Club Name
GKTFC
Location
South London
About the Club
We are the latest incarnation of a long legacy of football teams associated with St Thomas’, Guy’s and King’s College Hospitals. So here’s a little history.
St Thomas’ Hospital is the oldest of our hospital sites and the second oldest in London. It started out as the monastery hospital of St. Mary Priory in 1106 and the Medical School was founded in 1550. It moved to its present site opposite the Houses of Parliament in the 1850s.
Guy’s Hospital was founded in 1721 by Sir Thomas Guy. A governor of St. Thomas’, Sir Thomas Guy, established it as a ‘hospital for incurables’, taking patients that St. Thomas’ could not treat. This link between the hospitals has continued ever since.
King’s College Hospital was opened in 1840 in central London. It was intrinsically linked with the relatively new King’s College London to allow the training of its medical students. Its move to Denmark Hill in South London was completed in 1909.
In 1982 a merger created the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals, and in 1998 a further merger with King’s College created the Guy’s King’s and St Thomas’ Medical School.
This medical school remains known affectionately as GKT to those within it, honouring the rich history of all three Hospitals and Medical Schools now united under one banner.
All the hospitals have a long history of associated football teams, with Guy’s Hospital winning the inaugural United Hospitals Football cup as far back as 1884. And it is this history that helps fuel the pride of the current students who put on the GKTFC kit.
The last couple of years have been very successful for GKTFC! We are the current holders of the National Association of Medical Schools Competition (NAMS, 2018/2019 winners) – surpassing medical schools from all over the UK in a competition that GKT had never won before. Furthermore, despite COVID-19 having a huge impact on our season, in 2020/2021 our 1st XI won both of their cup finals in the Sellers Cup (against all King’s teams) and the Varsity match vs RUMS (UCL’s Medical School).
In 2018/2019 the 2nd XI and 3rd XI won the UH plate and Vase, respectively, whilst the 5th XI got promoted. In 2019/2020 the 2nd XI won their UH Shield trophy in addition to the 4th and 5th XI winning their BUCS leagues and getting promoted. Finally, in 2020/2021, our 5th XI reached the Sellers Cup final, defeating KCL 1st XI 3:0 in the semi-finals.
We are looking forward to next season and hope there is more success to come!