Wingate & Finchley F.C.

Wingate & Finchley

Full name

Wingate & Finchley Football Club

Nickname(s)

The Blues

Founded

1991; 25 years ago

Ground

The Maurice Rebak Stadium, Finchley

Capacity

1,500

Chairman

Aron Sharpe

Manager

Keith Rowland

League

Isthmian League Premier Division

2015–16

Isthmian League Premier Division, 13th

Website

Club home page

Home colours

Away colours

Wingate & Finchley (blue shirts) take on Wivenhoe Town at The Harry Abrahams Stadium.

Wingate & Finchley Football Club is an English football club based in Finchley in the London Borough of Barnet. The club are currently members of the Premier Division of the Isthmian League and play at The Harry Abrahams Stadium. Their previous manager was former Hillingdon Borough manager Gary Meakin who arrived as manager in November 2012 from Southern Football League side Northwood. However Meakin and the club parted company in May 2013 citing both parties had different visions regarding the future of the club and was replaced by veteran player Daniel Nielsen with former manager David Norman assuming an overseeing Director of Football role.

History

The club was established in 1991 by a merger of Finchley and Wingate, who parted their company with Leyton.^[1] Leyton regained Leyton-Wingate's place in the First Division of Isthmian League, while Wingate & Finchley took Finchley's place in the South Midlands League and played at Finchley's Summers Lane ground, which was renamed after Harry Abrahams, a long time Wingate supporter. In 1994–95 they finished second in the league and joined Division Three of the Isthmian League.

After a second-place finish in 1998–99 they were promoted to Division Two, but were relegated back to Division Three at the end of the following season.^[2] After league reorganisation they were placed in Division One North for the 2002–03 season, but in 2004 were transferred to the Eastern Division of the Southern League. The club later returned to Division One North of the Isthmian League. In 2009–10 they finished third, qualifying for the promotion play-offs, in which they lost 3–2 to Enfield Town. The following season the club won the Isthmian League Cup and the London Senior Cup, and finished third again. After beating Harlow Town in the play-off semi-finals, they defeated Brentwood Town 3–2 after extra time in the final, earning promotion to the Premier Division - and securing an historic Treble.

The club finished mid-table in its first season in the Ryman Premier Division, before surviving a relegation scare in 2012–13 with one match to spare. In 2013–14, the club were relegated on goal difference behind East Thurrock United despite a final day 5-0 victory. However the drama did not end there, as the resignation of Worksop Town from the Northern Premier League gave Wingate & Finchley a much welcomed reprieve from relegation. The club finished the 2015–16 season in 13th position on 60 points.

Club identity

Wingate & Finchley are often perceived as a 'Jewish club', due to Finchley's sizeable Jewish community and a number of other factors, including sporting the Star of David on the club's badge, having a number of Jewish individuals on the committee of the club and being able to apply for special dispensation to move their games should they fall on Yom Kippur.^[3] One of Wingate & Finchley's predecessor clubs, Wingate, was established in order to aim to combat anti-semitism.^[4] The original Wingate club was named after Orde Wingate, who had been involved in training the Haganah, the precursor to the Israeli Defense Forces.

Ground

Wingate & Finchley play their home games at The Maurice Rebak Stadium, Summers Lane, Finchley, London, N12 OPD.

Players

Current squad

As of 21 November 2016.^[5]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.		Position	Player
		GK	Shane Gore
		GK	Bobby Smith
		DF	Ola Williams
		DF	Tommy Cummings
		DF	Sean Cronin
		DF	Claudiu Vîlcu
		DF	Karl Stevenson
		MF	Tommy Tejan-Sie
		MF	Ahmet Rifat
		MF	Steve Wales
		MF	Ryan Sellers

No.		Position	Player
		MF	Joe Sharpe
		MF	Alfie Bartram
		MF	Tanasheh Abrahams
		MF	Luke Ifil
		MF	Tarum Dawkins
		MF	Jordan Gibbons
		FW	Rob Laney
		FW	Billy Healey
		FW	Reece Beckles
		FW	Ben Pattie
		FW	Max Kyte (on loan from London Lions)

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.		Position	Player
		DF	Tommy Smith (on loan at Harpenden Town)

Honours

As Wingate & Finchley

Isthmian League
- Division One North Playoff winners 2010-11
- League Cup winners 2010–11
London Senior Cup^[6]^[7]
- Winners 1994-95, 2010–11
- Runners Up 2004-05

As Finchley FC

Middlesex Senior Cup
- Winners 1928-29, 1943–44, 1951–52
London Senior Cup
- Winners 1932-33, 1951–52, 1952-53 (Joint holders with Walthamstow Avenue)
Middlesex Charity Cup
- Winners 1942-43, 1950–51
Championship London League
- Winners 1936-37
London League Challenge Cup
- Winners 1934-35
London Intermediate Cup
- Winners 1932-33
Middlesex Intermediate Cup
- Winners 1932-33
Athenian League
- Winners 1953-54

As Wingate FC

Herts County League Division One
- Winners 1984-85

References

↑ Wingate (Herts) at the Football Club History Database
↑ Wingate & Finchley at the Football Club History Database
↑ "An ambiguous Jewish identity for Wingate & Finchley". When Saturday Comes. 1 August 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
↑ "Wingate & Finchley FC: Built up from proud Anglo-Jewish roots". Kick It Out. 19 March 2013. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
↑ "Wingate & Finchley Football Club". Wingate & Finchley F.C. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
↑ 2E0MCA Martin Addison+ Add Contact (2011-05-10). "Wingate & Finchley 3 vs Hendon FC 1 in the London Senior Cup | Flickr - Photo Sharing!". Flickr. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
↑ "Memorandum Of Procedures For Dealing With Misconduct Occurring". Docstoc.com. 2010-04-24. Retrieved 2013-04-09.

External links

Club website

Isthmian League

Premier Division	AFC Sudbury Billericay Town Bognor Regis Town Burgess Hill Town Canvey Island Dulwich Hamlet Enfield Town Folkestone Invicta Grays Athletic Harlow Town Harrow Borough Havant & Waterlooville Hendon Kingstonian Leatherhead Leiston Lowestoft Town Merstham Metropolitan Police Needham Market Staines Town Tonbridge Angels Wingate & Finchley Worthing

Division One North	AFC Hornchurch Aveley Bowers & Pitsea Brentwood Town Brightlingsea Regent Bury Town Cheshunt Dereham Town Great Wakering Rovers Haringey Borough Heybridge Swifts Maldon & Tiptree Norwich United Phoenix Sports Romford Soham Town Rangers Thamesmead Town Thurrock Tilbury VCD Athletic Waltham Abbey Ware Witham Town Wroxham

Division One South	Carshalton Athletic Chatham Town Chipstead Corinthian-Casuals Cray Wanderers Dorking Wanderers East Grinstead Town Faversham Town Godalming Town Greenwich Borough Guernsey Hastings United Herne Bay Horsham Hythe Town Lewes Molesey Ramsgate Sittingbourne South Park Three Bridges Tooting & Mitcham United Walton Casuals Whyteleafe

Seasons	1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1919 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17

Football in London

League teams
(tiers 1–4)

1	Arsenal Chelsea Crystal Palace Tottenham Hotspur West Ham United

2	Brentford Fulham Queens Park Rangers

3	AFC Wimbledon Charlton Athletic Millwall

4	Barnet Leyton Orient

Non-League teams
(tiers 5–8)

5	Bromley Dagenham & Redbridge Sutton United

6	Hampton & Richmond Borough Wealdstone Welling United

7	Dulwich Hamlet Enfield Town Harrow Borough Hendon Kingstonian Metropolitan Police Wingate & Finchley

8	A.F.C. Hornchurch Carshalton Athletic Corinthian-Casuals Cray Wanderers Greenwich Borough Hanwell Town Haringey Borough Northwood Phoenix Sports Thamesmead Town Tooting & Mitcham United Uxbridge VCD Athletic

Rivalries

London derbies
- Arsenal–Chelsea
- Millwall–West Ham
- North
- South
- East
- West

Cup competitions