Chapter 11.
The Modern Club
Following the Abolition of the GLC, for political reasons, on 31st March 1986, Witan AFC seamlessly carried on but become a club open to all and this brief account has been compiled by Derek Randall.
Presently, we have three adult men's teams playing in the Amateur Football Combination, the UK's biggest amateur football league system and one of the biggest in Europe.
We play on Saturday afternoons, mostly in South and West London - our home ground is at Barn Elms Sport Centre in Barnes and we train on Wednesday evenings under floodlights at the Battersea Park All Weather pitch.
Our matches are competitive and we have won many trophies at all levels over the years. However, we assign equal importance to enjoying your football and enjoying the social: after games we stay for beers and provide food and hospitality for visiting teams and officials.
AFC Witan has its own active website at: www.afcwitan.co.uk which contains updated player lists, results, photos and achievements.
There is also a Facebook page a ‘X’ (twitter) account and an Instagram page for the club.
Witan Senior Division 1 Champions 1995 & Senior Cup Winners 1996
(not quite double winners, but we briefly held both trophies in 1996 when this picture was taken - I'm 3rd from the left, back row)
Witan Senior Cup Winners 1996 (immediately after the final).
Derek Randall can be seen on the left of the picture. I think Spud Murphy was also there, but he wasn't in any of the pictures)
Club Legends
'Spud' Murphy
No appreciation of Witan is complete without the mention of 'Spud' Murphy, stalwart for over 60 years and Life Vice President of the AFA. He will be remembered as the 'Mr. Witan' and was instrumental in reviving the Club after WW2, recording the Club's history from which the above extract is taken, and from 1965 in finally gaining us a permanent home ground at Belmont in Sutton, good enough to host many Senior Cup Finals.
Derek Randall
At present, we are led by AFC Witan stalwart and long-serving legend Del (aka "Delbert" or more formally just "Derek"). Del continues to help organise games and has been fundamental to the daily running of the Club for about the last 100 years (give or take).
Kolbassia Haoussou
'Marcel' (as he is known to his teammates) is one of Witan AFC's longest serving players, famous for his concrete-wall-like defending on the pitch. However, his influence stretches far beyond the boundaries of Barn Elms. Marcel is co-founder of Survivors Speak Out (SSO), a national network of torture survivors supported by the 'Freedom from Torture' charity. Marcel's work has had a global impact: he has addressed the UN General Assembly in New York and the United Nationals Committed Against Torture and in 2020 he was awarded an MBE for his services to survivors of torture and sexual violence.
It goes without saying that Marcel is an inspiration to us all and we are extremely proud that he is part of the Witan AFC family