Joining the Kent County Football League

The lure of playing a higher standard of football led to improvements being made to the pavilion during the summer of 1989, when showers were finally installed. All those years with just a wash basin to clean off the mud!

This enabled the club to join the Kent County Football league in season 89/90. The club was successfully promoted in their first season, finishing runners up to Ten Em Bee (now Premier Division Lewisham Borough Community FC).

The club followed the success of 89/90 by reaching the final of the Junior Challenge Cup in season 90/91, only to lose out to Fleetdown United. It didn’t help matters that 3 players got lost on their way to the ground and didn’t arrive till after the kick off!

Chipstead’s next taste of success saw them earn promotion from Division 3 to Division 2 West of the Kent County League in season 93/94 by finishing in 3rd place.

Season 95/96 saw the team lift the Craske & Wells Trophy for the first time, defeating Borough Green in the final.

That same season saw joint 1st team managers Paul Hannan and Alan Black receive the Manager of the Month Award for January ’96.

The nineties finished on a very sad note with the tragic death of the extremely popular Dave Dougan at the age of just 24 on March 8th 1999. A head injury sustained 15 minutes into a Saturday match developed overnight into a brain haemorrhage, which led to his death in the early hours of the Monday. A patriotic Scot and loyal supporter of Glasgow Rangers FC, Dave will always be remembered for his love and great enthusiasm for football.