NUMEROUS past Football League clubs are now sadly defunct. Amongst their ranks, the team that fascinates me most used to attract paltry attendances at a huge stadium in East London.
Thames Association Football Club briefly had Football League membership between 1930 and 1932.
They were founded in 1928 by a group of businessmen who had ambitiously built the West Ham Stadium. This enormous arena boasted a capacity of 120,000 and was located in the Custom House area on Prince Regent Lane.
The venue was mainly used for greyhound and speedway racing, which both took place on weekdays.
But it was empty on Saturdays so the directors of the stadium decided to form a professional football club as a means of bringing in additional income.
Thames spent their first two seasons playing in Non-League ranks of the Southern League Eastern Division. The club colours were red and blue quartered shirts with white shorts and black socks.
They gained election to the Football League Third Division South in the summer of 1930 replacing Merthyr Town FC.
Unfortunately, Thames struggled to lure supporters along despite the fact that they were based at the all-time largest stadium to regularly host League football in England.
Indeed, they still hold the record for the lowest known attendance at a Football League match played on a Saturday afternoon when only 469 spectators paid to watch Thames AFC versus Luton Town on 6th December 1930.
Another example of this total lack of interest came at Thames AFC’s 3-2 home win over Queens Park Rangers on 30th April 1932. The attendance was just 1,143 for a London derby!
Thames finished 20th in Division Three South in 1930/31 and 22nd (bottom) in 1931/32. This prompted their directors’ decision not to seek re-election to the Football League for the following season and they subsequently disbanded the club.
Greyhound racing, speedway, baseball and stock car racing all continued at West Ham Stadium for another 40 years until 1972 when the site was sold for redevelopment. It was then demolished and housing was built.
I ONCE played an expert 30 yard cross-field pass during an Isthmian League fixture. Yes, during the match itself. But I was only 10 years old at the time!
It came when I was just starting to watch Non-League football on a regular basis back in 1973. My mum would drop me off outside our local club Hendon FC ten minutes before kick-off with my school friend Jonny.
On cold occasions, Jonny and I would have a competition between us to keep warm.
We would spend the entire 90 minutes running up and down in front of the terraces at Claremont Road to see how many times we could touch the match ball when it bounced out of play.
We were quite boisterous in keeping our tallies. And this caused mild amusement amongst other supporters…
I would say: “5-4 to me Jonny!”
And he would reply: “No no, it’s 5-5. You’re cheating!”
Sometimes we would dodge past the perimeter barriers and end up on the side of the pitch to retrieve the ball. This didn’t seem to bother anyone as we were acting as unofficial ball boys.
However, I can recall how things changed dramatically in this respect at one particular home fixture.
Our ball recovery that game was especially prolific. We were drawing 7-7 in our unofficial contest and there was only about a minute of the match left. Very little injury time was added in those days and I was absolutely desperate to beat Jonny.
All of a sudden, I saw the ball bobbling towards us. So I raced forward and booted it in the direction of Hendon’s veteran goalkeeper John Swannell.
As I turned around to give Jonny my glorious victory salute, I was faced by a hostile older supporter on the terrace waving his fist.
“What are you doing? Get off the pitch you little idiot!” he yelled.
I quickly realised that in my exuberant excitement to defeat Jonny in our personal dual, I had accidentally stepped over the touchline and ventured a yard on to the pitch to kick the ball whilst the game was still in progress!
The match referee gave me an icy stare and decided that play should continue. So he ordered John Swannell to pick the ball up and punt it downfield. The final whistle sounded immediately after that.
Looking back, it is not something I am proud of!
*Credit for the photos in this article belongs to Tony Incenzo*
