User:Pjoicey/Old Boys Clapham FC

History
Old Boys Clapham FC is a football club affiliated to the Surrey FA and was founded on 24th April 2010.

The Officers of Old Boys Clapham are;

Peter Joicey, Club Secretary

Mel Kenny, Club Chairman

Matt Belk, First Team Captain

Alex McGreevy, Reserve Team Manager

Ricardo Martins, Officer

Paul Lewis, Officer

Old Boys Clapham FC began its life playing as an adults 11-a-side football team playing on a Saturday under Norton FC. The original Old Boys Clapham team was comprised of older players who played on Clapham Common from 2000 onwards. By the summer of 2004 enough of the players were interested in forming a team to compete in a local football league. Howard Lewis had links to Norton FC and as a result offered to manage and build a side out of the players from Clapham Common.

2004-2005 Season as "Norton FC", SSEC Division Three
Howard Lewis entered the team into the Surrey South & Eastern Combination League Division 3. The original team was captained by Steve Fowers a tough whole hearted person and exceptional sportsman. In that original team of Old Boys were Joe Muvunyi, Nathan Crook, Tom Okwonko, Peter Joicey, Max Marshall, Marc Stewart, Tom Black, Steve Fowers, Mel Kenny, David Lissah, Alex Clarke, Ricardo Richardson, Curtis Roberts and Nathan Johnson.

The team initially struggled to cope with life in the Surrey South Eastern Combination Division Three and were relegated after winning just two games and drawing two games and finished the league second from bottom out of a league of 12 teams. At the end of the season Howard Lewis left the management of the Old Boys Club to form a Norton 1st Team filled with talented young players from the wider Norton FC. This left a management vacancy at the top of the Old Boys and Peter Joicey offered to take over the reigns. Old Boys Clapham from 2005-06 season played as Norton Reserves.

2005-2006 Season as "Norton Reserves", SSEC Division Four
Peter Joicey after making a good start winning his first game in charge beating local rivals Tooting Bec 3-1 in a pre-season friendly. The team also won its first competitive game of the season in the opening fixture. A 3-1 win at Fetcham Reserves. But it was not long before the team continued to struggle in Division 4. The team were relegated once more after finishing 8th out of 11 but managed to win six games and drew four games.

2006-2007 Season as "Norton Reserves", SSEC Division Five
The following season [2006-07] saw Norton Reserves fair much better as Peter Joicey looked to mix young local talent with the remaining old boys. By Christmas 2006 Norton Reserves had only managed two draws and the viability of the side looked in question. The new year saw a new dawn as the young guns started to gel and make the team their own. Neil Sobers, Jesse Jumbo, Dean Barnes, Leroy Donald and Andrew Brien helped the team to win nine out of the final thirteen games of the season. The team finished 6th in Division Five. The fortunes of the Old Boys now were on turn.

2007-2008 Season as "Norton Reserves", SSEC Division Five
The team started where the side left of at the end of 2006-07 and were sitting top of division five by Chrsitmas 2007. In January 2008, the team won its first ever cup match. A hard faught 2-1 away win against Shaftesbury Town. The team though became complacement and Shatesbury Town and Wandgas Sports pipped the team to the automatic promotion spots as Norton Reserves finsihed third after winning tweleve games, drawing six and losing just four games.

2008-2009 Season as "Norton Reserves", SSEC Division Four
The Surrey South & Eastern Combination League reorganised and five divisions were made into four. Again the side made a good start to the season and were top of the league by Christmas 2007,

2008-2009 Season as "Norton Reserves", SSEC Division Three
After the New Year players the team started to struggle as players perhaps had sights on football away from Norton the following season. Dean Barnes who scored 80 goals in 73 appearences looked to joined Croydon Athletic and skipper Jesse Jumbo left to play university football. Also leaving was the influential playmakers Paul Mountain and Andrew Brien. It was clearly going to be a summer of change for the Old Boys.

It was also decided that the next season would the Old Boys' last season with Norton FC. A busy summer involving a marriage meant that manager Peter Joicey could not set up the club infrastructure in time for the new season as he would miss most of the pre-season on honeymoon. Player recruitment was left in the hands of assistant manager Paul Lewis supported by senior player Ricardo Martins. New players included Alex McGreevy, Marc Henderson, Simon Burbage, Steve Allison and Josh Gill.

IN CONSTRUCTION