ABOUT US
Reading City Football Club is a non-profitable, grassroots, community-based football club based in the Tilehurst area of Reading, Berkshire. We pride ourselves at being at the very heart of our local community.
We are affiliated to the Berkshire & Buckinghamshire Football Association and England Football Accredited
Prior to 2018 the club was a village-based outfit called Highmoor Ibis and was a men's team running a First team plus a Reserves team, and the decision to change to Reading City Football Club was not taken lightly however the community of Reading had yearned for a semi-professional club behind Reading Football Club to represent Reading and give local players the opportunity to play for a Reading-based team as Reading.
Since moving to a new home at Scours Lane, we’re now at the very heart of the community with a bustling youth section which contains over twenty teams from the age of 7 to 18 and four senior teams which play semi-professional men’s football at Steps 5 & 7.
Whilst our youth teams start at the age of seven, a youngster’s journey can start with the Cityzens at the age of four, thanks to our weekly development centre.
OUR HISTORY
Reading City Football Club may have been established in 2018, but the story began many, many years before.
Delve into our history and learn of the success and setbacks and find out how we became a non-league football club the whole town can be proud to be associated with as we embark the latest chapter of our rich history.
wHY THE NAME READING CITY?
We often get asked why we are called Reading City when Reading is not a city yet.
We chose the name of Reading City rather than Reading Town to preserve the history of Reading Town who sadly dissolved in 2016, but also to preserve the history of Highmoor and Highmoor Ibis, so rather than writing over their history people can see how each of these local clubs fed into Reading City, as we’re now known.
We also wanted a name that better reflected the area that we served as here at Reading City Football Club we pride ourselves on being at the heart of the local community.
THE HIGHMOOR YEARS
Highmoor is a small village in South Oxfordshire that has a population of less than 300 and is home to a small but very attractive cricket and football ground, this is where our journey began. Most of the original football team came from the neighbouring villages of Sonning Common, Stoke Row, and Woodcote. Tracing back over the records, a Highmoor Football Club can be found in existence up until 1935. It would be another 32 years before the club that’s come to be known as Reading City Football Club was formed.
The newly formed Highmoor Football Club started competitive football in peculiar fashion, having applied to the Reading Combination League for membership they were accepted but had to play under the name of Nettlebed Reserves in Division One of the Reserve Section as it was only due to their withdrawal that Highmoor were accepted into the league.
The club continued to develop and the site for the ground was found adjacent to the Woodman Public House
Prior to 1990, the club enjoyed little success and it the late 1980s was very close to extinction as they struggled to fill the 2 teams. It was during this period that the current club secretary, Chris Gallimore took over and recruited now Club Chairman, Martin Law, to become 1st team manager, and between them, they assembled a strong squad of players and success was to follow.
THE HIGHMOOR IBIS YEARS
As the club progressed through the divisions and into the Reading Senior League (now Thames Valley Premier League), they outgrew their original home in Highmoor and in 2001 proposed a merger with Ibis Football Club based at the Ibis Club (now The Atrium Health Club) in Scours Lane, Reading next to our current home the Rivermoor. The Ibis FC was formed in 1913 and is the sports and social club of Prudential Assurance Company. The Ibis name some say because many rowing clubs took the names of waterfowl. Others believe it derived from the cry Come on the Ibis which habitually drowned out the supporters of the OBs in departmental team events. (IB standing for the Industrial Branch and OB standing for the Ordinary Branch of the Prudential).
Since 2001 the club has achieved various successes including winning the Reading Senior League (now Thames Valley Premier League), twice, Maidenhead Norfolkian Senior Cup, BTC Intermediate and Senior Cups, and Reading Invitation Challenge Cup Senior as well as the A team winning league and cup competitions. View our Club Honours.
The 2003/04 season saw the club be crowned winners of the Reading League Senior Division (now Thames Valley Premier League) without losing a match but sadly because facilities at Scours Lane didn’t meet the Hellenic League ground requirements and had no alternative pitch, we were unable to accept the promotion and would therefore stay in the Reading League Senior Division (now Thames Valley Premier League).
In 2005/06 the club won the Reading Senior Cup in 2005–06, beating Woodley Town 4–1 in the final at the Madejski Stadium.
After finishing as runners-up in 2006–07 and 2008–09, Highmoor were champions of the Reading League Senior Division again in 2010–11 earning us promotion to Division One East of the Hellenic League.
THE MOVE TO PALMER PARK
Since becoming Highmoor Ibis, our home games were played at the Ibis Club (now The Atrium Health Club), but following promotion to the Hellenic League Division One East in 2011 an opportunity we weren’t going to miss, after having had to turn down a promotion in 2004 as we didn’t meet the Hellenic League ground requirements due to not have a stand or floodlights. Having secured a lease at the Palmer Park Stadium, a general use stadium including a 780-seater stand and athletics track around the pitch in East Reading we were able to move up to the Hellenic Football League.
The 2011/12 saw us competing in the Hellenic League for the first time in our clubs rich history and what a fantastic inaugural season we had, not only did we secure promotion to the Hellenic Football League Premier Division having finished runners up to Newbury, we were also runners up in the Hellenic League’s Supplementary Cup and the Reading Invitation Challenge Senior Cup.
At the end of the 2014/15 season, we finished as runners up to Flackwell Heath in the Hellenic League Premier Division and remained in the league until the end of the 2020/21 Season.
THE HELLENIC YEARS
FA CUP
We first entered the 'The Football Association Challenge Cup (FA Cup) which is the world's oldest association football single knockout competition in the 2013/14 Season, which marked the 133rd anniversary of the tournament’s existence and saw us reach the First Round Qualifying.
We have competed in this illustrious tournament ever since. The 2023/24 Campaign is seeing the club have its best FA Cup run.
FA VASE
We first entered the ‘The Football Association Challenge Vase’ (FA Vase) in the 2012/13 Season and have competed in the tournament ever since. Our best achievement to date in the Football Association Challenge Vase is reaching the First Round Proper in the 2013/14 Season, 2014/15 Season, 2015/16 Season, 2016/17 Season & 2020/21 Season.
YOUTH SECTION (YOUTH ACADEMY SINCE 2021)
We first set-up our Youth Section in 2013, initially it just had 3 teams but now our youth section has over twenty youth teams playing on both Saturday and Sundays from the age of 7 to Under 18 when players can then join our senior pathway.
In November 2021 we rebranded our Youth Section as the Reading City Football Club Academy as part of our ongoing partnership with local education establishment John Madejski Academy and their elite boys football programme
To compliment our Youth Section, we have been running a weekly development centre since 2018 which takes place on Sunday mornings at the Rivermoor Stadium and welcomes players aged 4-6.
Reading City Football Club are also the only other Football Club, except for Sky Bet League One Side, Reading Football Club to compete in the Football Association Youth Challenge.
THE Fa YOUTH CUP
We first competed in the Football Association Youth Challenge Cup in the 2013/14 Season, which marked the illustrious tournaments 62nd anniversary, the club then took a short hiatus from the tournament before returning again in 2015/16 and have featured in the tournament every year since.
Prior to 2018, not much success was had in the Football Association Youth Challenge Cup but with a new player pathway through our newly-formed partnership with local educational establishment John Madejski Academy and their…. , success soon followed as we reached the First Round Proper of the Football Association Youth Challenge Cup for the first time in 2019/20 Season.
Our best achievement to date in the Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is reaching the Second Round Proper in the 2021/22 Season.
MOVE TO THE RIVERMOOR
In 2016 the club moved from Palmer Park Stadium bringing an end to five years spent in East Reading to come back West Reading where we last played in 2011 and took up residence at our current home in Scours Lane which was renamed as the Rivermoor as part of our relocation. The move to West Reading came about as a result of the sad demise of Reading Town who previously occupied the ground. Reading Town were sadly dissolved in 2016 after 50 years of serving the community of Reading, we're now proud to pick up that baton.
The Rivermoor is now the hub of the community, where we proudly have ground sharing agreements with Woodley United and Sister Club Tilehurst Panthers as well as playing host various footballing events throughout the football season. Since 2016 we have also been working hard to improve the facilities at the Rivermoor and picked up the coveted 2018/19 Berkshire Football Award for best ground, an award we are very proud of.
how did THE RIVERMOOR get it’s name?
The Rivermoor gets its name from its location close to the River Thames (River) and the club’s former name Highmoor (Moor).
Our Chairman Martin Law revealed to Football in Berkshire in April 2020 that he believes that whatever you have done in life is your history, and you should never lose your history as it’s made you what you are today, whether it’s good, bad, or indifferent as part of that has helped you on your journey.
One of the things about the Rivermoor is that it is taking the fact we are near the River, so you have got the Thames and It was taking the end of the Moor, the Highmoor. Martin told them that whenever he says the Rivermoor it brings back his memories of what we achieved in our years as Highmoor, where we went with Highmoor, where we came from, what we went through, the great times we had, all the players that have gone through and all the people that have helped. Martin says the Moor bit reminds him of that and the River is we’re now by the River and moving on, so it was something very simple but to me it actually means something.
When changing our name to Reading City Football Club we kept the ground name as the Rivermoor in a nod to our history as Highmoor and Highmoor Ibis".
the reading city years
In the summer of 2018, we took the difficult decision to rebrand from Highmoor Ibis to Reading City. The rebrand ended a long chapter of success and setbacks with the intent of becoming a non-league club the whole town can be proud to be associated with.
Our ambition as a club is to become the football club that everybody under Reading Football Club wants to aspire to play for and be involved in.
When interviewed in 2018 about the name change, Club Chairman Martin Law told the Reading Chronicle "With every organisation you have to have commercial branding associated with your location". Since then we have worked tirelessly to ensure the brand is well recognised within the local community, the hard work paid off as the club won the coveted 2018/19 Berkshire Football Award for Best Social Media and Website.
the combined counties years
The Football Association laterally moved us to the newly formed Combined Counties League Premier Division North as part of their overhaul of the National League System. Reading City made history by kicking the first-ever ball in the brand-new Combined Counties League Premier Division North against Southall FC, here at the Rivermoor on the 31st July 2021 with a 3-1 win.
In our inaugural Combined Counties Football League season, we reached the semi-final of the Southern Combination Challenge Cup.
The history keeps being written….