Beckenham Town - Eden Park Avenue
Beckenham Town Football Club
Eden Park Avenue
Beckenham
Kent
BR3 3JL
BRIEF HISTORY/FACTS ABOUT THE CLUB:
The original Beckenham Town were established in the late 19th century, affiliating to the Kent County Football Association in 1887. In 1923, the club joined Division One of the London League and won Division One 5 years later which won them promotion to the Premier Division. However the club finished 2nd bottom in their 1st season in the Premier Division, they ended the 1929-30 season in last place and saw them relegated back to Division One. Following that, with promotion and relegations between Premier Division and Division One, after the club finished bottom of Division One in 1934-35 the club left the League. They had also entered a team into the Kent County Amateur League a few seasons before and continued to play in the Premier Division of the Western Section until rejoining the London League in 1951 where they were placed in the Premier Division. The club remained there for 10 years before joining the Aetolian League. This merged with the London League in 1964 to form the Greater London League which saw Beckenham get placed in Section B. A 5th place finish saw them finish in the League's inaugural season which won them a place in the Premier Division for the 1965-66 season. However, the following season they finished 2nd bottom and were relegated into Division One and the club folded in 1969. 2 years later, the club reformed in 71, and the club were based on the Stanhope Rovers junior team. The club started playing in the South East London Amateur League and they joined Division Two of the new London Spartan League in 1975. In 1982 the club transferred to Division One of the Kent League which became the Premier Division in 1998. The club finished runners-up in 2005-06 and the Kent League was then renamed to the Southern Counties League in 2013. The club has also won the Kent Senior Trophy in 2014 and their best FA Cup runs have been the 2nd qualifying rounds 3 times, 1992-93, 2010-11 and 2011-12.
MY VISIT:
Beckenham Town 2-3 Fisher
Wednesday 17th October 2018
Southern Counties East Football League
My 1st visit to Beckenham came in October 2018. I didn't have much choice on this night so it was a fairly easy choice to make. Originally the night before I was thinking about going to Westfield v Ashford Town in the FA Trophy, but then after finding out Gills had arranged a friendly with Sevenoaks and a fiver to get in, with my dad having not been to Sevenoaks's ground before, I thought why not. I hadn't done much research on both teams heading into the game except hearing on Twitter that it was a game you couldn't possibly miss with Beckenham sitting on top of the table and Fisher fairly close being behind them in 4th.
I arrived to the ground shortly after 7pm after a quick change at London Bridge and then onto Eden Park. £8 admission and £1 programme for tonight's game. After looking at both squads, again there wasn't really anyone I recognised except for Beckenham's Nathan Paul who I believe was at Maidstone United for a brief amount of time. After doing my usual thing of going round the ground and taking photos, I took to my spot and stood on the side of the pitch. The game got under way and Fisher raced into a 2 goal lead with goals from Harry Tobin and Mathieu Ramsey putting Fisher in front. Half time came and Fisher head into the break with a deserved 2-0 lead and probably could have been more. I put my tweet up at HT, as I was quite impressed with Fisher's number 11 which turned out to be Mathieu Ramsey, a quick great feet player and not afraid to take anyone on. 2nd half, Beckenham were a completely different side and they pulled one back on early on 46 minutes from Eku Dean, a shot which took a deflection and stood the keeper with no chance to save it. Beckenham equalised a few minutes later from Shameek Farrell, a great run on the left hand side, a ball into the ball and a easy finish from Farrell. Even then Beckenham still had chances as they also hit the bar. Beckenham's hearts broke as with 18 minutes to go as I couldn't see much from the other end but it looked a scramble of a goal and they made it 3-2 thanks to Tunde Aderonmu. A brawl at the end saw Beckenham get a player sent off, and Fisher only to get a booking despite Beckenham's player got fouled, felt the ref bottled that but that's football. Great game for a neutral which saw me tick off ground 143. After the game, problems with the trains saw one get cancelled, but eventually got home shortly after midnight.
THE GROUND:
The club have been playing at Eden Park Avenue since July 1980 having previously played at Stanhope Grove. The ground has a total capacity of 4,000 with 120 seated and covered. Eden Park train station is the closest to the ground, around a 5 minute walk.
GROUND PHOTOS:
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