TBC was a leading team in the Southern Area Christian League for second half of the 1990s and had an undefeated run in the League from December 1995 to April 1998. This unbeaten run made them League Champions in the successive seasons 1996-97 and 1997-98. TBC completed the 97-98 League and Cup Double when we won the Southern Area Christian League Cup for the first time ever on Thursday 19 March 1998 at Imber Court, Molesey beating Molesey Community Church 8-1.

TBC defeated Richmond 4-0 in the final of the Southern Area Christian League Cup on 25 April 2000 so winning the Millennium Cup! Until this Cup Final win, the 1999-2000 season had looked likely been a "nearly" year. The previous week TBC had been pipped to the League Champions title by Egham by just two points. This came at the end of a long hard season in which the TBC team had already surprised itself (and a whole series of opponents) by reaching the semi-final of the FA Middlesex Trophy in its first season of entry.

TBC began its climb up the football league system in the 2000-2001 season by moving up to the Kingston and District League Division Two from the Southern Area Christian League. After many early years of contented failure, they had four years of rich success in the SACL. Then, like many a church soccer team before them (e.g. Everton) they have started on the long climb towards the pinnacle by moving up a league. In 2000-2001 they came fourth out of nine teams but in 2001-2002 slipped back to eight out of eleven teams in Division Two of the K&DFL before recovering in 2002-2003 to take third place in the same Division. The following year (2003-2004) they began well but eventually finished in fourth place. A similar performance in 2004-2005 led them to a final fifth place. In the 2005-2006 season they finished in a disappointing eighth place out of ten teams.

By this point the members of the team which had started with such high hopes of football glory had all grown a little older and little wearier together. With few young legs joining them, they decided to disband in the summer of 2006 and left the field to others with fresher ambition.

The Bible often compares the Christian life to running a race. Someone who knows all about what it means to run the physical race as well as the spiritual one is Richard Nerurkar, the internationally known Marathon runner. After many years in the top flight of athletics, he retired in 2000 after an injury in training for the London Marathon 2000 and the Sydney Olympics 2000. Richard has been attending TBC since the middle of 1996 when he and his wife, Gail, moved to this area. He was Britain's most successful marathon runner during the 1990s and has published a book called Marathon Running - from Beginner to Elite. He is pictured on the cover of the book (see left).

Richard competed in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 for Great Britain, just missing a medal place, and he came fifth in the 1997 London Marathon. He trained hard for the World Championship Marathon in Athens during August 1997 but had to drop out only a few days before the event through illness. For 1998, his target was the European Championship Marathon in Budapest on 22 August. He started as one of the favourites and finished eighth - the best placed British competitor. Richard's wife Gail is also an athlete in her own right competing in cross-country and marathons. She completed the 2002 London Marathon in 3 hours 15 minutes. You can learn more about what they believe by looking up Richard and Gail in our web site feature TBC People.

Richard and Gail moved to Ethiopia in May 2001. Richard is working there in the development of athletics and Gail is doing medical work. Beginning with the first such race in autumn 2001, Richard has helped organise the Great Ethiopian Run. As a result, he was awarded the MBE in the New Year Honours 2003.

Teddington is well known as the training base in England for Kenyan athletes and we sometimes have world famous Kenyan athletes and their families attending our services.

This page is maintained by Colin Hicks; Comments by e-mail are welcome; Return to the TBC Home Page;   Copyright information;