Deal Town FC

Local boy Jamie Kennedy, born and bred in Deal, used to come to the Charles Ground as a fan growing up and started his youth career at Deal Town Rangers at the age of 7 before moving to the Dover Athletic youth team at 11. He remained at Crabble for a few years and played in the Dover Under 18s set up.

At 19, Jamie had a kick about with a number of former and current Deal Town players and was invited to train with the Deal Town Reserves team.

Jamie explains “I was just playing with my mates in Sandwich. Turned out I was playing with a few of the old Deal Town first team. I was just having a kick about and I think I done pretty well. My dad used to play with Deal Town years ago, he still knows a lot of the Deal Town lot so that got me in the reserves, I started training with them to see how it went.”

Once he joined the reserves in the 2023/24 season it didn’t take long for him to show his potential. By Christmas, Jamie had scored 26 goals for the reserves, his reserve season was cut short, and he was moved up to the First Team. In the second half of the season, he went on to score 12 goals for the first team and helped Deal win the SCEFL league title and move up to Step 4 for only the second time in their history.

Still registered with the reserves in 2023/24 he played periodically with the team when the first team weren’t playing and helped the reserves win a league and DFDS Kent Intermediate Cup double. In a standout breakthrough season in the 2023/24, Jamie received the reserves golden boot, players player of the season, managers player of the season in addition to also being awarded the first team’s young player of the year.

In 2024/25 Jamie played at Step 4 level but suffered a ACL tear and fractured knee in March which cut his season short. He hopes to be back on the pitch in early 2026.