Sittingbourne Lions History
12 Jun 2007

Sittingbourne Lions- a short history of the club .
The Club was founded in September 1995 with just one age group,the Under 11 's, by our now sadly deceased Life Vice-President John Perkins and his assistant Keith Adams. At the time the Club was called Lions Juniors FC. Their sole aim at the time was to give local boys a game of football.It is quite certain that neither or the two men could have anticipated how the Club would change over the next few years when they made these first stepsin the formation of the Club.
The team played in Division 3 of the Invicta Primary League and were doing very well, in fact they were in line for the Championship when unfortunately they had 13 points deducted due to a prob­lem that they had no control over. They eventually finished 5th in the Division.
The following season (1996/97), saw two teams,with a newly formed Under 11 squad, whilst the original squad moved up to Under 12 and into the Maidstone & District Boys Football League. Both teams faired well in the season,the U11's missing out on Div 3 cham­pionship by only 2 points,the U12's finishing mid table.
Onto 1997/98 and the Club gained another team in their youngest age group U9, the first 7-a-side squad. The U12's made no mistake in winning Div 3 by a clear 6 points, U13's reached the Consolation Cup Final (first ever), and the newly formed U9's although finishing 5th in their Division their performance was deemed enough to see them promoted into Div 1 when they progressed to U10.
This season was also the first time the Club went on an annual tour, both the U12 & U13 visited Great Yarmouth for a week and both reached the Semi-Finals. A great achievement for a Club so young.
In 1998/99 the Club had 4 teams, U9, U10, U13 and U14. This season again saw some trophies coming to the Club. Both the Under 9's and Under 13's came runners up in their respective Divisions.
This was followed by another tour to Great Yarmouth, with the Under 10's winning the Sportmanship Trophy. There was also an innaugural trip up to Milton Keynes for the first of what was to become an anuual Tournament against City Colts known as Milton Challenge,reflecting the Milton Regis background of our Club. Our U9's won Aylesford's 7-a-side Tournament in September just before embarking on the new season at U10. This was the first Tournament win for the Club.
At the start of the 1999/2000 season the Club changed its name to Siitingbourne Lions JFC developed the new logo and our motto "going from
strength to strength".
We had six teams for this season a sec­ond U10 squad,known as the "Cubs" and our youngest squad the U8's.
It was at this point that the Club really began todevelop, during this season, firstly Managers on Junior Team Manager Courses which were organised by the Football Association. Secondly we developed our own internal Referees. Some managers took their Coaching further by attending the Coaching Certificate and subsequently pro­gressed to taking their full UEFA B Licence.
At the end of the season on Saturday 6th May 2000 we affiliated with Sittingbourne Football Club,this move was to have a mixed effect on the Club,with both positive and negative effects experienced.
The Club applied for and was awarded The Charter Standard on a Pilot Scheme being run in Kent.This was a fore-runner to the full FA Charter Standard scheme that was launched on February 1st 2001, by The Football Association.
The season was eventful, U9 finished 3rd in their division qualifying them for the Premier Division the following year. Under 11 finished second, U14 third, both under 10's an admirable 5th. Under 8 finsihing 5th to be placed in Division 1.
Yet again the Club went away on a summer tour this time to Bournemouth, and for the second year running came home with theSportsmanship Trophy this time to the U9's.
The Milton Challenge was held at home at Central Park that year in a tournament remembered for the torrential downpours that dominated proceedings.Honours at the tournament were evenly shared between Lions and Colts.
We won trophies during the summer, U11 at the Bearsted tournament,run­ners up at the Castle Colts tournament, U10 runners up at New Ash Green and Aylesford. The newly formed girls team in only their second tournament came runners up in the Consolation Cup at Swallows Tournament.
So from small beginnings, by the beginning of the 2001/2002 season the Club had expanded to an amazing 11 teams. Each and every team per­forming every week, thrilling and delighting parents and spectators. Some memorable goals being scored and not just from us.
Under the affiliation with Sittingbourne FC our Under 15's went on to play in the Kent MUSH Youth League, a big step for them but they coped well at first.This point also saw the introduc­tion of our first all Girls side in the Kent Girls & Ladies Football League, and even a Seniors side in Division 5 of the Rochester & District League,with many of the dads of the boys teams making up the squad. The under 12's played in the Maidstone & District League with the under 8's to under 11 's play­ing in the Invicta Primary League.
This season finished on a high with the U11 1 's winning Division 1, both Under 9's coming runners up in their respective divsions 1 & 3, and the Under 1 2's win­ning their Consolation Cup Final 9-2 against Senacre Dolphins.
The Club was formally awarded The Charter Standard in May 2001, and was then award­ed The Charter Standard Development Club award indeed it was the first Club in Kent to obtain this award.Although the award was the result of hard work by a lot of individuals,special mention must go to the then Club Secretary Yvonne Brown who co-ordinated all of the change throughout this exciting time of expansion,a thankless task.
The Club received from the FA on 6th September 2001 an award which we didn't expect to receive, the Lions were named the Regional Charter Standard Development Club of the Year 2001.
Then came another huge expansion of the club.From what was considered an amazing 11 teams the Club was asked to look after Sittingbourne FC's Youth section totally with teams from Under 14 to Under 18 all competing in Kent Youth League,along with existing teams that competed in local Maidstone Leagues,a new "baby" section giving soccer to Under 7's and below and also increases to girls sides meant that we were now a Club consisting of 18 teams.
During the closed season Sittingbourne Lions affilated with Westbourne Girls. This gave the our Clubs girls an exit route when they were too old to play in Junior football as Westbourne had a Ladies side who competed in the South Eastern Counties Womens Football League.
The next two seasons,however,were to be turning point in the clubs history and as quickly as the Club had developed things started to go wrong.A combination of events, many out of the Lions control, saw things start to fall apart.Running such a big club had started to become a full time occupation and the stress of the role played a part in health problems for the Secretary.She was also let down by actions of some of the older teams and their managers who took things for granted without playing there part in the administration of the club.some of these older age groups were having disciplinary problems on and off the pitch which was bringing the Clubs previously good name into disrepute.These teams were also failing in their obligations to collect subscription fees and subs,as well as suffering large fines from the KCFA and individual league competitions,this in turn was placing a burden on the finances of the younger section of the Club.
Meetings held at Sittingbourne FC turned into negative arguments where as previously the talk had been positive it was now becoming a series of in fighting between various individuals and managers,and this should serve as a lesson that the Club is there for all and not just to better any particular individuals ego.At this point the parent Club was also having troubles of their own,the move into the magnificent Central Park stadium, which had cost millions to construct,had not been followed by consistent progress on the field of play.Sittingbourne FC with their own agenda appeared to be supporting the Lions less and less and only seemed concerned with what they could get from the arrangement.
By the start of the 2003/2004 season the committee who ran the Lions had changed however this new committee was to be a short lived affair.Teams continued to in fight and the apparent lack of support from Sittingbourne FC continued.The meetings that took place throughout this period were often torrid affairs which served only to take the Club backwards.A meeting on the 9th feb 2004 saw a new re-incarnation of the committee, many of the new members were managers of the younger teams who had tried to stick with the Lions original ethos of providing football to boys and girls of all abilities.
That summers AGM held on 30 June 2004,however,proved to be the biggest turning point in the Clubs recent history.The Club Chairman had resigned and the third secretary in just over a season and a half had quit by that point.The remaining teams were left in limbo,many had not been entered in the League due to administrative errors.At this point the problem teams had been asked to leave the Club and we were sitting back with only seven teams.The following Officers were elected to try and get the Club back on track,Trevor Jackson (chairman),Mo Clover(secretary)Val Robinson(Treasurer) and Geoff Rudd(Vice Chairman).The Clubs mottto was also revised and went from "going from strength to strength"which was felt to be a little inappropriate to the current motto of "with Pride and Passion" which was felt ot represent the feelings of the new regime.
Two other issues were decided at this meeting.The first was that John Perkins who had started the Club back in 1995 would be named as Life President.The second was more far reaching as a vote was taken to terminate all agreements,partnerships and affiations with Sittingbourne FC.This motion was voted in unanimously .....the Lions were on the way back!
Throughout the summer the Chairman and Secretary attended various League AGM's to try and repair the damage that was done by the previous regime.The biggest hurdle was to get entered back into the Maidstone Primary League.They were not keen to take the Lions back,the previous seasons fines in that competition of £880,may have had something to do with that but nevertheless following much grovelling and the giving of certain assurances meant we were given a reprieve.
The Lions started season 2004/2005 with the following teams Under 9,Under 10,Under 11,Under12,Under 13,Under 15 and Under 16.The Under 11's were most successful winning promotion from Division Three of the Invicta Primary League after finishing champions.The Under 9's came second in their division and also got promoted.This season also saw teams entered in the Kent County Cup and despite not progressing very far the Club again started to win friends off the field after sportsmanlike performances against teams such as Hugin Vikings and Gravesend & Northfleet.The Under 16's infact won the Club of the Year from the Maidstone Minor League for their behaviour and sportsmanship The season ended with the Club enjoying a presentation night at the Wyvern Hall in Sittingbourne.
The following season saw more progress as the training of coaches on FA courses was resumed in an attemept to improve standards again.The one low point in this season was losing a team the Under 11's before the season started and as a result we only had six teams for season 2005/2006.
At the start of 2006/2007 the Club gained a new Under 10 side but were disappointed to learn that the Under 13's had decided to uproot and join Sittingbourne FC en block and form their Kent League team.Given the previous history this move did not go down well with Lions Committee.The season ended in runners up position and promotion to the Under 10's,but the biggest success was felt by many to be the Under 14's who came third in their division and for much of the season had looked like finishing higher.This was a great moment for manager David Drury who had been with the Club throughout the "dark days"with a team that always played in the right way but had seen very little success on the field up until this point.This season also saw the re-invigoration of the social scene at the Club.A club trip to Charlton FC was taken by 106 players and parents,and this was the highlight in a series of events aimed at raising Club spirits.
So now we arrive at the start of 2007/2008 and what does the future hold for the Lions ?
Well we have three new teams ready to start the season at Under 8,Under9 and Under 10(the latter coming en block from Swale Magpies,in a move that shows once again we are a Club to be taken seriously).the Under 11's will enjoy their first season at 11 a side,The Under 12's and Under15's will compete in the Maidstone Primary League,whilst the Under 16's and Under 18's will compete in the Maidstone Minor League.On the coaching side we will continue to send managers on courses to improve their knowledge,and off the field we have a host of new sponsors who are already giving the Club solid financial backing.

written by Mo Clover(with thanks to Val Robinson and Yvonne Brown)