On the Field
In September 1964 Civil Service FC first match was played and saw the team win 5-4 at Wiggin Reserves with the goals coming from John Price(2), Neil Williams (2) and Dennis Beavan. The team remained in Division 3 through to 1971/2 before promotion to Div 2 the following season. Regular goal-scorers in the promotion team included Dave Clark and brothers Garth and Hedley Lawson. However a disastrous appointment in 1974/5 saw the team withdraw from the league after just two games (No player notification for the third game) meaning that when the club rejoined in 1975/6, they were in the lowest division, Division 4.
Goals from the prolific John Devereux quickly saw the club promoted back to Division 3 and then in 1977/8, a team full of character (Mick Hughes, Paul Southall, Mick Robinson, Billy Anderson etc) reached Division 2. After just one season in this league the club achieved promotion to Division 1 in 1979/80. Eventually after finishing runners up in the 1995/6, the team went up to thePremier Division as 1996/7 Division 1 champions. Meanwhile the reserves who had been formed in 1985/6 were Division 3 champions in 1996/7, so that year was one of the best ever for the club.
The club started well in the Premier finishing third in 1997/8 (under the management of Dave Ellis). Dave Clarke equalled that in 2000/01 and finished 6th the following year after which he stepped down. Unfortunately, the reserves management team also stepped down –these departures at the same time resulted in a mass exodus of players and there was little option but to revert to one side playing in Division 2 under Pete Stead. Since then, the team has remained in Divisions 2 or 3.
The club has had some cup successes, reaching numerous semi finals but also several finals. They were victorious winning the Burghill Cup in 2005/06 and the Ross A Cup in 1996/7. In 1986/7 there was an unusual event when the firsts were drawn against the reserves in the HFA Junior Cup. Dave Gilbert put the firsts one up, but Andy Forder equalised with 10 minutes remaining. In the replay, the overall strength of the firsts shone through. They won 3-0, with top scorer Steve Adams scoring two.
Steve Adams remains the all time record goal-scorer with 210 goals in 433 appearances followed by Andy Bennetts (184 in 483 appearances). As regards goals in a season, John Morris scored 38 in 22 appearances in 2008/9 whilst, both Andy Bennetts and John Devereux have scored over 30 in a season. Other prolific goal-scorers have been Tony Richards and Darren Tait. All of the above named are strikers, but a special mention should also be made of midfielder Steve Allington who found the net 61 times in 199 appearances.