Chiddingfold F.C. is a long established club started back in 1889 making it one of the oldest clubs in Surrey.
Chiddingfold Football Club played our first ever match at Petworth Park on Saturday 9th February 1889. The game ended in a 7-1 defeat at the hands of a very strong Petworth team who also defeated us in the return match on Thursday 7th March 1889. The first ever goal was scored by A. Hoar, who started the match as goalkeeper!
The team for the return match was: W Williams, A Wilkinson, JG Stilwell, JK Stilwell, R Phillips, CH Winter, W Wells, E Foster, E Evans, F Bookham and A E Hoare. The “Umpire” was W Hayes.
The first Annual General Meeting was held at the Crown Inn, Chiddingfold on 5th October 1889, where the first ever officials of the Club were elected and the subscriptions were set at 1/-.
The first official home matches were played in Mr Ranson’s meadow, nearly opposite Bedwinde farmhouse.
The club has survived uninterrupted since the first ever recorded match and is, as far as we are aware the second oldest club in Surrey. Who’s the oldest?
Despite some turbulent years, particularly during the 1930’s, the club is now flourishing. We currently run 2 senior sides in the Surrey Intermediate League, plus multiple junior sides ranging from under 7’s to under 16’s.
The club is quite rightly proud of its long history and can claim to be one of the success stories of local football. Having joined the Surrey Intermediate League after many years in the Guildford & District league the club gained promotion to division one in 1996/7 having just missed out on several occasions.
The promotion culminated in the highlight of winning the Championship in 1997/8. This success led to the greatest playing day in the clubs history when on the 3rd May 2000 we lifted the Surrey County Intermediate Cup.
The 2003/04 season was unique in the Clubs history with all 3 senior sides finishing runners-up in their respective leagues. We also won the Surrey Intermediate, and Farnham Sunday League Sportsmanship Trophies which reflects our continued commitment to the clubs Codes of Conduct.
2003 was also the year when the club was awarded the FA Chartered Community Standard, one of only a handful of clubs in Surrey to achieve this award at that time.
Since then we have been Runners-up on several occasions:
The club committee meet on a monthly basis to make sure of the smooth running of all aspects, not only of the club itself but also to address any matters in how the club sits within the local community.
Through those efforts it comes as little surprise to find that the club is the largest single community within the village. With close to two hundred players of all ages and abilities connected to the club and a large family following, the passion of football and the local people have very strong ties.