Introduction
Never a day goes by when I don't think about Cray Wanderers and the fact that I am stuck in the wilderness, unable to attend games and join in the fun and adventures at Flamingo Park. In case anybody reading this doesn't know what I am talking about, here's a sort of explanation.
Cray Wanderers FC is a football club that is now based in Chislehurst, which is south of London but still near enough to the City to enable the club to claim that it is the oldest and original association football club in Town. There's one or two pretenders to the throne who might contest that but, formed in 1860, Cray Wanderers are most definitely the oldest continuously active association football club in that ever-expanding metropolis called London. They are also joint second-oldest in the world, sharing that impressive feat with Hallam FC in Yorkshire. The oldest football club on the planet is, of course, Sheffield FC (formed in 1857) with whom our club has struck up a mutual friendship over recent years.
Flamingo Park is the club's now 'forever home' and the men's first team has been playing Isthmian League Premier Division football there since the commencement of the 2024-25 season — on a smart new 3G pitch. Prior to acquiring Flamingo Park, the club has had a succession of rented home venues which they were either evicted from or moved away to better facilities. At no point in their 160+ years history had the club owned a ground they could really call theirs. But that changed a few years ago. Problems encountered while trying to obtain planning permission for Sandy Lane, St Paul's Cray, another potential home the Wands had their eye on in the early 2000s, led the club to the old established but abandoned and dilapidated Flamingo Park, once the sports ground of the National Dock Labour Board (ask your grandad about it).
And why am I in the wilderness? This is a long tale that could go on forever but, to try and keep it short for the sake of everyone's sanity, I am a full-time carer for my wife, after she contracted a neurological illness back in the early 2000s, which left her totally immobile due to the debilitating disability the illness has left her with. As a consequence, I cannot attend matches to see the club I have supported since boyhood play, nor can I meet with members of the club — be they officials, supporters or players — to enjoy a bit of Saturday afternoon diversion from real life.
I have been a regular article contributor to the club's official matchday programmes for many years but, alas, the last time I watched a Cray game was back in 2012, on the final day of the season, which was a 3-1 'home' win at Hayes Lane, Bromley against already-relegated Horsham in the Isthmian League Premier Division. I also ran the club's official website between 2003 and 2012 as well as started up the current 100 Club in 2008. I am pleased to see that it is still going strong after 17 years! If you want to go back even further, I edited and produced the club's matchday programmes between 1974 and 1979 and served on the committee during that time.
I have put this blog together not just to reminisce about my time supporting Cray Wanderers but also to provide an insight into what I have experienced in life while growing to my grand old age. My articles (or blog posts, as some would point out) will probably remain a long while after I am gone so that newer and younger Wands supporters and visitors to this site in general will get a whiff of the history that I have lived through. I hope everyone who visits this site enjoys the experience. COYW!
Trevor Mulligan
