Chapter 4.

1919-1927

1919/20/21

In September 1919 Wilmott (again) called, in the Gazette, for players to contact him.  Operations were in fact started in mid-October, losing 1 - 4 against Springfield Hospital (our old opponents Middlesex Asylum) but nothing happened for the rest of that season. The team included French, Harvey, Crawforth, W. H. Carey (from 1900), Jarvis, Nava, Barlow, Roberts and Horsey of the pre-war side.

In August and October 1920 Harold Roberts called for members to re-form and had eight replies.  At the Club’s meeting in December, Crawforth and Nava did get the inter-departmental going with eight entries, playing at Clapham Common, Battersea Park and Dulwich Hamlet.

1921/2

Roberts tried again in July 1921 and had a well-supported meeting at which Frank Pearce was elected Secretary.  He then announced, as the general sports ground was not likely to materialise in time(!), a rented pitch was being sought; nothing came of this, nor were there funds or any gear, so L.C.C. were a strolling side for the first season after that, as also occurred after the 1939/45 war.  The first match against the Territorials at Flodden Road, Camberwell, revealed sporting enthusiasm but lack of skill, so clearly most of the old stalwarts must have given up.

The small annexes to Old County Hall “scattered” along The Strand as far as The Temple and on The Embankment were combed, some sixteen new players turned out thereafter, and men, notable in Service sport until after the 1939 War, were making their appearance.

The side was built round the Comptrollers’ inter-departmental team, including a new Welshman, Timberlake; other “founder” members were Cridland, Pawley (my keeper in the reserves four years later and a very hard man), Thompson, Davie, Kirkpatrick, Turner, Roberts, and Nicol.  Leonard (Comptrollers & Clapton FC) guested for us.

Fixtures were with Bexley, Met Police Engineers at Imber Court, McAlpine’s, and again the mental hospitals.  Summing up the season, it was felt that material for a strong side had become available; to consolidate, we needed a ground followed by entry to a league.

1922/3

The mantle of the Athletic Association had fallen on the Staff Association; their Social Activities Sub-Committee, triggered by Crawforth, took responsibility for obtaining a pitch every other week at Salisbury Hall, Walthamstow, @ £30 including goals, nets, pavilion; we co-opted a representative onto that sub-committee.  Our sub was fixed at 10/6.  To start the season, still in the holiday period, we lost 0 - 6 to Old Fullerians reserves, and took a goalless draw from their Firsts the following week.  Old Bancroftians, Griffin (Sainsbury’s) and King’s College were also played, and the results for the season were very good.

Notably, 1923 saw the renting from the Council, by the sub-committee, of our own private short-lived ground at Ducane Road, Hammersmith (currently the Latymer Upper School Playing Fields), potentially until 1936.  This was variously stated to be of 13 or 16 acres, cost £250 p.a., comprised 4 soccer and one hockey pitches, 4 cricket tables, 9 tennis courts, six dressing rooms with hot showers, and a separate pavilion with 2 women’s dressing rooms and a tea-room.  At the same time the soccer Club was only scheduling for two teams, and the reality at the ground (in Pearce’s recollection and mine) was radically different.  £2000 was borrowed from the Council, from which 12 tennis courts and the pitches were laid out, and presumably the “pavilion” provided – a large ramshackle draughty shed, possibly government surplus.  The Sub-Committee appointed Crawforth and W. H. Tanant as joint managers at £100 pa each.

Unfortunately, they ran the ground as a commercial undertaking and let it mid-week, Saturday mornings, Sundays, and incidentally took £1130 pa.  On Middlesex clay it became a sea of mud, with the lines invisible.  For one senior cup tie the ref would only allow 30 minutes each way; the Bank of England had come prepared to change into tails for an evening function, but such a pitch found our buckets of hot water and oil lamps not conducive ….   And for this our thirty members paid £40 a year on top of running costs and buying their own shirts.

A further vital development was the succession to the pre-war Athletic Association.  Pearce, Timberlake, and the joint Secretaries of the Rugby Club (Wilmott of course and Wallington, even more extrovert) discovered, one lunch time in Joe Lyons, that both Clubs were running dances as fund-raisers.  They decided to pool resources, co-opted the hockey (who surprisingly were not using Ducane Road) and netball clubs and created our present Sports Club with the aim of encouraging social activities, undertake any business management, assist clubs in need, and relieve the Staff Association of responsibility.

1923/4

Two AGM’s are recorded, but no link or explanation.  The Committee was made up of a representative from each department, Pearce resumed as Secretary, affiliation to the AFA is recorded with entry to their four cups, and we re-joined the Southern Olympian League.  W. H. Waddington, the very active President, attended AGM’s and matches, and stood the whole team “a blow-out” after one game.

We started with just enough players for the two teams, recruited 22 more and one from 1910 returned, but still suffered enough from flu and injuries for a critical shortage of manpower accompanied by discouraging final results.  The state of the over-used pitch (referred to as appalling and unplayable) must have led to a considerable back-log of fixtures and contributed to those results.  The Reserves however were runners-up in their division as late as 8 March.

In the cups, London Hospital beat us in the Senior, Lensbury in the Middlesex Junior; we took the County Senior first round off a team called Coldfall, then lost by the odd goal to London Welsh who were the holders; in the Junior, having beaten Old Grammarians, LCC went out to Motor Union.  We renewed acquaintance with 1910 team opponents Occident.

The new Sports Club were in business with a number of dances; they also canvassed support of honorary members, subscription 2/6. The overall fixtures provided by the League were fairly standard from now on, but interesting firsts at this time were Centymca, Kew Association, Old Westminster Citizens, Winchmore Hill, Port of London Authority, Stock Exchange and Westminster Bank.

1924/5

A season of extremely sketchy information, starting with 38 members and hopes expressed of a third team, but providing only nine new names and running on only 27 members at the end of January 1925.  Final tables were not published, the picture being of all the last half dozen games being lost, and the figures to that time depressing enough.  The Middlesex cups were entered, both lost in the first round, the Firsts to Alexandra Park the holders.  We had one very distinguished guest player in Hill, the Crystal Palace keeper.

Special return tickets from Waterloo to Wood Lane @ 6d. were stocked.  Medals for the inter-departmental were re-instituted.   At the end of the season, it was noted that a portion of Ducane Road was to be taken for a school (St Clement Danes); at the same time hope was expressed that the veterans who had kept things going long enough for the new general entrants (of whom the writer was one in February 1925) to take over a going concern.

1925/6 

Even more of a veil was drawn, to the point where it is not even possible to re-construct a partial table from individual results.  A pity, because after the Reserves had played one short in October, a 3rd XI was fielded from November on a separate ground, unspecified but probably Highlever Road, North Kensington, and twenty-six new players appeared.  Meanwhile rugger was running four sides, touring the Low Countries at Easter, and holding an annual dinner.

In the Senior Cup we beat P.L.A. then lost again to Ally Pally who went on to beat the holders; the Middlesex was lost to Old Hamptonians.

The Reserves lost their Junior Cups in straight rounds to Old Roans 1st XI and St George’s, Hampstead.

There was a fine crop of hard luck stories, particularly the side which held its own for 75 minutes, conceded five goals in four minutes, then another before the end.  Took some doing!

The Firsts were bottom of the league in February with one point from nine games – a win and a draw were noted as an encouraging improvement, and we took four points from three further matches.  The Reserves’ results remained disastrous; the Thirds won at least once, against our post 1945 friends Old Mercers.

A quotation of interest, that the new off-side rule – a player was considered offside unless two players of the opposing team are in front of him (includes goalkeepers) – meant faster play without doubt; however, there was not a single off-side in one early match because the defenders fell back.

Soccer was heavily subsidised by the Sports Club from the dances and draws held for the purpose.

1926/7

The programme started at Ducane Road, but the grassed area was soon taken back for development as St Clement Danes school by the Education Service, and the First and Reserve teams were pitchforked off to another Council temporary property, a disused tennis club at Highlever Road, the other side of Wood Lane.  The new ground had a spring under it, and rapidly broke down into deep but fortunately loose mud overall, no problem to those of us brought up in Middlesex, The Sports Club and its constituents had spent much energy and cash on the old ground, but there appears to have been no reproach whatever expressed in the Gazette, though those who were involved were spitting blood.  The Council refused to remit the £2000 loan, on which interest was still being paid, but the Ducane tennis courts continued in use for a time on an extended lease.

Still, on just the two county cups, the Senior was lost to Crouch End Vampires and the Junior to Old Parmiterians.

Three teams were running, all getting poor results for very good reasons given.  A February report said we had lost four players and four games, no third matches, no news of March or April.

In October 1927 it was announced that, owing to the failure to find a suitable ground, Soccer had disbanded for at least one season.  In a situation effectively like 1913/4 the Club had again gone out with a whimper, not to be seen again until 1933.