Hampton & Richmond

Early years

Hampton's early years were spent in the Kingston & District and the South West Middlesex Leagues. Although twice winning the Kingston & District title in the early 1930s the club never managed to capture the South West Middlesex League title during their 26-year stay.

Senior football

In 1959, Hampton entered the senior football ranks as members of the Surrey Senior League, despite being based in Middlesex. In 1964 they won the championship and stepped up into the Spartan League where they enjoyed seven seasons of unparalleled success. The club captured the Spartan League title four times in 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1970 as well as finishing runners-up in 1968. They never finished outside the top four places during their stay.

In 1971 they were elected to the Second Division of the Athenian League. After narrowly missing promotion in their first season, Hampton finished runners-up to Ruislip Manor in 1973. By this time, though, the Beavers had already been elected to the newly formed Second Division (now First Division) of the Isthmian League.

Isthmian League to 2003

The club were to remain in Division Two of the Isthmian League until 1990, when they suffered their first relegation. Worse was to follow as the two regionalised Second Divisions were split in 1991 to form a Second and Third set-up. The Beavers found themselves one place below the dividing line and were relegated to the Third Division for the 1991–92 season. Although missing automatic promotion by one place, the club was promoted at the Isthmian AGM to fill a vacancy in the Second Division and so began the recovery.

In the mid-1990s, under long-serving manager Chick Botley, the Beavers began to climb up the leagues again, winning promotion from the second division in 1995–96, and then gaining promotion from the first division in 1997–98 after finishing in 3rd place. Hampton started 1998–99 in the Premier Division – now the top tier of Isthmian League football. In 1999–00, they became the first winners of the George Ruffell Memorial Shield. They remained in the Premier Division until 2002–03, which led to relegation and a return to Division One.

The Devonshire years

In the summer of 2003, the club invited experienced manager Alan Devonshire, who had just left Maidenhead United, to the Beveree. Alan signed as manager and had the task of winning promotion back to the Premier Division, this was achieved on the last day of his first season in charge with a 3–0 win at Leatherhead.

Hampton & Richmond subsequently spent three seasons in the Premier Division, each time coming close to promotion to the Conference South after finishing as runners up in the play-off competition in 2005–06, and narrowly missing out on a play-off place in 2004–05.

On 28 April 2007, Hampton & Richmond Borough were promoted as champions of the league to the Conference South after a 4–2 victory over Slough Town. The crowd of nearly 1,100 witnessed an epic match in which Hampton led 2–1 until a late Slough goal looked to have given the championship to promotion rivals, Bromley. This would have forced Hampton into 2nd place, meaning that they would have had to compete in the playoff competition for promotion. However, 90 seconds later Hampton retook the lead through a goal from Stuart Lake and shortly afterwards a penalty was awarded and scored by Elliott Godfrey, resulting in a 4–2 victory, and automatic promotion for the Beavers.

Hampton & Richmond Borough quickly established themselves in the Conference South in the sixth tier of English football. In 2007–08 they finished in 3rd position in the league, reaching the play-off final which was narrowly lost to Eastbourne Borough. The following season they suffered yet more heartbreak in the play-off final, losing 2–3 at their home ground to Hayes & Yeading United, having qualified as runners-up to AFC Wimbledon. A curious fact is that both AFC Wimbledon and Hayes & Yeading United found out they would be going up at Hampton's Beveree ground. The club also reached the First Round Proper of the FA Cup for only the second time in their history in 2007, losing to League Two side, Dagenham & Redbridge in front of over 2,000 fans.

The club recorded its first record attendance at the start of the 2008–09 season when Hampton entertained a full strength West Ham United side that included Dean Ashton, Craig Bellamy and Robert Green. West Ham ran out 4–2 winners in front of a crowd of over 3,000. Since then, several matches, including the Conference South play-off final in May 2009, have been played in front of capacity crowds. The play-off even recorded more than 1,000 people who couldn't get into the stadium for the match.

On 29 January 2009 the club received a record transfer fee for its 20-year-old striker Ben Wright as he moved to League One side Peterborough United. It had been widely reported that Wright was to make the move to Premier League Fulham, but Peterborough beat Fulham to the punch to sign up 'the hottest property in non-league football'. As part of the deal, the club received a substantial cash amount and would receive further funds based on goals and appearances for the Posh, as well as a sell-on fee. However Wright failed to impress.

After Devonshire

In May 2011, Devonshire accepted the position of first team manager at Braintree Town, who had just been promoted to the Conference National. In his place, Mark Harper, Devonshire's assistant in the 2010–11 season, was appointed to the position of first team manager for the club's 5th season in the Conference South.

In 2011–12, in progressing to the FA Trophy 3rd round, the club had had its best performance in England's premier non-league cup competition. However, they suffered in the league and were relegated on the final day of the season.

The following season, 2012–13, started off brightly in the Isthmian League Premier Division, as the club were looking for immediate promotion back to the Conference South. However, the good form disappeared and after a 3–0 defeat to bottom team Carshalton Athletic on 1 April, Mark Harper resigned his position as first team manager. The management for the remaining games of the season was handed to first team coach Paul Barry and player Darren Powell. The pair subsequently were appointed in the position permanently.

After a poor start to the 2014–15 season, Barry and Powell resigned on 13 September, following a 3–2 defeat away to VCD Athletic in the FA Cup. Earlier that week, the club had suffered a 6–4 defeat at home to Leiston in the Isthmian League Premier Division.

The Dowson era

Former Kingstonian manager Alan Dowson was appointed to replace Barry and Powell the following day. After spending the rest of the 2014–15 season working to prevent relegation, ending the season in 15th, Dowson then guided the Beavers to the Isthmian League title in 2015–16.

A strong start to life in the National League South in the 2016–17 season saw Hampton's skilful young players step into the spotlight and in the January 2017 transfer window, leading scorers Jamal Lowe and Nicke Kabamba both signed for League Two club Portsmouth.

The team maintained that strong start, finishing the season in 7th and thus qualified for the end of season playoffs, albeit through the failure of the two clubs immediately above them to achieve correct ground gradings. They met eventual playoff winners in the two-legged semi-final, Ebbsfleet United, and lost 4–2 on aggregate.

After a poor start to the 2017–18 season, Hampton then went on an unbeaten run of 21 games, which took them into the playoff places by Christmas. They ended the season in 4th place and entered the playoffs. After beating Truro City 3–1 and Chelmsford City 1–0, they faced Braintree Town in the promotion final, held at Beveree. After extra time, the match ended 1–1, Braintree Town then winning the penalty shootout 4–3.

This turned out to be Alan Dowson's last game in charge of the team, as he left to take charge of Woking 2 days later.

Gary McCann

On 1 June 2018 Hampton announced the former Hendon manager, Gary McCann, as the new manager. During his time as manager he has led the side to 2 Fa Cup First Rounds and twice finished in the playoffs, however these seasons were curtailed due to COVID-19

December 2022 Takeover

In December 2022, the Club was taken over by Ramayana Ventures. Led by brothers Rafaele and Stefano Petruzzo, the company took over majority control of the club. Shortly after, on 1 January 2023, Manager Gary McCann was relieved of his duties. On 13 January 2023, Mel Gwinnett was appointed as First Team Manager and Head of Football Operations. Following Mel's appointment, the team were able to escape the relegation places, finishing 17th in the National League South for the 2022/23 season.

In March 2024, the club released a statement: "Hampton & Richmond Borough FC is delighted to announce that Ramayana Ventures Limited (RVL), parent company of the Club, will convert its loan of c. £1.4m into equity. The conversion will further strengthen the Club’s balance sheet making it essentially debt-free."