The origin of Kingstonian Football Club can be traced back to 1885, 31 years after the Surrey Comet was first published, writes Ross Basham.

Since that time, the Comet has followed the highs and lows of the Royal borough’s team to the present day, which sadly sees the Ks in a period of crisis.

The first football team in Kingston was set up by the YMCA, with its first fixture held at Spring Grove on November 9, 1885.

However, after two years the YMCA decided that football was too rough a game for young Christian men to be playing, and so the connection was dropped.

There was a damaging split in the club in 1908, and a breakaway team emerged, named Old Kingstonians FC, who were based at Norbiton Sports Ground – ironically the site of Kingsmeadow, the club’s current home.

Kingston-on-Thames, as the club were now known, continued to play at Richmond Road, which was to be its home until 1988.

After the end of World War I, differences between the two clubs were put aside, and in 1919 Kingstonian FC, as we know them today, were born.

In 1933, Ks achieved one of their greatest successes by winning the FA Amateur Cup, beating Stockton 4-1 in a replay.

Ks were a strong force in the amateur game in the 1960s, when the Comet’s current Kingstonian correspondent Phil Windeatt started going to Richmond Road.

He recalls: “Back then, the amateur game was much more popular.
“When Ks reached the FA Amateur final against Hendon in 1960, it was played in front of 70,000 fans.”

The club went into a gradual decline in the 1970s. But, in the centenary year of 1985, Ks were promoted to the Isthmian Premier division.

They sold the much-loved, yet decrepit, Richmond Road ground and moved into Kingsmeadow.

In the 1990s Ks reached the first round proper of the FA Cup several times, beating league side Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 in 1994.

But the club’s most successful spell came with the arrival of manager Geoff Chapple in 1997.

In Chapple’s first full season, the club won the Isthmian league for the third time in their history, thereby achieving promotion to the Conference.

The year after, the Comet was able to follow Ks all the way to Wembley, where they won the FA Trophy by beating Forest Green Rovers 1-0.

The start of the 21st century was even better for Ks. In 2000 they finished fifth in the Nationwide Conference and retained the FA Trophy with a 3-2 win over Kettering in another Wembley final.

“Those few years really were fantastic times for the club,” said Phil, who started writing match reports for the Surrey Comet in the mid-1990s.

“We had some great players, and promotion to the Football League looked a real possibility under Geoff Chapple.

“I’d have to say that seeing the Ks run out at Wembley is the best memory I have as a fan, and the fact that they won both times makes it even more special.”

In 2001, Kingstonian reached the fourth round of the FA Cup, and were agonisingly close to beating Bristol City, with only a last-minute equaliser saving the league club.

However, the cup run coincided with a downturn in fortunes, as Ks were relegated from the Nationwide Conference and Chapple was sacked.

“It was strange, the team seemed to be able to raise their game against league teams, but they were absolutely awful in the league. It was the beginning of the mess that the club is in now,” said Phil.

Having gone into financial administration in 2001, the new owner Rajesh Khosla was unable to clear the debts of the club and sold the lease of Kingsmeadow to the newly-formed AFC Wimbledon.

The Kingstonian Supporters Trust was set up in 2003 to try to protect the club for the future, and a possible saviour appeared in the form of prospective buyer Jimmy Cochran. But a deal still hasn’t materialised and the Ks are on the brink of disaster.

Windeatt said: “It’s a very sad situation. At the moment it is hard to see the club surviving for much longer.”

The Surrey Comet will continue to support the Ks.

Let us hope this isn’t the last chapter of the Kingstonian story.

The team in 1960