Dartford Football Park has an impressive history.

Founded in 1888 by members of the Dartford Working Men’s Club to play friendly matches, it wasn’t long before they entered cup competitions and reached the final of the Kent Senior Cup in 1894.

They were the first non-league football club to reach the third round of the FA Cup two seasons running in 1935 and 1936.

Dartford were also the first Kent club to reach the final of the FA Trophy at Wembley in 1974, and the first football club in the country to launch FootGolf.

Today, the club are being enthusiastically run by forward-thinking chairman Steve Irving and are totally supporter-led and funded by the community.

They run on three levels. A first team, under-21 development programme and academy, a youth development centre for ages seven to 16 including a pre-academy at 13-16 and a junior section for all abilities for ages seven to 18.

The club play at the award-winning Princes Park stadium recognised as one of the most environmentally-friendly facilities in the country.

Commenting on a struggling second season this year, chairman Steve Irving said: “We have continued to develop the structure of the club by leading the way in the development of an under-21 development programme for the South East.

“This is designed to bridge the gap between academy football at 16-18 and first-team football at steps one and two of non-league football.

“The new programme kicks off in September with other senior clubs in the South East such as Ebbsfleet United, Maidstone United, Aldershot and Basingstoke among others.

“We have added a third academy side with an A-level partnership with Leigh academy, the first in Kent, I believe.

“We have also continued to build our youth development centre by adding an under-16 side to complete our pre-academy age groups from seven to 16 plus adding three girls’ sides at 13-15.”

The Wembley dream is still there driving the club in the coming season as well as reaching the national league within three years.

The company has entered The Dartford and Gravesham Business Awards, which are supported by the Messenger, and each entrant gets a free profile in our papers and on our website.

This year’s award sponsors are Dartford council, Gravesham council, Barnes Roffe, Kent Business School (University of Kent), the KM Group (Dartford Messenger and Gravesend Messenger), Lloyds Bank, Thomson Snell and Passmore, Edinburgh House, University of Greenwich and Mid Kent College.

Entries have now closed. The winners will be announced in a few weeks.