Surbiton’s Surprising Role in the Birth of Modern Football
Twelve clubs were present at the founding of the Football Association in 1863, but very little is known of one team in particular. This is the story of the mysterious Surbiton FC…
Surbiton is not a football town. That’s not to say it isn’t a sporting town. The Surbiton Trophy is an established part of the British grass-court tennis season, Surbiton Hockey Club has provided several international players, including Olympic gold medallists, while the Cooper Car Company that won back-to-back Formula 1 constructors’ championships in 1959 and 1960 operated from an eye-catching Art Deco garage just off the Ewell Road.
Football? You might see the occasional park game on Victoria Recreation Ground, but for anything behind a turnstile you have to make your way to Tolworth, where Corinthian-Casuals and Kingstonian share King George’s Field, or up the road to Kingsmeadow, the home of Chelsea Women and AFC Wimbledon.
No, Surbiton is not a football town. But it was.
What if I told you Surbiton FC were one of the world’s first football teams? In Martin Westby’s recently published book, England’s Oldest Football Clubs, they are named as the first registered…
