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VIRGINIA WATER
FOOTBALL CLUB
Providing friendly, competitive football for all, developing players from a young age and giving them a pathway into adult football.
About VWFC
Virginia Water Football Club was formed during the 1919-1920 season, and celebrated its centenary in 2020. During the reign of King Edward VIII, Waters gained financial support (Royal Patronage) from the Crown, in the sum of £2 per annum. This continued throughout the reign of King George VI, who actually ‘gifted’ VWFC their current ground.
Until 1964 Waters were part of the Woking & District League, at which time they joined the Surrey Intermediate League, moving on to the Spartan League soon after.
In 1969 the clubhouse at the Timbers was erected and opened by Sir Stanley Rouse, CBE, who was then President of FIFA. The Timbers was given this name after the late Harry Timbers, one of the founder members of our Club. In 1970 Waters gained promotion from the Spartan League to the Combined Counties League, and steady progress saw them gain entry into the FA Vase. The 1980’s were a disappointing period in our history, that saw successive relegations to the Surrey South Eastern Combination Intermediate League. The 1990/91 season proved a turning point, with Waters winning the Surrey Intermediate Cup, beating Colney Hall 3-0 in the final. This was followed with promotion to the Surrey Premier League and Combined Counties League, but we were only allowed to stay there for one season due to league ground grading rulings.
Despite that relegation, Waters won three Surrey County Premier Cups in 1995, 1996 and 1997, the latter being part of a historic League and League Cup Treble! With league name changes the norm, in 2000 the Surrey Premier League became the Surrey Senior League, where Waters stayed until 2002, before joining the Surrey Intermediate League (Western), for three seasons before another relegation and immediate promotion. In 2010 Waters won promotion to the Surrey Elite League. Despite winning the County and League Cups, further promotion proved elusive.
Ceri Jones was appointed manager in 2015-16, finishing fourth in his first season in charge. The following season he appointed Richard Banks as Head Coach, and Waters duly won back-to-back promotions to the Hellenic League Division One, then Premier (competing at Step 5 for the first time in the club’s history) - including a cup double in 2016-17. After a period of consolidation in the Hellenic Premier Division, there was to be another FA National League System adjustment, that saw Waters moved across to the Combined Counties Premier League (North).
At the end of the 2021-22 season, after 7 successful years as manager, Ceri became Director of Football, and appointed Adam Bessent as his successor along with Jake Bessent as Assistant Manager. The 2022/23 season saw us reach the Senior County Cup final, finishing second to Met Police in the final, and also our highest ever league position - a respectable 7th place. The Bessent’s sadly resigned their positions early in to the 2023/24 season. An internal promotion saw Adam Sams take over the reins as the new First Team manager, ably assisted by Ben Warren as first team coach, and successfully lead the club to another 7th place league finish and reach the Combined Counties Premier League Cup Final where we were narrowly beaten by Burnham FC 2-1 to be Runner’s Up. The club still aims for continued success, both on and off the pitch, in the future and the move, under a new Ground Share arrangement, to the great facilities at Slough Town is seen as a step forward for the 2024/25 Season.
Waters also have a youth section at the club (VWFC Youth), which the club proudly aspires to, and uses as a direct pathway to adult football. The Youth Section continues to flourish; it now stands at 19 teams and growing rapidly, especially our girls program, in partnership with the FA Wildcats scheme, which will see 4 Girls Teams (U9, U10, U11 and U13) play under the Waters banner in the 2024/25 season.
Why Youth are Ravens
At Virginia Water Lake (Windsor Great Park) stands the Totem Pole.
The Totem Pole was a gift from the people of Canada to HM The Queen in June, 1958.
The Pole is 100 feet high, one foot for every year, and marks the centenary of British Columbia, which was named by Queen Victoria and proclaimed a Crown Colony on November 19th 1858. It is now the Pacific Coast Province of Canada.
The Totem Pole is carved in the authentic style of the Kwakiutl, a federation of many tribes, and clans inhabiting the northern part of Vancouver Island and the opposite coastal mainland. The figures on the pole reading from the top are, Man with large hat, Beaver, Old Man, Thunderbird, Sea Otter, The Raven, The Whale, Double headed Snake, Halibut Man and Cedar Man. Each figure represents the mythical ancestor of a clan.
The designer and principal carver of the pole, Chief Mungo Martin of the Kwakiutl was a most famous craftsman of this ancient art. The pole was carved from a single log of Western Red Cedar and weighs 27,000 pounds. It was cut from a tree 600 years old from the forests of the Queen Charlotte Islands, 500 miles north of Vancouver.
It was erected by the 3rd Field Squadron of the 22nd Field Engineer Regiment Royal Engineers for their Colonel in Chief, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in June 1958.
The Totem Pole also serves to symbolise the close association existing between British Columbia and the Corps of the Royal Engineers who, under Lt. Col. R C Moody RE, actively engaged in the development of the Colony in the years from 1858-1863.
The Totem Pole is signposted from the Wick Lane gate to the Park, or by foot from the parking area for the Valley Gardens.
Why Youth are Stags
Windsor Great Park is home to the resident Red Deer herd which roam around the native oaks.
The herd of Red Deer, which are resident in the Deer Park adjacent to the Long Walk. The current herd was established from two stags and 40 hinds, originally from Balmoral Estate, which were introduced in 1979 by our Park Ranger HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.
The red deer is the largest land mammal in the UK, standing at up to 137cm tall at shoulder height. The stag's antlers are an outward display of the male deer’s masculinity. The growth of the antlers is driven by testosterone and peaks in the early autumn when the rut starts. The deer's testosterone levels drop in the early winter and the antlers eventually drop off. Regrowth begins again in the spring, usually bigger and better than the year before.
