Welcome to the OC Football Club
The club has been running for many years now, with previous successes including several league and cup wins in the last 5/6 years. Most recently managed by OCs, Damien Kelland and Adam Graveney, sadly old Father Time has caught up with many of the original OCs with age, injury and the small matter of babies having lately reduced the squad availability/depth. Our last full season was the 2019/20 season, when the club finished mid-table of Division 2 of the Bristol Downs League. We then had the Covid-19 interrupted season, that was effectively cancelled after half a dozen games and over the past 18 months, sadly not much football has taken place.
We are now back with a vengeance for the 2021-22 season and are looking to re-establish our connection to Clifton College, so are inviting any Old Cliftonians that return to Bristol and are keen to join a football team, to give OCFC a call! We still maintain a number of OC veterans, such as Josh Sutherland (almost 200 appearances, Rob Fairbrother, Tom & Ben Pickles, Isaac Greenbury, Dom Cairney, and Danny Grech (all time top scorer, with a record of a goal roughly every 75 minutes!) but we are keen to recruit the younger generation also coming through the school (Tom Hargan being one). The club is now open to non-OCs but we are keen to maintain our links to the school and respect the roots of the team, not least as we wear the Clifton College badge on our shirts. We’re a friendly bunch of lads, with access to the CCSG facilities, social get togethers at Racks Bar in Clifton and various dinners over the season
Any interested parties can contact Rob Fairbrother 07707057832 or Jon Temperley 07977149553. oldcliftoniansfc@gmail.com
Old Cliftonians Football Club mid season summary 2015/2016:
1st team
The New Year brought a change in management for the 1st team. With Guy Hollis deciding he wanted to spend less time picking teams and sorting petty disputes to spend more time with his wife and son, I agreed to pick up the mantle! This was never going to be an easy task as Guy had run a very smooth operation, knowing all the characters we have in the team! My general thought was to try and bring the beautiful game to the OCFC 1st team and it started well, winning the first 3 games with ease...other teams asking whether we had brought in ringers of a more Brazilian nature. Unfortunately like the Brazilian team we didn't cope as well with arctic wind, torrential rain and the mud bath that the Downs has turned into since mid October. Consistency of performance and player availability has been our downfall, but we have consistently put out 2 full teams every week, something we all thought impossible 4 years ago. The first team are currently sitting in 5th. My Captain's highlight of the season so far has to be an excellent comeback from 2-0 down against Torpedo (a team that we have never beaten) to winning 3-2. The team showed drive, talent and a great team spirit to come back from what looked like an inevitable loss. This spirit is something that we are going to need to build on in the second half of the season if we want to break the hold of the far more established Downs League teams. I am confident that we can do it!
Dan Grech – 1st Team Captain
Reserve Team
Having won Division four last year we were keen to test ourselves in a higher league this season. Things started out well and we had a relatively successful August and September sitting near the top end of the table. Unfortunately through October and November the club really suffered with availability through injuries and other commitments. This took its toll on the reserves and we started to slip down the league. However although we weren't getting the results at that time, we weren't coming up against teams that I didn't think we could beat on our day. More recent results have shown that when we have the consistency of players that are able to commit week in week out, we have a team that can compete with the best in our league. I believe the corner has been turned and recent results have shown this. Some of our regulars have returned and I as I am writing this we have gone four games unbeaten and are slowly creeping back up the table. I am looking forward to continuing to improve the team in 2016 and I am quietly confident of a late run for promotion if we can keep the team together.
Max Hope – Reserve team Manager
As training and early matches get underway for the OCFC, last season’s review and reports can be accessed below.
The Club Toured Utrecth – football or holiday?
After 3 hugely successful tours, the 4th annual end of season tour took the club to Utrecht Holland. The club keen to continue its winning run abroad came up against local team Hercules FC with the game being played at their training complex aka ‘the dutch beggars bush’.
The side made up of Graveney, Condon, Barrett, G.Hollis, Humphries, Richardson, J.Harris, McNamee (captain), Fielder, H.Greenbury, Grech and Kelland. Still feeling the effects of the previous nights drinking exploits we got off to a sluggish start to say the least but managed to take the lead through a well delivered Harris corner which the keeper couldn’t hold. McNamee adopting his new position of the free role had the best of the chances with the keeper making a couple of key saves. Just before the half Grech won a penalty which he should have taken, however Condon managed to steel the ball from him and before we knew it the ref had blown his whistle for it to be taken, the result ... Condon slicing it over the bar, the skipper wasn’t happy. From there Hercules broke and scored from the resulting corner - 1.1 at Half time.
After some big words from Grech and McNamee, we sparked into life, Harris again the provider for Grech’s first goal. Fielder and Greenbury were devastating going forwards causing Hercules defence all sorts of problems. This resulted in setting up Grech’s 2nd goal and putting the game nearly to bed. Hercules had a couple of chances to get back into the game but Graveney denied their striker with a good 1 on 1 save and Hollis produced a goal saving tackle. Barrett and Richardson were also solid both at the back and going forwards. So with a couple of minutes to go, Kelland won a penalty and the stage was set for McNamee to get in on the act. He tried to give the keeper the eyes however the keeper didn’t move but could only palm back the tame chip and McNamee gratefully slotted the rebound - game set and match 4.1 to the Old Cliftonians.
Another great tour complete, special thanks to Hercules FC for being such great hosts and great to see so many new faces on tour, already looking forward to next year!
I was delighted to hear that Max Hope, visiting Ernest Hansion in Uganda donated a set of their kit to a local club team that had none, on behalf of all the OCFC. Here are the OCFC colors on display in Uganda!
OCFC Season 2014/2015
Having taken over the chairman’s position from my esteemed colleague Damien Kelland I knew I had big boots to fill. Although Damien and I along with a few others started the club, its fair to say he has been a driving force in moving the club forwards each season both through his passion and Recruitment of new OCs so he deserves a huge amount of credit to get the club to where we are today. In terms of the 2014/2015 season its been a huge learning curve for everyone at the club mainly with us launching a Reserve Team and trying to get 22 players out every week. At times this has proven to be tricky but after seeing how well both sides finished the season its been an extremely satisfying end to another football season.
The 1st team also marked their debut in Division 1 with a respectable 4th position finish, and the Reserve team had a wonderful debut year winning the 4th division and gaining promotion to Division 3. So slightly changing with tradition the overviews of each team will follow but from the respective captains/managers. From a social stance James Mcnamee and Max Hope led from the front organising great Christmas/end of season dinners, attendance to the Bristol branch, and overseas football tour. One other highlight in the season was the fixture against the school first team. Although the Old Boys came out victors the school battled very hard and I for one believe this is one of the most important fixtures in the calendar. So to sign off another OCFC season I would like to thank everyone who played for the club this season, all the committee for their hard work behind the scenes and finally Simon Reece and the OC society, without their support the Second Team would never have been launched. So we now look forward to the new 2015/2016 season starting in August, for any OCs looking to join please join the Old Cliftonians Football Facebook group.
Adam Graveney
Chairman
1st Team Report
After achieving 3 promotions in a row we approached our first season in division 1 really going into the unknown! With a few new recruits we felt confident after a fairly comprehensive pre-season win against the champions and our rivals, Clifton St Vincents. Our first 4 games couldn't really have gone better as we swept aside every team in our path with our attacking quartet of Danny Grech, Adam Fielder, Harry Greenbury and George Harris in sparkling form. With a goal difference of +32 and after a few too many post-match drinks naming ourselves 'The Invincibles', you could perhaps say a fall was around the corner. Our start hadn't gone unnoticed and the big 3 of Torpedo, Sneyd Park and Clifton St Vincents were certainly wondering how this team who had been promoted from Division 2 in the previous year had started so well. We played Torpedo and despite leading 2-1 in the second half, they managed to deservedly come back and win 3-2. This was a wakeup call which we didn't expect, nor take note of and we went into our next game against the team at the foot of the table expecting a big win. We drew through a last minute equaliser from Retainers although at the final whistle most of their players sheepishly apologised as it had been so one-sided.
Our GFA cup campaign began with a 12--0 win against Cotham Old Boys 1st team which took us through to meet Bristol Barcelona off the downs and onto a perfectly manicured flat pitch, a far cry from what we were used to. Unfortunately in a fantastic game we were unlucky to lose 4-2. It's always good fun to play at a different ground and they offered a glimpse into what our club could become further down the line. However in a strange twist they had fielded an illegible player and the GFA insisted on a replay but this time on The Downs. In another memorable match, in which we were reduced to 10 men after 5 minutes we again were unlucky to lose 4-3. This after a great fightback from being 3-0 down to level at 3-3 but falling to a last minute winner.
Back to the league and we were unfortunate to hit a period where weddings, injuries, work commitments and unavoidable shopping trips with respective partners left us very low on numbers with our form suffering as a result. In Division 1 you can afford to lose 4 matches if you want to win the league and we had lost 3 by the November 8th so it left us a lot of work to do! During this stage we also slipped out of The Down's Cup on penalties, after a replay and a tough 0-0 through normal time our great record of penalty shootout wins was broken losing 5-4. The remainder of the season had some great positives as we finished a highly respectable 4th in the table and during our last 10 games we won 7 drew 1 and lost 2. We beat all 3 of the best teams in the league, who have been competing for titles for a number of years so very encouraging signs for the future. We blooded some fantastic new young players such as Harry and Isaac Greenbury, Jack Coates, Alex Horton and Marco Baio amongst others. Praise must go to Harry Greenbury for nearly breaking the club assists record and the evergreen Richard Yates who was superb. Also Danny Grech for carrying the attack all season and finishing on an incredible 30 goals. Laurie Hope also grew with confidence as the season progressed and became a key player.
So thank you to the players for all of your efforts and the individuals who put their hands up to carry the water bottles, run the line and wash the kit. There is plenty of optimism to take into the next season and there is absolutely no reason why we can't compete for the 1st division title. I would just like to make a special mention to the Reserves who flew the flag for the club and became champions of the 4th division in their first year. An incredible effort and something we are all very proud of.
Guy Hollis
1st team Captain
Reserve Team Report
After another successful season and a promotion to the 1st division the club decided it was time to expand. However we agreed at the start of the season that the reserves would be our team for people who just wanted to get a game on a Saturday and have a bit of fun. If we were ever short of OCs then would use the ‘one away rule’ (related or married to an OC) to ensure we always got a team out.......how things changed during our first season as a team!
With the season starting on Thursday 4th of September the club easily managed to put out two teams of all OCs which erased any earlier worries about numbers and from that point on we never looked back. The reserves started to pick up results immediately winning the first 3 games scoring lots but also conceding lots as well. During the first quarter of the season our high scoring high conceding results reflected the fun we were having but the results continued to flow and we found ourselves near the top of the table. We were starting to build an identity and a team spirit of our own which was something we aimed to set out at the start of the season. The goals were flowing from our forward players such as Ed Hayward (vice-captain) Matt Barrett and Farai Musa. This was nicely blended with some "been there and done it before" performances from our senior regulars josh Sutherland (captain) Olly Hollis, and Ed Condon.
It was around this time the word promotion was mentioned but not taken too seriously! The team however were lucky to strengthen just before Christmas with Rob Fairbrother joining us and forming what was to be a great partnership alongside Max Brooks. Around this time we had a great father son combination at centre back and right back when Rich Brooks stepped into the void to help out and provided the wiser head at the back. We slowly stopped conceding as many goals which made it easier for us to pick up a few more 1-0 and 2-0 victories and kept the momentum going in the league. However in both the GFA and Downs Cup we came up short against our bogey team Clifton Vale who had beaten us in the league earlier in the season. In both rounds of the cup we were well beaten and within the team some felt Vale couldn’t be stopped. During this time added new editions of Dominic Cairns at left back along with Luke Watson coming back from America. Both came into the side and added that extra bit of quality down the left side we were needing.
If there's one thing I've learnt playing for the OCFC over the years is when it comes to the ‘run in’ we will never be beaten. With this being the case I was quietly confident that if we got on a run, promotion was a real possibility and winning the league was an outside bet. So we took on Clifton Vale for the final time with 10 games to go and produced our best performance to date beating them 4.3 in a great battle. Suddenly the confidence in the side was there and everyone now believed something great was possible. With promotion in our sights we set about our task with a little help from the 1st team (allowing Jools Hollis, Isaac Greenbury and James Harris to drop down) we won 9 of our last 10 games drawing one chasing down the league leaders to win as champions on goal difference.
I cannot stress to you how much of an achievement it is for the reserves to have won the fourth division this season. While you always set out to win games and get promoted our main concern when starting the team was to make sure we were able to field 11 OCs week in week out and have fun. However I should have known what was going to be achieved having been part of such a successful club for four years now and It was nice for the reserves to have been able to add to the success. I would like to thank a few others who played their part in our promotion season, Sam fowler an excellent left winger, Chris Andrews the wild man in the middle of the park, Adam Graveney during his time in goal for us and Damien Kelland for his efforts up front for the team.
It's been an honour to play in and manage the reserves this season and we look to continue the progress in Division 3 next season.
Maxwell Hope
Reserve Team Manager
OCFC Season 2013/2014
To see the photoboard for 2013/2014 Season, please follow this link.
Congratulations go to the Old Cliftonian Football team who won 4-1 against a local side in Mallorca on the weekend. The club summer tour was attended by 18 OC's and the age of the attendees ranged between 20 and 34. A good time was had by all and next year the OCFC will have two teams playing in the Durdham Downs football leagues a first team and a reserve team. Both teams will play on Saturdays and the club are actively recruiting for new players, so if you are interested in playing next season please contact either Adam Graveney or Damien Kelland by email at Larry_316@hotmail.co.uk ordamienkelland@googlemail.com, respectively.
The Old Cliftonians FC was formed in 2011 by a group of OCs who had played together in the Beggars Bush summer league for several years prior. The catalyst was when Matthew Barrett contacted Damien Kelland and Adam Graveney who were currently representing Clifton St Vincents Football Club on the downs at the time and asked them to see if there was a possibility of putting a proposal to the OC society to form an Old Cliftonian Football club. After meeting with Simon Reece and Lucy Nash of the Old Cliftonian society the proposal was agreed and on the 30th of August 2011 OCFC entered Downs League into the 4th Division of the Bristol Downs League.
In the first season the club finished a respectable 3rd place and got promoted, as well as losing in extra time of the All Saints Cup Final one of 3 cup competitions on the downs. In the 2nd year the club pushed on significantly both in recruitment of new players and silverware. In what can be described as a perfect season the team won every competition we entered and accomplished a 
remarkable treble winning season, the first time a treble had been completed in any of the 4 divisions on the downs for 52 years. Within the treble the team won the 3rd division league title, the All Saints Cup (which we narrowly missed out on the season before) and the prestigious GFA Minor Cup which had never been won by a downs league team in its history.
So after the famous 2012/2013 treble winning season, the team now find themselves in the 2nd division of the downs league competing at the highest level the club has been involved in since its inception a mere two and half years ago which is a wonderful achievement. Throughout this time the club has had not only the support of the school & OC society but also the dedication and commitment of everyone who has pulled on a sky blue jersey during this time. The journey has only just begun but the only way the club will keep going is by encouraging all OCs to participate when returning to Bristol. The ultimate goal for the club is to gain promotion to the 1st division and launch a 2nd team to allow further participation for new OCs wishing to join the club. If interested in joining the club please get in touch with Damien Kelland or Adam Graveney via the website.
Below is the history of achievements by the club and its players:
2013/2014 Season* – 2nd Division (currently in 9th position), In the Quarter final of the Norman Hardy Cup
2012/2013 Season – Treble Winning Season
Downs league 3rd division title (Promoted), All Saints Cup, GFA Minor Cup
2011/2012 Season – Debut Year of the Club
3rd Position in the Downs 4th Division (Promoted), All Saints Cup Runners up
Player Records:
Most Appearances – Kelland (78) G.hollis (72) Sutherland (67)
Most Appearances aged 21 and under – G.Harris (41)
Most Goals – Grech (50)
Most Assists – J.Hollis (36)
Most Goals in a season – Grech (29)
Most Goals in a game – Grech (5)
Most Clean Sheets – Graveney (9)
The club has been running for many years now, with previous successes including several league and cup wins in the last 5/6 years. Most recently managed by OCs, Damien Kelland and Adam Graveney, sadly old Father Time has caught up with many of the original OCs with age, injury and the small matter of babies having lately reduced the squad availability/depth. Our last full season was the 2019/20 season, when the club finished mid-table of Division 2 of the Bristol Downs League. We then had the Covid-19 interrupted season, that was effectively cancelled after half a dozen games and over the past 18 months, sadly not much football has taken place.
We are now back with a vengeance for the 2021-22 season and are looking to re-establish our connection to Clifton College, so are inviting any Old Cliftonians that return to Bristol and are keen to join a football team, to give OCFC a call! We still maintain a number of OC veterans, such as Josh Sutherland (almost 200 appearances, Rob Fairbrother, Tom & Ben Pickles, Isaac Greenbury, Dom Cairney, and Danny Grech (all time top scorer, with a record of a goal roughly every 75 minutes!) but we are keen to recruit the younger generation also coming through the school (Tom Hargan being one). The club is now open to non-OCs but we are keen to maintain our links to the school and respect the roots of the team, not least as we wear the Clifton College badge on our shirts. We’re a friendly bunch of lads, with access to the CCSG facilities, social get togethers at Racks Bar in Clifton and various dinners over the season
Any interested parties can contact Rob Fairbrother 07707057832 or Jon Temperley 07977149553. oldcliftoniansfc@gmail.com
Earlier reports
Chairman’s Report (Adam Graveney – NT 2001)
"Another season done, another trophy won, another promotion secured and yet I still feel this season could have been even better.
I say that because the club was in a situation for both teams to win more silverware this season. Sadly, the 1st team came up short, losing in the final of the Norman Hardy Cup. Although the 1st team had a mixed showing in the league, they really showed their true form in the Cup, knocking out the 1st Division winners Sneyd Park in the early rounds – one of the highlights of the season. I firmly believe the foundations are in place to push for league honours and the work Dan Grech (SH 2005) has done over the last couple of seasons should hopefully help the next person stepping up to run the 1st team in 2017/18. The shining light in the club this year was the reserve team led by Maxwell Hope (NT 1998), with a few “senior pros” behind him. Falling twice in semi finals in their respective cups, they would not be denied in the league, winning the 3rd division on the last day of the season. A great team spirit and some cracking results meant they deservedly won promotion to division 2.”
OC Football Club summer BBQ on the Close, July 2015
Our victorious football club celebrated their season with a BBQ on the Close. Click here to see some photo's. Click here to be taken to the OC Football Club Facebook group to find out more.
Old Cliftonians Football Club mid season summary 2015/2016:
1st team
The New Year brought a change in management for the 1st team. With Guy Hollis deciding he wanted to spend less time picking teams and sorting petty disputes to spend more time with his wife and son, I agreed to pick up the mantle! This was never going to be an easy task as Guy had run a very smooth operation, knowing all the characters we have in the team! My general thought was to try and bring the beautiful game to the OCFC 1st team and it started well, winning the first 3 games with ease...other teams asking whether we had brought in ringers of a more Brazilian nature. Unfortunately like the Brazilian team we didn't cope as well with arctic wind, torrential rain and the mud bath that the Downs has turned into since mid October. Consistency of performance and player availability has been our downfall, but we have consistently put out 2 full teams every week, something we all thought impossible 4 years ago. The first team are currently sitting in 5th. My Captain's highlight of the season so far has to be an excellent comeback from 2-0 down against Torpedo (a team that we have never beaten) to winning 3-2. The team showed drive, talent and a great team spirit to come back from what looked like an inevitable loss. This spirit is something that we are going to need to build on in the second half of the season if we want to break the hold of the far more established Downs League teams. I am confident that we can do it!
Dan Grech – 1st Team Captain
Reserve Team
Having won Division four last year we were keen to test ourselves in a higher league this season. Things started out well and we had a relatively successful August and September sitting near the top end of the table. Unfortunately through October and November the club really suffered with availability through injuries and other commitments. This took its toll on the reserves and we started to slip down the league. However although we weren't getting the results at that time, we weren't coming up against teams that I didn't think we could beat on our day. More recent results have shown that when we have the consistency of players that are able to commit week in week out, we have a team that can compete with the best in our league. I believe the corner has been turned and recent results have shown this. Some of our regulars have returned and I as I am writing this we have gone four games unbeaten and are slowly creeping back up the table. I am looking forward to continuing to improve the team in 2016 and I am quietly confident of a late run for promotion if we can keep the team together.
Max Hope – Reserve team Manager
As training and early matches get underway for the OCFC, last season’s review and reports can be accessed below.
The Club Toured Utrecth – football or holiday?
After 3 hugely successful tours, the 4th annual end of season tour took the club to Utrecht Holland. The club keen to continue its winning run abroad came up against local team Hercules FC with the game being played at their training complex aka ‘the dutch beggars bush’.
The side made up of Graveney, Condon, Barrett, G.Hollis, Humphries, Richardson, J.Harris, McNamee (captain), Fielder, H.Greenbury, Grech and Kelland. Still feeling the effects of the previous nights drinking exploits we got off to a sluggish start to say the least but managed to take the lead through a well delivered Harris corner which the keeper couldn’t hold. McNamee adopting his new position of the free role had the best of the chances with the keeper making a couple of key saves. Just before the half Grech won a penalty which he should have taken, however Condon managed to steel the ball from him and before we knew it the ref had blown his whistle for it to be taken, the result ... Condon slicing it over the bar, the skipper wasn’t happy. From there Hercules broke and scored from the resulting corner - 1.1 at Half time.
After some big words from Grech and McNamee, we sparked into life, Harris again the provider for Grech’s first goal. Fielder and Greenbury were devastating going forwards causing Hercules defence all sorts of problems. This resulted in setting up Grech’s 2nd goal and putting the game nearly to bed. Hercules had a couple of chances to get back into the game but Graveney denied their striker with a good 1 on 1 save and Hollis produced a goal saving tackle. Barrett and Richardson were also solid both at the back and going forwards. So with a couple of minutes to go, Kelland won a penalty and the stage was set for McNamee to get in on the act. He tried to give the keeper the eyes however the keeper didn’t move but could only palm back the tame chip and McNamee gratefully slotted the rebound - game set and match 4.1 to the Old Cliftonians.
Another great tour complete, special thanks to Hercules FC for being such great hosts and great to see so many new faces on tour, already looking forward to next year!
I was delighted to hear that Max Hope, visiting Ernest Hansion in Uganda donated a set of their kit to a local club team that had none, on behalf of all the OCFC. Here are the OCFC colors on display in Uganda!
OCFC Season 2014/2015
Having taken over the chairman’s position from my esteemed colleague Damien Kelland I knew I had big boots to fill. Although Damien and I along with a few others started the club, its fair to say he has been a driving force in moving the club forwards each season both through his passion and Recruitment of new OCs so he deserves a huge amount of credit to get the club to where we are today. In terms of the 2014/2015 season its been a huge learning curve for everyone at the club mainly with us launching a Reserve Team and trying to get 22 players out every week. At times this has proven to be tricky but after seeing how well both sides finished the season its been an extremely satisfying end to another football season.
The 1st team also marked their debut in Division 1 with a respectable 4th position finish, and the Reserve team had a wonderful debut year winning the 4th division and gaining promotion to Division 3. So slightly changing with tradition the overviews of each team will follow but from the respective captains/managers. From a social stance James Mcnamee and Max Hope led from the front organising great Christmas/end of season dinners, attendance to the Bristol branch, and overseas football tour. One other highlight in the season was the fixture against the school first team. Although the Old Boys came out victors the school battled very hard and I for one believe this is one of the most important fixtures in the calendar. So to sign off another OCFC season I would like to thank everyone who played for the club this season, all the committee for their hard work behind the scenes and finally Simon Reece and the OC society, without their support the Second Team would never have been launched. So we now look forward to the new 2015/2016 season starting in August, for any OCs looking to join please join the Old Cliftonians Football Facebook group.
Adam Graveney
Chairman
1st Team ReportAfter achieving 3 promotions in a row we approached our first season in division 1 really going into the unknown! With a few new recruits we felt confident after a fairly comprehensive pre-season win against the champions and our rivals, Clifton St Vincents. Our first 4 games couldn't really have gone better as we swept aside every team in our path with our attacking quartet of Danny Grech, Adam Fielder, Harry Greenbury and George Harris in sparkling form. With a goal difference of +32 and after a few too many post-match drinks naming ourselves 'The Invincibles', you could perhaps say a fall was around the corner. Our start hadn't gone unnoticed and the big 3 of Torpedo, Sneyd Park and Clifton St Vincents were certainly wondering how this team who had been promoted from Division 2 in the previous year had started so well. We played Torpedo and despite leading 2-1 in the second half, they managed to deservedly come back and win 3-2. This was a wakeup call which we didn't expect, nor take note of and we went into our next game against the team at the foot of the table expecting a big win. We drew through a last minute equaliser from Retainers although at the final whistle most of their players sheepishly apologised as it had been so one-sided.
Our GFA cup campaign began with a 12--0 win against Cotham Old Boys 1st team which took us through to meet Bristol Barcelona off the downs and onto a perfectly manicured flat pitch, a far cry from what we were used to. Unfortunately in a fantastic game we were unlucky to lose 4-2. It's always good fun to play at a different ground and they offered a glimpse into what our club could become further down the line. However in a strange twist they had fielded an illegible player and the GFA insisted on a replay but this time on The Downs. In another memorable match, in which we were reduced to 10 men after 5 minutes we again were unlucky to lose 4-3. This after a great fightback from being 3-0 down to level at 3-3 but falling to a last minute winner.
Back to the league and we were unfortunate to hit a period where weddings, injuries, work commitments and unavoidable shopping trips with respective partners left us very low on numbers with our form suffering as a result. In Division 1 you can afford to lose 4 matches if you want to win the league and we had lost 3 by the November 8th so it left us a lot of work to do! During this stage we also slipped out of The Down's Cup on penalties, after a replay and a tough 0-0 through normal time our great record of penalty shootout wins was broken losing 5-4. The remainder of the season had some great positives as we finished a highly respectable 4th in the table and during our last 10 games we won 7 drew 1 and lost 2. We beat all 3 of the best teams in the league, who have been competing for titles for a number of years so very encouraging signs for the future. We blooded some fantastic new young players such as Harry and Isaac Greenbury, Jack Coates, Alex Horton and Marco Baio amongst others. Praise must go to Harry Greenbury for nearly breaking the club assists record and the evergreen Richard Yates who was superb. Also Danny Grech for carrying the attack all season and finishing on an incredible 30 goals. Laurie Hope also grew with confidence as the season progressed and became a key player.
So thank you to the players for all of your efforts and the individuals who put their hands up to carry the water bottles, run the line and wash the kit. There is plenty of optimism to take into the next season and there is absolutely no reason why we can't compete for the 1st division title. I would just like to make a special mention to the Reserves who flew the flag for the club and became champions of the 4th division in their first year. An incredible effort and something we are all very proud of.
Guy Hollis
1st team Captain
Reserve Team Report
After another successful season and a promotion to the 1st division the club decided it was time to expand. However we agreed at the start of the season that the reserves would be our team for people who just wanted to get a game on a Saturday and have a bit of fun. If we were ever short of OCs then would use the ‘one away rule’ (related or married to an OC) to ensure we always got a team out.......how things changed during our first season as a team!
With the season starting on Thursday 4th of September the club easily managed to put out two teams of all OCs which erased any earlier worries about numbers and from that point on we never looked back. The reserves started to pick up results immediately winning the first 3 games scoring lots but also conceding lots as well. During the first quarter of the season our high scoring high conceding results reflected the fun we were having but the results continued to flow and we found ourselves near the top of the table. We were starting to build an identity and a team spirit of our own which was something we aimed to set out at the start of the season. The goals were flowing from our forward players such as Ed Hayward (vice-captain) Matt Barrett and Farai Musa. This was nicely blended with some "been there and done it before" performances from our senior regulars josh Sutherland (captain) Olly Hollis, and Ed Condon.
It was around this time the word promotion was mentioned but not taken too seriously! The team however were lucky to strengthen just before Christmas with Rob Fairbrother joining us and forming what was to be a great partnership alongside Max Brooks. Around this time we had a great father son combination at centre back and right back when Rich Brooks stepped into the void to help out and provided the wiser head at the back. We slowly stopped conceding as many goals which made it easier for us to pick up a few more 1-0 and 2-0 victories and kept the momentum going in the league. However in both the GFA and Downs Cup we came up short against our bogey team Clifton Vale who had beaten us in the league earlier in the season. In both rounds of the cup we were well beaten and within the team some felt Vale couldn’t be stopped. During this time added new editions of Dominic Cairns at left back along with Luke Watson coming back from America. Both came into the side and added that extra bit of quality down the left side we were needing.
If there's one thing I've learnt playing for the OCFC over the years is when it comes to the ‘run in’ we will never be beaten. With this being the case I was quietly confident that if we got on a run, promotion was a real possibility and winning the league was an outside bet. So we took on Clifton Vale for the final time with 10 games to go and produced our best performance to date beating them 4.3 in a great battle. Suddenly the confidence in the side was there and everyone now believed something great was possible. With promotion in our sights we set about our task with a little help from the 1st team (allowing Jools Hollis, Isaac Greenbury and James Harris to drop down) we won 9 of our last 10 games drawing one chasing down the league leaders to win as champions on goal difference.
I cannot stress to you how much of an achievement it is for the reserves to have won the fourth division this season. While you always set out to win games and get promoted our main concern when starting the team was to make sure we were able to field 11 OCs week in week out and have fun. However I should have known what was going to be achieved having been part of such a successful club for four years now and It was nice for the reserves to have been able to add to the success. I would like to thank a few others who played their part in our promotion season, Sam fowler an excellent left winger, Chris Andrews the wild man in the middle of the park, Adam Graveney during his time in goal for us and Damien Kelland for his efforts up front for the team.
It's been an honour to play in and manage the reserves this season and we look to continue the progress in Division 3 next season.
Maxwell Hope
Reserve Team Manager
OCFC Season 2013/2014
To see the photoboard for 2013/2014 Season, please follow this link.
Congratulations go to the Old Cliftonian Football team who won 4-1 against a local side in Mallorca on the weekend. The club summer tour was attended by 18 OC's and the age of the attendees ranged between 20 and 34. A good time was had by all and next year the OCFC will have two teams playing in the Durdham Downs football leagues a first team and a reserve team. Both teams will play on Saturdays and the club are actively recruiting for new players, so if you are interested in playing next season please contact either Adam Graveney or Damien Kelland by email at Larry_316@hotmail.co.uk ordamienkelland@googlemail.com, respectively.
The Old Cliftonians FC was formed in 2011 by a group of OCs who had played together in the Beggars Bush summer league for several years prior. The catalyst was when Matthew Barrett contacted Damien Kelland and Adam Graveney who were currently representing Clifton St Vincents Football Club on the downs at the time and asked them to see if there was a possibility of putting a proposal to the OC society to form an Old Cliftonian Football club. After meeting with Simon Reece and Lucy Nash of the Old Cliftonian society the proposal was agreed and on the 30th of August 2011 OCFC entered Downs League into the 4th Division of the Bristol Downs League.
In the first season the club finished a respectable 3rd place and got promoted, as well as losing in extra time of the All Saints Cup Final one of 3 cup competitions on the downs. In the 2nd year the club pushed on significantly both in recruitment of new players and silverware. In what can be described as a perfect season the team won every competition we entered and accomplished a remarkable treble winning season, the first time a treble had been completed in any of the 4 divisions on the downs for 52 years. Within the treble the team won the 3rd division league title, the All Saints Cup (which we narrowly missed out on the season before) and the prestigious GFA Minor Cup which had never been won by a downs league team in its history.So after the famous 2012/2013 treble winning season, the team now find themselves in the 2nd division of the downs league competing at the highest level the club has been involved in since its inception a mere two and half years ago which is a wonderful achievement. Throughout this time the club has had not only the support of the school & OC society but also the dedication and commitment of everyone who has pulled on a sky blue jersey during this time. The journey has only just begun but the only way the club will keep going is by encouraging all OCs to participate when returning to Bristol. The ultimate goal for the club is to gain promotion to the 1st division and launch a 2nd team to allow further participation for new OCs wishing to join the club. If interested in joining the club please get in touch with Damien Kelland or Adam Graveney via the website.
Below is the history of achievements by the club and its players:
2013/2014 Season* – 2nd Division (currently in 9th position), In the Quarter final of the Norman Hardy Cup2012/2013 Season – Treble Winning Season
Downs league 3rd division title (Promoted), All Saints Cup, GFA Minor Cup
2011/2012 Season – Debut Year of the Club
3rd Position in the Downs 4th Division (Promoted), All Saints Cup Runners up
Player Records:
Most Appearances – Kelland (78) G.hollis (72) Sutherland (67)
Most Appearances aged 21 and under – G.Harris (41)
Most Goals – Grech (50)
Most Assists – J.Hollis (36)
Most Goals in a season – Grech (29)
Most Goals in a game – Grech (5)
Most Clean Sheets – Graveney (9)