Club History

The Club was started in the 1990's. By 1997 founder member Trevor Clarke was managing an U14 team and other age groups were up and running (down to U12's).

Mini Soccer was introduced to Tankerton in 1997 by Tony Petts and the first 7 a-side team started playing in the 1997/98 season.

Numbers increased sufficiently during that season to enable Tankerton to put out 2 teams for both U9′s and U10's age groups the following season.

In 2004 the club was assessed as reaching the English FA’s Charter Development Club Standard.

In 2006 one of our teams led Chelsea out to play Liverpool at the Community Shield season opener at the Millennium stadium in Cardiff, (All the children were in the tunnel alongside all of the players from both teams, and were all interviewed pre match by Sky Sports!!!).We also had the Community Shield on display at our training ground and Former England, Man United and Chelsea skipper and Assistant Manager Ray Wilkins visit the club.

Since then the influx of children, particularly within the younger age groups, has enabled the Club to steadily grow to our current size with mini-soccer, 9 a-side, and 11 a-side teams.

In 2010 Tankerton FC applied for and was awarded Charitable status from the Charity Commission, which cements its place in the local community for the good voluntary work its coaches and managers do for the children and other local and national charities.

In 2011 the club undertook its first exchange with FC Dainville, Whitstable Twin Town in France which has now become regular event in the clubs calendar availing children (and their families) from 2 or 3 teams most years the opportunity to spend a weekend in France playing football and making new friends.

In the 2011/2012 season Tankerton FC became Kent FA’s Charter Development Club of the Year. An accolade it was given again the following season in 2012/2013.

2012 saw many other accolades including the Beefeater Community Award and the Canterbury and District Junior Club of the Year Award.

In 2012/2013 our Veterans Team also made the Final of the Kent County Veterans cup narrowly missing out to Phoenix Sport.

Also in the 2012/2013 season the club set up its own Youth Council and become one of the first clubs in the country to really give its young players a voice in the running of the club.

Consequently we picked up further awards with our Youth Council being awarded a Beafeater Community Prize in 2013, We also picked up the Arthur Pierce award in 2013 for our work with local children and the European exchanges. We also came runners up in the Canterbury and District Community Awards.

2013 saw us once again change our constitution to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) to allow the club to own assets in its own name but more importantly to allow some of our youth players to help run the club as it allows Trustees to be appointed from the age of 16.

The 2013/2014 season also saw our first Under 21 side established playing in the Kent NRG U21 Development League, and a girls section formed at the cub.

2014 saw the club hosting its first Powerchair taster session at the Community College Whitstable with representatives from the England Wheelchair Football Association and a series of sessions at the University of Kent.

By the start of the 2014/2015 season the club has grown to 31 teams playing in 6 different leagues including a second Veterans team being registered.

In 2015 Tankerton FC entered its first Mens side in the Kent County League.

The team also took on a Celebrity 11 – CelebFC to raise money for the Kent Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance at the end of the season.

That year the accolades kept coming with the Kent FA Workforce Volunteer Award 2015, and several awards for players from the Kent League. And our Veterans Team won the Kent County cup beating Hotel de Ville in a fiercely contested final at the Belmont.

In 2016 the club put in for and got planning permission for a permanent home on the B road between Whitstable and Herne Bay.

That year also saw Tankerton FC Youth Council feature on the large screens at Wembley Stadium during FA Cup weekend promoting safeguarding and child safety in sport, footage of the film was also used throughout England in FA education workshops as an example of good practice at grassroots.

In 2016/17 the club completed its first overseas transfer with a player moving to play for a German side in its provincial league system. Club officials also picked up Kent FA Volunteer of the Year awards for both 2016 & 2017, and our Welfare Officer Phil Barton was recognised nationally with the NSPCC National Child Welfare Officer Award 2016.

In 2017 our Veteran team again made the final of the County cup unfortunately losing out to a Crayford One Bell team fielding ex-premier league star Jimmy Bullard.

In 2018, we fielded two adult men’s team with the first team re entering the Kent League with adult football developing to give a pathway to our youth players, from age 6 through to adult.

In 2018 also, we held our first session for our deaf childrens team whose success continues to grow, and for the 2018/19 season Tankerton FC were awarded Kent FA Community Project of the Year for the work with this team.

Our original girls team who were established five years ago won our first Kent Girls and Ladies Trophy in 2018 and the club went into partnership with ‘Females who Football’ and stabled a Women’s recreational football team.

We also hosted the Kent FA Girls' Football Week initiative in April 2018 and had over 100 players on site.

We were also presented with a club defibrillator by Royal Warrant Holders Association which is secured in our Baily Yanick medical room to safeguard all our players.

2018 also saw the club be given permission to lease the land it had put in for planning permission from Canterbury City Council after lengthy consultation.

In 2019 The club developed a new 9 a side pitch with a grant from Sport England, and created a Nature Reserve for the local community thanks to a grant from Veolia Environmental Trust.

In 2020 finally the club obtained leases on the two parcels of land it had developed on the B road from the City Council.

And the major success of the 2019/2020 season before it was cut short was our U16 girls side reaching the Kent County Cup Final, the first time a Tankerton FC Youth side had made a County Cup Final

Over the years we have supported a number of other charities raising money including CALM, Breast Cancer, Dementia, Children in Need and many other good causes through charity days, charity nights, golf days etc

We continue to mentor student from Canterbury Christ Church University on the BSC Sports Coaching degree, through having a highly qualified coaches.

We have had at least five of our previous players graduate with sports related degrees from UCFB Wembley, Southampton Solent, and Chichester University who have gone on to work in football with Premier and EFL sides and the FA both nationally and locally.

We are proud to say that currently we have around 350 boys and girls registered with us - their ages range from 5 to 18. We have over 25 teams including a women’s team, two men’s sides, two Veterans teams and a deaf team meaning we have well over 400 players in total on our books.

Tankerton FC Calor Gas Heaters - Full Advert