19/06/2026
The Story of Football in Canterbury: Part Five - Beyond the Kent League 1959 to 1964
A return to our continuing series of articles detailing the history of football in Canterbury.
Part’s One and Two were penned by Dave Elliott, former City player (among other clubs), renowned statistician and best known as the unofficial historian of Kent football and his pieces took us right up to 1947. This is the date Canterbury City FC as such normally traces its history back to, so our current historian, long-time supporter and now Programme Editor – Dave Morgan, decided to continue the story to the present day.
His last instalment took us right up until 1958 and the club’s move to Kingsmead Stadium, so this latest part covers the period from there up until the mid-sixties, the time after the Kent League had disbanded.
The Story of Football in Canterbury: Part Five - Beyond the Kent League 1959 to 1964
With the Kent League closing down at the end of the 1958/59 season, City and the other seventeen clubs had to find new homes for their sides to compete in.
Gillingham opted to put their reserves into the Football Combination whilst Ashford, Bexleyheath and Welling, Dover, Folkestone, Margate, Ramsgate, Sittingbourne and Tunbridge Wells all sought, and received, approval to take the step up into the Southern League.
Chatham Town, Deal Town, Faversham Town, Herne Bay, Sheppey United, Snowdown CW and Whitstable all switched to the Aetolian League whilst the Seanglian League, generally comprising clubs reserve teams, attracted Betteshanger CW. That left just City who, in the hope that fixtures against the ‘A’ teams of Arsenal, Brighton, Chelsea, Fulham, Luton and West Ham might attract good size attendances, joined the renamed Metropolitan League.
Whilst City did well to finish in third place, attendances were a disappointment. Although 1,055 watched City’s seven goal demolition of Bedford Town reserves and 713 witnessed the defeat of Fulham ‘A’ it was apparent that there was little appetite to draw supporters out to watch what were after all the third strings of these Football League clubs. Luton reported just twenty watched their ‘A’ game with City whilst Arsenal’s was little better at just eighty!
So, perhaps understandably, City decided - a season after all their local rivals had done so, that they would need to join the Southern League as well. Ahead of their opening fixtures City recruited a young forward who had played against them the previous season whilst at Chelsea. That player was Falmer born Johnny Ray who would go on to become City’s record Southern League goal-scorer. Whilst Ray banged in sixteen league goals and added others in the Southern League and Kent Senior Cups it proved to be a largely frustrating season which saw City finish way down in seventeenth place. Attendances were a slight improvement on the previous season with the opening games topping four figures although they would drop to around 700 by late season.
1961/62 saw a similar outcome. Sixteenth in the league, but at least there were some victories in the cups to cheer. A 4-3 defeat of Tunbridge Wells in the Southern League Cup; an FA Cup win over Whitstable; and a Kent Senior Cup triumph over Chatham added to the positives of a Southern League best attendance of 2,168 against Margate.
For 1962/63, City added former Scottish International goalkeeper Ian Black to their ranks. Born in Aberdeen his career was interrupted by the Second World War but whilst guesting for Chelsea he won the South Final of the Football League War Cup. After the war he signed for Southampton, making over 100 appearances for the Saints and later joined Fulham for whom he played virtually throughout the 1950s. He had three seasons with Bath City before making the move to Canterbury. Black helped City improve their league position to eleventh in both of his seasons between the sticks. He kept seventeen league clean sheets but was also in goal when City were hammered 9-0 at Corby Town in September 1963!
There was nothing spectacular about City’s first five seasons since leaving the Kent League but that was about to change…….
Hmm, that’s a real teaser from Dave for Part Six!
Dave mentions Johnny Ray and Ian Black in his piece. You can find out more about Johnny Ray on the ‘Margate Football Club History’ website, a splendid source that we’ve dipped into before, which is also from where our photo has come from.
A quick google search for Ian Black also uncovered an excellently written obituary article from The Independent published in 2013, which was also the source of his photo.
Another fascinating read and a big thank you as always to Dave. As for his teaser for Part Six, all we can tell you is that ‘FA Cup Fever Hits The City!!…..’
That part will follow soon when we continue: The Story of Football in Canterbury……
https://www.canterburycityfc.co.uk/news/1028/the-story-of-football-in-canterbury-part-five-beyo
