Snowdown Colliery Welfare F.C. was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club based in

Snowdown Snowdown is a hamlet near Dover in Kent, England. It was the location of one of the four chief collieries of the Kent coalfield, which closed in 1987. The population of the village is included in the civil parish of Aylesham, Kent. As a result, ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. The club competed in the original Kent League,

Aetolian League The Aetolian (or Aitolian) League ( grc-gre, Κοινὸν τῶν Αἰτωλῶν) was a confederation of tribal communities and cities in ancient Greece centered in Aetolia in central Greece. It was probably established during the early Hellen ...

, and second Kent League from the 1940s to the 1970s and also entered the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

on a number of occasions. The club was formed in 1943. They entered the Kent League the following season, and won the League Cup. In 1948 manager Jack Oakes (ex-Charlton Athletic) built up a strong and successful side. In 1950–51 the club won the Kent Senior Cup, defeating Bromley 2–1 in the final, after a replay. That season they were runners-up in the Kent League, losing the title only on goal average. They won the Kent League Cup, and established a club record of 26 games without defeat.The Aetolian League 3rd Annual Handbook, Season 1961–62, Club Directory They last played in the Kent County League in the early 2000s. In 1954–55 the club won the Kent League championship, and in 1955–56 they won the Kent Senior Cup again, defeating Dartford 2–0 in the final, after a replay. Snowdown CW were founder members of the Aetolian League in 1959. They won the championship in 1960–61. The club colours of black and white striped shirts were worn in tribute to Newcastle United. After the coal industry started in east Kent in the 1920s, families moved from the north east of England to find employment in the mines. The colliery team included some Geordie players and in their heyday in the 1950s the team played their football in the characteristic tough Geordie style.

References

Defunct football clubs in England Southern Counties East Football League Mining association football teams in England Aetolian League (football) Kent Football League (1894–1959) Defunct football clubs in Kent Association football clubs disestablished in 1943 {{England-footyclub-defunct-stub