History

The original aim of Little League Football ® was to provide organised football for children regardless of ability and in a high quality environment. An inaugural meeting was arranged on 12th September 1976 by the National Executive (the controlling body of the overall Little League Football ® organisation). Kingston Little League was formed in the late 1970's as part of a national structure across South London and the West Midlands. A committee was formed to help set up the league, and Kingston Little League kicked off their first official league games in January 1978. When we began, there were only six Senior League sides. The Bantams, the Intermediates and the Seven-a-sides were still to come!

Today

Kingston Little League is the largest voluntary organisation for youth in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the second largest Little League in England, contributing to the quality of life of local children and the local community at a very low cost and with no public subsidy.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE, BACK IN 1977? It may seem difficult to imagine what it was like way back then, but to be involved in a scheme that was fresh and new - and a great idea too - was very rewarding.

To see just how Kingston Little League has grown to become the second largest Little League in London/Surrey, let's do a little "time travelling"...

1977 - Our inaugural season began with six sides - Ambers (Lambs Lions), Dark Blues (International Imps), Light Blues (Hollidge United) Greens (Green Giants) Reds (Red Rovers) and Whites (Tommags Tornadoes). Whites, incidentally, changed to Maroons in our sixth year. This league is now known as the Senior League. Shown below is what was either the first game or a Cup final kicked off by Paul Garnett (Paul's son Charlie now plays in Little League) and the Mayor of Kingston at that time.

1978/79 - Due to the popularity of the league, a "Reserve League" had to be introduced the very next season. This became known as the Intermediate League, which in its first season had four teams. This number was increased to six sides the following year.

1979/80 - The Bantams begin! Young William Goodyear, who had recently left the Senior League team Ambers, gathered together a handful of players for informal kick-around on Dinton Field and started this "younger set". This would provide the entrance for newcomers to Kingston Little League.

1988 It's our 10th Anniversary and an especially big Gala Day celebration needed an especially big Programme. Now you can download it by clicking on the picture.

1997/98 - 18 years later, and in January 1997 two new teams the Whites (Knights) and Stripes (Paul Abbott) made their Intermediate debuts. Not long after that the Blue Hoops (the Chieftains) and the Oranges took the number of Intermediate teams to ten.

1998/99 - While the Seniors still had the customary six teams, the Intermediate reached the dozen mark, as Golds and Yellows (Canbury All-stars) were introduced. And so the Intermediate League was split into two divisions.

Surely, with 20 teams in all (Senior and Intermediate) we had reached our limit? No. The youngsters of Kingston were evidently thirsty for more. The very brave decision was taken to start a Seven-a-side League to ease the waiting list and to help the booming Bantams! So six Seven-a-side teams began in September 1998. They were the Maroons, Dark Blue, Light Blue, Red, Amber and Green.

1999/2000 - A new pitch had to be squeezed in to accommodate six more Seven-a-side teams, and they were the Blue Hoops, Red Hoops, Oranges, Whites, Stripes and Yellow Tigers. So now we had two divisions, now called the Tudor End Division (nearest Tudor Drive) and the School End Division (nearest Latchmere School). This season was badly affected by very wet weather and many matches were postponed and league programmes curtailed because all the pitches were waterlogged. In fact Dinton Field - home of the Bantams - was often almost completely under water.

2000/2001 - This website was created and first uploaded. Designed for KLL by Michael Pryce, the Webmaster John Penberthy began updating and adding pages weekly. As the site developed photographs were added, and you can still find every picture if you check out the archives below! The idea was keenly taken up and Press Secretary Michael Macey wrote this History page and contributed to many of the others. It is he who weekly collated the results and tables for the site and for League and supplied them to the site and to the Surrey Comet.

2001/2002 - The 11-a-side Leagues were revamped to take into account a new ruling from the FA. that children could only play in teams with a two year age range. Accordingly the decision was taken to add yet another League to the structure. Now there were leagues for Under 14/13's, Under13/12's and Under 12//11's.

2002/2003 - At the start of the 2002/2003 season the leagues were renamed the Senior, Intermediate and Junior Leagues respectively. In addition two more 7-a-side teams were added - Celts and Golds, making 14 teams in total.

2003/2004 - The next season saw the re-organisation of the committee into the format used today. Mike England, the long serving secretary was appointed the KLL President and the new structure under Mike Arnaouti as Chairman started to run the League.

2004/2005 - The redevelopment of Dinton Field meant that Bantams needed to find a new home and KLL were grateful that Kew and Ham Sports Association were able to provide a temporary home. The annual Gala day was also kindly hosted at the same location. The Cup Finals were held at the Hawker Centre for the Juniors, Intermediates and Senior leagues.

2005/2006 - Although Dinton Field was scheduled to be ready by the start of the season there were problems that prevented its use and as a result Bantams continued to play at the Kew and Ham Sports Association grounds in Ham. Once again the Cup Finals were hosted by the Hawker Centre. The Gala Day was however successfully held at Dinton Field. John O'Neil, a local builder, became the Senior League Sponsor.

2006/2007 - The Bantams returned to Dinton Field. The KLL National squad reached the Quarter-Finals. KLL enter the Elm Grove Colts FC Tournament for the first time and the U9s win their final against a Surrey Sunday League team. U12s repeat the the feat by winning their final. The U14s reached the Semi-Final stage. Now Dark Blues won the first Surbiton Rotary Club 6-a-Side competition on Saturday 14th July, 2007. The first National U10s 6-a-Side competition was won by KLL defeating New Malden in the Final 3-1.

2007/2008 - Kingston Little Leagues celebrated its 30th Anniversary. Determined to provide football for girls who did not wish to play in mixed teams, KLL arranged training for girls with the aim of creating four teams by the end of season 2007-08. The second National U10s 6-a-Side competition was won by KLL once again defeating New Malden in the Final 2-1.The KLL National team reached the final of the National U13-U12 competition which they won. Teams participated in both the second Rotary Club of Surbiton Tournament at Elm Grove for a second year.

2008/2009 - Two new teams added to Sevens with the inclusion of Royals and Hawks. Sevens teams reduced to 9 per side which increased the numbers by 4. Girls football continued on Dinton Field but numbers prevented a league being formed. Girls entered two teams in the Seven-a-Side Cup competition post-Christmas. Kingston reached the final of the third National U10s 6-a-Side competition but lost on penalties 4-3. The KLL National team reached the final of the National U13-U12 competition which they lost 2-1. A 8-team summer league was held at Tiffin Girls School for Juniors and Sevens. All 8 summer teams participated in the third Rotary Club of Surbiton Football Tournament.

2009/2010 - Sadly our aim to get a Girls League started had to be put on temporary hold and those girls who wanted to continue were allocated to teams in Sevens and Juniors. KLL entered a number of tournaments and although our National U13/12 team could not repeat the heroics of the previous season in reaching the final they did their best.

In the National U10s however KLL reached the final for the fourth successive year but lost 2-1. In our fourth year of entering the Elm Grove Colts Tournament teams were entered from U9 to U14. The U12 and U13 both won their respective competitions. The fourth Rotary Club of Surbiton Tournament took place in Chessington with 8 teams from KLL playing.

2010/2011 - Girls football returned in the shape of our first all girls team to play in the Seven-A-Side league AvBuyer Red Hoops. Mike Arnaouti who had been Chairman since season 2003/04 had stood down at the end of the previous season and the reins were handed over to Kevin Galvin who had been the Sevens Co-ordinator since 2000/01 season. At the end of the first half of the season Sevens had a large waiting list and a development team were established - Cavaliers, they played friendly games each week and also participated in the Cup competition.

At Easter an U12 team was once again sent to The Netherlands hosted by our Dutch friends at Westlandia. Although KLL lost to the hosts on the traditional Friday night game, they played exceptionally well in the tournament that KLL were entered for on the Saturday finishing a credible 6th place. On Sunday the players and some travelling staff went to see the deciding game in the Dutch First Division.

In the National U13/12 KLL reached the Semi-Finals but were beaten 2-1 against Morden LL. In the National U10s KLL reached the final for the fifth successive year and defeated Raynes Park II in final 4-1 to win Challenge Cup for third time. Kingston LL II reach semi-finals of cup and lost 1-0 to Raynes Park LL II. (In this season a number of Little Leagues entered a second team). The Elm Grove Colts Tournament teams was entered for a fifth year with teams from U9 to U14, there were no winners this year. The fifth Rotary Club of Surbiton Tournament took place in Chessington with a changed format and only 6 teams including two from Kew Association playing. Despite the rain the competition was completed.

Girls Team 2010-11

NLL U10s Winners 2010-11 Season

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