Sheppey United F.C. is a football club based on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. The club are members of the and play at Holm Park. The club is affiliated to the Football Association and is an FA Charter Standard club.
History
Origin of football on the Isle of Sheppey
As in most parts of the UK, football began to make an appearance on the Isle of Sheppey in the middle of the 19th Century with local records showing teams active on the island from the 1860s onwards. Three clubs rose to prominence in this time – Sheppey Rovers, Invicta and Victoria. By the 1880s Sheppey Rovers had ceased playing with their players joining either Invicta or Victoria. In time for the 1888 Kent Merit Badge competition (the immediate precursor to today's Kent Senior Cup) the Invicta and Victoria made the decision to enter a joint side named "Sheerness" in order to challenge the two pre-eminent sides in the competition, Arsenal and Chatham Town. In both the 1889 Kent Merit Badge and 1890 Kent Senior Cup competitions Sheerness were drawn with Chatham in the first round and lost both times. Given that Chatham were a crack side at this time Sheerness' performances were considered admirable.
Formation of Sheppey United
After the performance of the 'United' Sheerness team both Invicta and Victoria saw the benefits of forming a joint side and a meeting was called for 25 August 1890 at the Britannia Hotel, Sheerness to introduce the new "Sheppey United Football Club". The club would play at the Botany Road ground of Sheppey United Cricket Club and play in blue and white. The club changed to its current kit of red and white striped shirts, black shorts and black socks in 1892. Apart from playing with white shirts and socks in the 1960s and 1970s and playing in red shorts and socks while known as AFC Sheppey, the club has retained these kit colours to this day.
At this meeting a number of friendlies were announced with Sheppey's first game, aptly, against nearest team and rivals Sittingbourne. The game was played on 20 September 1890 at Sittingbourne's Gore Court Ground and saw Sheppey emerge victorious 3–1 despite starting the game with 10 men. The local press referred to Sheppey United as the "Sheppey-ites" in their report for this match and, subsequently, the club's nickname became The Ites and is the nickname that the club and its supporters still refer to themselves by. A familiar rallying cry for the club was "Up The Ites!" and is used in the club program to this day.
Further friendlies that season included games against Chatham, Faversham, Rochester and Gravesend. In the 19th century, as there were very few leagues formed, clubs tended to arrange both a home and away friendly against each opponent they faced in order to fill a club's fixture list for the season.
Rise to prominence and founding members of the Southern League
In Sheppey's first years the club was able to organise itself so well that it became one of the top sides in the south of England. In January 1892 the club drew 3–3 away at Football League club Bolton Wanderers and in the next season won 4–0 away at the region's only professional club, Arsenal, at their Manor Road ground in Plumstead with star forward Art Rule scoring 2 of the goals. That same year another professional Football League club, Accrington, were beaten 3–2 at Botany Road and Chatham Town were finally defeated in an FA Cup tie 1–0. The previous season had seen the club make their debut in the FA Cup when they played Crouch End, winning 3–1. Ashford were then beaten 2–1 before Sheppey lost 4–3 to Clapton. The same year that Chatham had finally beaten also saw the club make its debut in the FA Amateur Cup. Dover, Royal Engineers and Folkestone were all beaten before Sheppey lost 3–1 in the First Round Proper to two-time FA Cup Winners Old Etonians. This was Sheppey's last appearance in the FA Amateur Cup until 1951 as the club turned professional at the end of the 1893–94 season.