A BRIEF HISTORY OF ERITH AND BELVEDERE FOOTBALL CLUB
The highlight of 2008-09 for Erith and Belvedere was the club's first senior final in 27 years, when they took on VCD Athletic in the Kent Senior Trophy Final. The Deres took the lead after just 49 seconds and regained the lead in extra time, but the eventual champions ran out 3-2 winners. To complete a club double the Deres' reserves reached the Kent Intermediate Trophy final, losing 3-0 to Tonbridge Angels. The cup finals were a consolation for a disappointing league season: after two consecutive 7th places the Deres finished 8th (although with more points than in 2007-08). There was a club record league aggregate of 19-3 against Sporting Bengal, but some inconsistent performances in the spring. Following the departure of Chris Cosgrove, his managerial partner (and ex-Charlton striker) Paul Gorman takes the reins for 2009-10 alongside Richie Radbourne.
The Deres were formed in 1922 following the restructuring of Belvedere and District FC, a club founded in 1918 (although the original Erith FC, formed in 1885, played in the inaugural FA Amateur Cup in 1893.) The new club played its first Kent League match on 26 August 1922 at its original home - Park View, Belvedere - losing 3-1 to Chatham. In 1924 the Deres reached the FA Amateur Cup Final (losing 3-0 to Clapton at The Den), won the Kent Amateur Cup, and lost 2-0 at home to Third Division Reading in the FA Cup. Later in the 20s several Deres players joined French clubs and one, Stan Hillier, went on to win Cup and League honours with Cannes and Sęte.
Apart from two seasons (1929-31) in the London League, the Deres remained in the Kent League until the war. In a league featuring many semi-professional and nursery sides, third place in 1928-29 was their highest finish, but greater success came in cups. They reached successive Kent Amateur Cup Finals in 1934/5. The FA Amateur Cup Final was reached again in 1938: although they lost 1-0 to Bromley, again at The Den, the 33,346 crowd was the biggest ever for a Deres match.
On the outbreak of war the Deres joined the South-East Combination. Since local industry was important to the war effort, Erith lost few players to the Forces, and became one of Kent's top clubs. In 1941-42 they won the Kent Senior Cup (the first amateurs to do so for 30 years) and the South East Combination League and Cup double: they dropped only one point, scored 253 goals in 44 games and had a 64-game unbeaten home run ended only by an Army side fielding four full internationals.
Having won the London Senior Cup on the weekend after VE Day, the Deres were founder members of the Corinthian League, winning the Memorial Shield (League Cup) three seasons in succession (1948-50). Along with Slough and Maidenhead, the Deres remained in the Corinthian League throughout its existence, and in 1963 they joined Division 1 of the Athenian League on its expansion to three divisions.
In the late 60s the Deres won the Kent Amateur Cup four times in five years and were runners-up in an international tournament in Belgium! They reached the Athenian premier division in 1971, and won the League Cup in 1974. The club chose to return to the Kent League in 1978, but in 1982 entered the Southern League as Kent champions and League Cup finalists, the highlight of Peter Peters' record 17˝ years in charge.
Life was hard for the Deres in the Southern League, with just six top-half finishes and a best placing of 7th under Harry Richardson in 1993: on his departure the club saw a succession of managers and its fortunes at a low ebb before the appointment of Mike Acland in 1996. 18 months into Acland's reign the club could have folded when arsonists destroyed the main stand at Park View on 1 September 1997. The club was based in portakabins for two years - and to Acland's credit results actually improved in these very difficult circumstances - before entering into the present groundshare arrangement with Welling United in 1999. After Acland's departure a succession of managers had short spells in charge, leading to relegation in 2004-05 ending their 23-year stay in the Southern League. This was despite an impressive debut season in senior football for Chris Dickson, now with Charlton Athletic.
Back in the Kent League, the Deres were in promotion contention until the final day of 2005-06, but had a poor start in 2006-07 and were out of the promotion hunt in the following two seasons.
