Former rivals

[Lord Elpus]

Let's have a break from discussing our somewhat depressing league form and have a think about any historical local rivals. Do we even still have any? It's a sobering thought and might even give us something to keep our current form in perspective.

Kingstonian...sinking into irrelevance unfortunately and unlikely to be playing them at any time in the near future. Chronic mismanagement going back decades now has them plummeting towards the Combined Counties League, and with no home of their own a very uncertain future to say the least. Interestingly they never really considered us to be local rivals, perceiving us to not be that worthy.

Staines Town...now absorbed into Staines Lammas FC following the wilful bad management of their final owner. No-one wants to see any club go under and I still cringe at those of our fans who still sing about wanting to "burn down Staines Town." I bet some of those weren't even born the last time we played Staines!

Molesey...in the lower reaches of the Combined Counties and unlikely to go much higher any time soon.

Chertsey...never really had that much history with them despite being fairly near. Always strike me as a bit of a yo yo club who have a bit of potential if funded adequately.

Ashford Town...not enough real history with them although they do seem on a bit of a spiral nowadays.

Who are the modern day ones?

Hanworth Villa? Despite many of our former volunteers upping sticks and going there, there just simply isn't a competitive history. Quite a few Hampton folk almost see them as being a bit of a second club. (It's doesn't quite grab me enough for that, although I do go a couple of times a season.)

It's a shame not having a real local rival these days then, but it does make you sit back and think "there but for the grace," etc...

[BeaverWatcher]

Going back even further you have the likes of Feltham who were regular opponents in the 80's and early 90's. Remember those cold, cold visits to the Arena, usually on Boxing Day! Met Police, though local, have no fanbase to interact with and currently find themselves at Step 4 as well.

Local clubs either have gone way down or some of the newer local-ish teams we have had recent games against, Wealdstone, Sutton, AFC Wimbledon for example, have gone up the leagues.

A trip to Farnborough, Hemel or Worthing for our Boxing Day fixture doesn't hold the same allure as jumping on the 111 to Kingston or 216 to Staines!

[TW2-Beaver]

I also see Hanworth as a sort of second club/friendly club rather than a rival. Although I just don't hugely enjoy watching games there, it's nice and local so I always end up catching a handful of games a season.

With all the former Hampton players there, you could argue its a Beaver retirement home (Josh Casey, Mark Smith, Aston Nunn, George Wells, Dylan Randall, Terry Buss, Leon Solomon, possibly missing some others!)

[HamptonLifer5]

Even Dean Wells!

[Lord Elpus]

Going back even further you have the likes of Feltham who were regular opponents in the 80's and early 90's. Remember those cold, cold visits to the Arena, usually on Boxing Day! Met Police, though local, have no fanbase to interact with and currently find themselves at Step 4 as well.

Local clubs either have gone way down or some of the newer local-ish teams we have had recent games against, Wealdstone, Sutton, AFC Wimbledon for example, have gone up the leagues.

A trip to Farnborough, Hemel or Worthing for our Boxing Day fixture doesn't hold the same allure as jumping on the 111 to Kingston or 216 to Staines!

Oh God yes Feltham...how on earth could I forget. That miserable ground, The Arena, was a dreadful, tumbledown place even back then. Miles from the pitch too. We had some good battles with them over the years though, and they gave us David Hook. (Let's gloss over Brian Laing though, who oversaw some pretty awful Hampton sides.)

[JimS]

Going back even further you have the likes of Feltham who were regular opponents in the 80's and early 90's. Remember those cold, cold visits to the Arena, usually on Boxing Day! Met Police, though local, have no fanbase to interact with and currently find themselves at Step 4 as well.

Local clubs either have gone way down or some of the newer local-ish teams we have had recent games against, Wealdstone, Sutton, AFC Wimbledon for example, have gone up the leagues.

A trip to Farnborough, Hemel or Worthing for our Boxing Day fixture doesn't hold the same allure as jumping on the 111 to Kingston or 216 to Staines!

A bus on Boxing Day? You'll be lucky!

[BeaverWatcher]

Going back even further you have the likes of Feltham who were regular opponents in the 80's and early 90's. Remember those cold, cold visits to the Arena, usually on Boxing Day! Met Police, though local, have no fanbase to interact with and currently find themselves at Step 4 as well.

Local clubs either have gone way down or some of the newer local-ish teams we have had recent games against, Wealdstone, Sutton, AFC Wimbledon for example, have gone up the leagues.

A trip to Farnborough, Hemel or Worthing for our Boxing Day fixture doesn't hold the same allure as jumping on the 111 to Kingston or 216 to Staines!

A bus on Boxing Day? You'll be lucky!

Fortunately the Bus's run on Boxing Day. It's the lack of trains that stops the fun of away travel.

[Adam]

Although we might pass each other in league placings, hopefully not, Walton & Hersham could very much come into the mix in the coming years.

Our current stint in the NLS I think our nearest teams have been Slough and Dorking. At least the first time we had Staines and Wimbledon around.

[Lord Elpus]

Although we might pass each other in league placings, hopefully not, Walton & Hersham could very much come into the mix in the coming years.

Our current stint in the NLS I think our nearest teams have been Slough and Dorking. At least the first time we had Staines and Wimbledon around.

Yes, AFC Wimbledon was a good one for a brief period. It really used to rile them that they could never beat us.

[TW2-Beaver]

Although we might pass each other in league placings, hopefully not, Walton & Hersham could very much come into the mix in the coming years.

Our current stint in the NLS I think our nearest teams have been Slough and Dorking. At least the first time we had Staines and Wimbledon around.

Yes, AFC Wimbledon was a good one for a brief period. It really used to rile them that they could never beat us.

The club organised a friendly against AFC Wimbledon in 2019, which they won, and one of their fans wrote in a blog post that it was satisfying to finally beat Hampton, so we do live in their memories. Obviously a non-competitive match doesn't count though and we are still unbeaten against them

RE Staines, my understanding is that Staines Lammas FC altered their name to Staines & Lammas (Middlesex) FC (and you thought our name was a mouthful!) in order to recognise the Staines Town contingent who moved across and keep "Staines" and "Lammas" separate, although there may be some on here who know more about this and can expand?

[BeaverWatcher]

Although we might pass each other in league placings, hopefully not, Walton & Hersham could very much come into the mix in the coming years.

Our current stint in the NLS I think our nearest teams have been Slough and Dorking. At least the first time we had Staines and Wimbledon around.

Yes, AFC Wimbledon was a good one for a brief period. It really used to rile them that they could never beat us.

The club organised a friendly against AFC Wimbledon in 2019, which they won, and one of their fans wrote in a blog post that it was satisfying to finally beat Hampton, so we do live in their memories. Obviously a non-competitive match doesn't count though and we are still unbeaten against them

RE Staines, my understanding is that Staines Lammas FC altered their name to Staines & Lammas (Middlesex) FC (and you thought our name was a mouthful!) in order to recognise the Staines Town contingent who moved across and keep "Staines" and "Lammas" separate, although there may be some on here who know more about this and can expand?

Yep true, they did change their name to Staines & Lammas (Mx). They currently languish near the bottom of Combined Counties Division 1. Currently they ground share with Spethorne Sports.

[TW3 Beaver]

Oh God yes Feltham...how on earth could I forget. That miserable ground, The Arena, was a dreadful, tumbledown place even back then. Miles from the pitch too. We had some good battles with them over the years though, and they gave us David Hook. (Let's gloss over Brian Laing though, who oversaw some pretty awful Hampton sides.)

Although you were a long way from the pitch the stand was so high that you still had a decent view.
Great for Plane Spotters too.