the first Club in the country to be formed as a CIC (Community Interest Company). The target was to bring back Kent League football to a new ground in Canterbury within five years. Whilst progress on the field was achieved with promotion from the Kent County League to the Kent League after four seasons, securing a new home has been far more of a challenge!
With the backdrop of still not having their own home, Ben Smith’s 2019 side reached the semi-finals of the FA Vase, losing by one goal to Cray Valley PM when just one step away from a Wembley final, which was a magnificent achievement.
Despite subsequent financial challenges and the agony of relegation at the end of 2022/23, the club hopes that under the leadership of Dan Lawrence on the pitch and with a new board of directors in place off it, this season will see a change in our fortunes.
The club continues to fight off the field to resolve the ground issue and we look forward to returning to Canterbury one day. When that is finally achieved, we hope to be able to provide facilities for Youth, Women’s, Disability, Homeless and Walking Football teams for the benefit of the whole of our local Canterbury community!
