The FA has unveiled a plaque at Civil Service FC's ground in Chiswick. It is the only club that helped found the FA in 1863 and has played ever since.
A football club in Chiswick that has been playing since the night the Football Association was founded now has a plaque to prove it. FA Chair Debbie Hewitt unveiled it at Civil Service FC’s ground on Saturday 26 September.
The plaque reads: “In recognition of Civil Service Football Club. A founder member of The Football Association. Playing amateur football continuously since 26 October 1863.”
The FA announced the award on 29 September. It said Civil Service is “the only surviving founder club to have played association football continuously since that date”.
Why this club, and why it matters
The FA was formed at the Freemasons’ Tavern on Great Queen Street, near today’s Holborn station, on the evening of 26 October 1863. Eleven clubs signed up at that first meeting. Civil Service was one of them, listed at the time as the War Office (The FA’s own history).
The other ten have gone. Civil Service is the only one of the eleven still playing.
The club’s record from there, as the FA sets it out:
- 1871: the FA created its Challenge Cup on 20 July 1871, and Civil Service was one of the 15 clubs whose entries were accepted for the first competition.
- 1907: a founder member of the Amateur Football Association.
- 2013: the home team in the first competitive match ever played in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, for the joint 150th anniversary of the FA and the club.
- 2018: the women’s section launched.
One small point on the numbers. The FA’s headline says “164 years”. Measured from the date on the plaque, 26 October 1863, the club reaches 163 years at the end of this month. Either way, it is older than the FA Cup.
A busy day, not a museum piece
The unveiling was timed for a full match day. According to the FA, six of the club’s men’s teams played that Saturday in the Southern Amateur League and the West London Veterans Football League. The women’s team played on the Sunday in the Greater London Women’s Football League.
The club now runs:
- nine men’s teams: six open-age sides, two veterans’ teams and a Super Vets side
- a women’s 11-a-side team in Division 1 of the Greater London Women’s Football League
- a women’s 5 and 7-a-side team in the Waterloo Superliga
Debbie Hewitt said the club “represents a direct link to the very origins of football as we know it today”. She added: “What makes that achievement so special is not simply the club’s extraordinary history, but the fact that it remains a vibrant and active part of the football community today.”
The club’s principal funder is the Civil Service Sports Council. Its chief executive, Pete Worster, said the club “continues to go from strength to strength, serving their fans and community, 164 years on from their founding”.
Club president Jim Kellett called it “another memorable day in our club’s long history and one that everyone who attended will remember”.
On the same afternoon a club volunteer received the first Jim Kellett Salver, a new award for the past year’s biggest contribution to the club.
What it means for you
The club is recruiting. The FA’s announcement says Civil Service is “actively seeking new players across its teams” and welcomes footballers of all abilities. The contact it gives is csfc.recruitment@gmail.com.
Where it plays. The club’s own website gives its home as Kings House Sports Ground, Riverside Drive, Chiswick W4 2RZ, beside the Thames in south Chiswick. It describes itself as an inclusive, social club offering weekly matches and training to women and men.
It is not a professional club. Civil Service is amateur, and the FA’s history notes it has no connection with any Premier League side.
For more on what is on in W4 this autumn, see things to do in Chiswick.
Sources
- The FA: 164 years of Service: FA honour the football club that has never stopped playing, 29 September 2026, for the plaque, the date and place of the unveiling, the teams and leagues, the 1907 and 2013 history, the 2018 women’s section, the quotes, the Jim Kellett Salver and the recruitment contact. The photograph of the plaque, which shows its wording, is from the same page.
- The FA: The History of The FA, for the founding meeting at the Freemasons’ Tavern on 26 October 1863, the club’s listing as the War Office, its status as the only surviving club of the eleven, and the creation of the Challenge Cup on 20 July 1871 with Civil Service among the 15 accepted entries.
- Civil Service Football Club, for the ground address and how the club describes itself.
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