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Club Records
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HISTORY OF COLESHILL UNITED F.C. There was a football team in Coleshill as long ago as 1920. The team included Ted Hewitt, Mr Wilson, Harold Williams, Sid Williams (Des's father), Jack Curley and Don McEwan. There has been a playing field at the site of the existing pitch since the thirties. Coleshill had a team in the Swindon and District Football League in the forties and fifties and won the League Division II Championship in 1948-9 season. The team contained Les Brown (Captain) and 'Chelsea' Smith who both went on to manage the 1st Team and Derek Caswell who managed the Sunday team. The Club folded for a few seasons but was re-formed in 1965 as a Sunday side playing in the Swindon Sunday Football League. In 1967 they started up a Saturday side in the North Berks Football Competitions, playing in Division 3, with a team mainly from the village, managed by Les Brown for the first 12 seasons. They won the 3rd Division Championship in their first season, with a record of: won 22; drawn 2; lost 0. Barry Punchard scored in the first 17 matches including 10 goals in a 17-0 win against Challow Reserves and finished the season with a total of 98 goals! He scored a total of 384 goals in 429 matches in the North Berks Football League. Further promotions in successive seasons saw Coleshill playing Premier Division football in 1970-71 and they maintained this status for eleven seasons until season 1980-81. Des Williams played 407 games in this period, scoring 177 goals. Ron Jefferies (351 appearances and 137 goals) and Rod Brown (331 appearances) were also stalwarts during this golden age.
Coleshill 1st team then suffered a sharp decline, and by season 1986-87 they were playing in Division 4. They languished eight long seasons in Division 4, five under the guidance of Andy Pagan, before Tony Portlock took them up into Division 3 in 1993-4 and finally into Division 2 in 1997-8. Tony Portlock, Geordie Lewis and Nigel Berry all had good efforts at restoring Division 1 football, but all failed by the slimmest of margins - finishing third! Christian Ayres, returning to the Club he first joined as a sixteen year old, took up the mantle with Martin Suter and finished the job, finishing second to Steventon in their first season of management. They also won the War Memorial Cup beating Didcot Casuals 3-1 with goals from the prolific Shane Blake, Christian Ayres and Martin Francis. Shane Blake scored in his first ever game for Coleshill in 1992-3 and has been scoring goals ever since. His record currently stands at 472 goals in 424 matches - more than a goal a game! Chris Ayres senior and Vic Moss took over the reigns for Coleshill's first season back in Division 1 for 24 years and did very well to finish fourth. In season 2006-7 Coleshill 1st team won their most prestigious trophy when they beat Harwell International 2-1 in the Charity Shield Cup Final at Abingdon United with goals from Sean Lewis and 19 year-old Adam Legg. Phil Wardroper (322), Kenny Sly (317) and Wayne Disbury (310) have all made over 300 appearances club. After playing ten years for Faringdon (scoring 282 goals), Ian Stonham signed for Coleshill in 1975 and went on to score 140 goals in 375 appearances.
Coleshill Reserves were formed in 1974 and for the first 25 years they remained in Division 5. Mike Fox managed them for the first three seasons followed by a succession of managers/committees. Ian Stonham managed them for a total of 18 seasons between 1982 and 2005, and finally managed to get them promoted, albeit in 3rd place, in 1998-99. They returned to Division 5 the following season but bounced back again to regain their place in Division 4 in 2000-01. The following season they won their first ever trophy, managed by Julian Willis, when they beat Warborough Reserves 5-4 in the League Cup Final, with Martin Bungay scoring all five goals! A week later he made his debut for the 1st Team and repeated the same feat against Warborough 1st Team! Sadly they were relegated again in season 2002-03. They bounced back to Division 4 under Ian Stonham the following season and Stuart Clark took them to their greatest achievement, in his first season of management, when they won the Division 4 Championship in 2005-06. In the following season they finished 4th and were promoted to Division 2. Having achieved two successive promotions Stuart Clark stepped down to be replaced by Martin Suter and Michael Cobb. Barry Punchard with 142 goals from 189 appearances is all-time top scorer for the Reserves with Ian Stonham (138 goals from 396 appearances) having the most appearances. Dave Blake (308) and Martin Chivers (87 goals from 281) and Tony Portlock (202) complete those with over 200 appearances.
Coleshill 'A'
team were formed in 2005-06 and finished a comfortable fifth in Division 5 and
reached the semi-final of the League Cup in their first season. They play at
Faringdon School, changing in the Faringdon Leisure Centre. |
