Kings Football Club

Hello and welcome to the official SNAP Sponsorship profile of Kings Football Club. We are delighted to announce that we have now partnered with SNAP to showcase our range of sponsorship opportunities with the intention of connection with local businesses from our community to aid our development.

Why Sponsor Us?

Here are three reasons why your business should sponsor Kings FC!

Increased Brand Awareness

Kings FC have a range of physical and digital assets that are ideal for your organisation to use to increase its brand awareness. Sponsorship of our club will therefore enable your business to receive a platform where it could promote the products that you supply.

Client Networking Opportunities

Kings FC has a growing base of players across multiple teams with each of our members having their own personal contacts. Sponsorship of our club will allow your business to connect with this mass network to market your services to the potential clients that are all associated with us.

Support Community Wellbeing

Kings FC is a club that is forward thinking with a purpose of providing further playing opportunities. Sponsorship of our club will centre your business at the forefront of our operations ensuring that you have a direct impact for considerable positive change within our local community. 

Please notify the club if there are any sponsorship opportunities which are not currently present on our SNAP profile. To register your interest in any of our packages please contact our page or an official club representative directly. 

The Club Today

Kings FC is an amateur football club based in Gloucester, Gloucestershire. We are affiliated with the Gloucestershire Football Association (GFA). We currently have 2 mens football teams:

• Kings FC is a mens (16yrs+) 11-a-side football team. They play in Division 1 of the Cheltenham Association Football League.

• Kings FC Veterans are a newly formed team for the 2022/23 season. They are a mens (40+) football team and play in the Gloucestershire FA Veterans League.

Our teams train and play home fixtures on 4G pitches at Oxstalls Sports Park, GL2 9DW which is a 26 hectare park which boasts state of the art facilities and a large open space for recreational use.

Aspirations

Kings FC have bold aspirations for the future. We do not just want to ‘survive’ as a football club, we want to continue to grow our club and introduce new teams which represent and serve our local community. Ask anyone about ‘Kings’ in the local area and they will know the name and associate it with football. We’ve been around since 1955 so our history is rich, we want to ensure that people are still talking about our club for years to come!

Although we have struggled as a club in recent years, we have persevered through the Covid pandemic and are looking to build strong foundations for our future. This year we have formed a new veterans side for the first time which is a sign of intent of our commitment to be a strong presence in our community and cater for all ages and abilities. If the club continues to be successful in the coming years, we wouldn’t rule out expanding into different teams, genders and age ranges if the appetite in the community was there. 

History

Kings Football Club was originally founded as Kings School Old Boys in 1955 by David Open and Peter Whitmore, two ex-pupils of King’s School in Gloucester, and initially the club played in the North Gloucestershire League. Having no local connections in the football world, they decided to do their own thing and launched King School Old Boys FC which played in what was then the North Gloucestershire League.

In 1961 Kings moved to the Cheltenham Football League and 13 years later they won the league’s Minor Charities Cup, defeating Northleach 4-1 in the final. They enjoyed another excellent run in the competition in 1978 but this time had to settle for the runners-up medals after losing 3-2 in the final to Rowanfield United. That game was played at the old Telehoist ground which is now the site of the Bentley showrooms.



In the early 80s the club changed their name to Kings FC as representatives from the school had dwindled as a result of the school’s switch over to rugby. 

However David Williams, an ex-King’s pupil and one of the founder players, was now teaching at Churchdown School and with his contacts was able to recruit new players. 

One of those recruits turned out to be a pretty special player – Guy Whittingham – a striker who went on to enjoy a stellar career with Portsmouth and Aston Villa among a good many other clubs.



Whittingham played for the club in the early 80s and the recruitment drive also allowed the club to field another team in the Cheltenham League. And there was quality as well as quantity because in 1984 the club reached the final of the Minor County Cup which saw their 2nd team just lose out to Chequers United.

 The club have enjoyed more cup success in recent years, winning the Cheltenham League’s Senior Charities Cup in 2010 after finishing runners-up the previous year. Both finals were played at Cheltenham Town’s ground, Whaddon Road. They also played again in the Senior Charities Cup final in 2016 at Kayte Lane, narrowly missing out on glory that year. In 2017, it was the reserve team who had success, winning the Minor Charity Cup Final hosted at Tewkesbury School.

Over the last 67 years, Kings have had over 500 players play for the various teams and people who have travelled from as far as Bristol, Cirencester and Tewkesbury to play for the club. Many players have had long playing careers with Kings School Old Boys and subsequently Kings FC and many go on to take an active interest in the club’s day to day running and development.

Two former players, in particular, demonstrate the commitment that there is within the club's management structure. The current Life President, Tom Jump started playing for the team in 1966 when he was 36 and played his last game for the club at the age of 52 in 1986. Our Club President, Ben Hill played for the team on leaving school in 1962 at the age of 17 and retired from playing in 1984. Following his retirement, he has served on the Kings FC committee making a sixty year commitment to Kings FC. During this time, he has also seen his son and grandsons follow in his footsteps in playing for the team.