Clubs to watch : Rose & Crown Welling FC, Chalvey Sports FC
How many grassroots football clubs do you know?
How much do you know about them?
Here are some fun facts you may not have known before today!
Rose and Crown Welling FC
Rose and Crown Welling FC is a Sunday League football team based in the southeast London and northwest Kent area. The club was formed in 2019 to represent the pub owned by father and son, Rob and Kevin Latta, and is filled with players from the local area and pub regulars.
#Rose & Crown
The club was formed by the owners of the pub the Rose & Crown in Welling initially to secure loyal customers, especially on a Sunday after games.
#Trophies
During their 3 seasons to date as a club, they have played in both the Metropolitan Sunday League and Woolwich and Eltham Sunday Football Alliance (WESFA). They achieved their highest league finish in the 2021/22 season finishing runners up of the Metropolitan Sunday League Division 2. That season they also won the How Construction Charity Shield and the Ted Holder Trophy.
#Nicknames
Nearly every player is given a weird and wonderful nickname. Currently we have: ‘Jesus’, ‘Grandad’, ‘Asbo’, ‘Two Beers’ and ‘The Rat Catching Pickford’.
#Club Legend as Coach
Managed by club legend and leading appearance maker, Damien How, the club has rejoined WESFA for the 22/23 season fully focused on adding more silverware and will participate in division 5 and have entered 6 cups including the Kent and London Sunday FA Cups.
Chalvey Sports FC
The first team currently play at Step 7 of the NLS and play in the Thames Valley Premier Division. The reserves team play in the Premier Division of the East Berkshire Football League. The two adult football teams cater for different abilities with future plans to provide youth team football that offers a pathway for players to progress to different levels of adult football.
#History
Chalvey Sports Football Club is an England Accredited football Club with a rich history that can be traced all the way back to 1885. The club recently celebrated their 135 year anniversary. Chalvey Sports have recently had the privilege of appearing in consecutive early rounds of the FA Vase.
#Appearance on TV
The club appeared in the BBC Panorama programme's episode "Life in Immigration Town" in 2017. Players and staff at Chalvey Sports were interviewed for opinions and game footage was also used in the TV programme.
#Origin of the Stabmonks
In a story dating back to the mid- 19th century, a organ-grinder's monkey bit the finger of a child who was teasing it and the child's furious father stabbed the monkey to death (hence "Stabmonk"). The organ-grinder was very upset and therefore the villagers took pity on him and made a collection. This raised enough money to buy a new monkey & have a funeral for the dead animal and hold a wake involving free beer for the whole village.
#Chalvey Brook: Becoming a Tradition
This proved so successful that the villagers decided to repeat the event the following year (without killing another monkey first). A plaster monkey was made which was given a mock funeral & wake, during which a man fell, or was pushed into Chalvey Brook. This then became an annual event and on each occasion the man falling in Chalvey Brook was declared 'The Mayor of Chalvey' for the following year.
#The Legend Today
The ceremony became a less regular event during the last century and more recently the Stabmonk has only appeared on rare occasions & usually for charitable causes. The legend survives and the term Stabmonk is used to describe any man born and bred in Chalvey, who at some time has either called, or been pushed into Chalvey Brook. The Chalvey Stabmonk is the clubs crest and is proudly worn on the front of all of our team kit.
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