Sporting77 The Beginning
15 Aug 2009

It was all started by Rick Brown and Colin Rason, on a strip of grass down Nayling Road (off Rayne Road), during the early part of 1977 with a group of boys from Tabor High School. The first match was against a team from Dunmow and the score was 6-10 to the opposition, the pitch was bumpy and the goals were rusty with no nets.
As the team was U10 and there were no U10 leagues, the team entered the U11 Braintree & district league, set up a pitch in the Braintree end car park at the Great Leighs Essex showground and that was where it all began, car track divots, second hand goals, beaten most weeks but they did beat Bocking Utd 1-0 which was a major success playing up a year or two years in the case of the goalkeeper.
When the council gave planning permission for the flats adjacent to the current pitch they also purchased the field next to it (current pitch field on Deanery Hill). We seeded it and that was it, Sporting 77 got permission to use it and a team of Parents and children spent several weekends walking up and down the field re-moving bucket after bucket of stones from the pitch area. That is how the club started on Deanery Hill.
With only three teams in Braintree at U11 age level (Bocking, Braintree Town & Sporting 77) the club attracted children from all the schools in the area and it started to grow. The rivalry with Braintree Town was great and the matches between the two teams were closely fought affairs. The team was a great success over the years, under the Management of Terry Meyrick as Rick could not commit to Sunday matches, picking up various trophies and inspiring teams of boys to follow every new year and the club grew to where it is today.