Youth Player of the Year 1995/96 (Present 4/5/96)
Kevin Rapley joined Woodley Hammers as a young boy of about 8. It was clear to Mike Mundy, the then manager of the youngest teams, that Kevin was a special footballer. He progressed so well that Woodley Hammers, at that time, could not offer him the standard of football that he needed as a challenge. He moved further a field to get the experience and training needed to stretch his talent eventually gaining a YTS place at Brentford FC in 1994. After his 2 year apprenticeship he was awarded Youth Player of the year in 1996, at the age of 18. During this time Kevin volunteered his help to act as coach for Woodley Hammers U13 Colts
(1993/94).
He helped develop the team for over 3 years taking them from an average team
to being runners-up in one cup competition and 2 different leagues culminating
in being runners up in 1999 to Farnborough Town U18’s in the NE Hants Youth
League. Since then he has played for Brentford FC, Southend United
and Notts. County. After the 2002/2003 season Kevin signed for Chester City in August 2003 in
the midst of strong opposition from a number of other clubs after being released
by Colchester. One of the clubs interested in signing him was Scarborough, where
he enjoyed a successful loan spell during the 2002/03 season. He however
signed for Droylsdon F.C in August 2005 from Chester City. Barrow approached
Kevin in the spring of 2007 when he had left Droylsdon for Leigh, but he
then opted to remain at Hilton Park. In his short spell at Leigh, he scored
12 goals from 32 appearances and a bonus for
Barrow is that Kevin is not cup-tied for any of this season’s cup
competitions having missed the FA Cup & Setanta Shield defeats due to
suspension.
In October 2007 Kevin joined Barrow after asking for a transfer at the
Lancashire club following the dismissal of manager, Stuart Humphries, and is
a player that Barrow boss, Phil Wilson has tracked for a good period of
time. Indeed Rapley, 30, has a wealth of Football League and Conference
experience, having begun his career with Brentford from where he moved to
Notts County for a fee of £50,000 in 1999.
His travels have also taken him to Southend, Exeter, Scunthorpe,
Colchester, Chester & Forest Green Rovers. To follow Kevin's
continued success please follow the link below
Life did not work out well for Kevin at Notts County so he transferred to
Colchester United for the 2001/2002 season. He had a good early season with the U's.
A change of manager brought a change of fortune plus an injury at Christmas placed Kevin on the transfer list.