1951/2 

Eddie Saint of the pre-war Club re-joined at the start of this season and, for a dozen years, contributed captaincy and solid experience to the lower sides.  Bert Organ, captain of Old Esthamians, moved to South London and joined us, bringing with him the tabulated team sheets which replaced the old individual post cards, “You have been selected …”  John Newman started his marathon stint of distributing them on Monday evenings.

The Sports Club transferred our tenancy to two huts abutting on either side of the Blood Transfusion boundary, to be knocked into one and heavily adapted but, as the building licence was still lacking in September, we held-over on the existing changing rooms.  Meanwhile, working parties of our players (and nominally of the Hockey Club) were cutting into the rocklike chalk / flint to make a base large enough for a double-walled Army hut which, by December, gave us very large unheated but curiously snug dressing rooms.  This was connected, by an icy passage, to the existing huts and a concrete-floored bathroom with big ceiling roses liberally fed from a giant coke boiler which we operated ourselves.  There were also a tea room and a minute kitchen, furnished by the Hockey Club ladies, to which our visitors and ourselves transferred from the café.

A most undistinguished playing record left the Firsts (lacking Minear by now) and Thirds at the bottom of their respective middle divisions, and the Reserves two off the very bottom; the Thirds did win two rounds of one cup to reach the semi-final.  We were of course still steadily losing players to National Service call up.  This year proved to be the bottom of that particular trough in the Club’s standing, and the Thirds even avoided relegation after a considerable re-shuffle in the League.

In his annual report, the Secretary found cause for congratulation that the First and Second teams had received the sort of hammering previously reserved for the Thirds, had taken it well, and still had a reputation in the League for good football.

As happens often enough in a bad year, there was plenty of social activity, though it would appear we were too dispirited to tour.  Several times, at 7/- a head, we took the first floor of a pub at the Elephant, a barrel of beer for individual operation (dipped for consumption at the end of the evening), grub, cards, dart board and piano.  The annual dinner at the Bell, Holborn, attracted Arsenal’s Jack Crayston (also England of course) as guest, our first experience of the very genuine interest the professionals take in another football world.

For the first time we were financially stable, carrying a small balance, after meeting catering costs, from £120 profits on the Swindle and £39 subscription income.  The Sports Club was taking more and more of the running costs off us, marking lime, kitchen utensils, etc., but was still charging a £20 rent and giving back a £5 grant.

1952/3/4

A remarkably consistent pair of seasons followed, in both of which the first two sides finished in fourth position and the Thirds finished two and three places respectively from the bottom.  In 1952/3 the Firsts were only four points down on the leaders; a fourth Friendly XI was constituted very early on, strollers apart, from a belated allocation of half-a-dozen home pitches and enjoyed a very comfortable season with 5 won, 4 drawn, 8 lost, goals breaking 51:54.  In the second season, this side went on to finish one from the bottom of the lowest minor league division.  All cup runs were short, but it did, occasionally, as so often happened before and since, need the ultimate winners to put us out.  At the end of it all, the Club was on the run-up to 1958.   The added side called for more shirts, at which point we abandoned our previous Arsenal-style, the yellow sleeves of which had made colour clashes avoidable.

The subs started at 5/- with a match fee of 1/- which was always a headache to collect and, in the second year, was abandoned for good in favour of 15/- lump sum which, with the Swindle income, put us back in the black.

Dinner in 1952/3 was at the Thameside Restaurant under Hungerford Bridge, left over from the Festival of Britain, and the chief guests were the Leader and Chairman of the LCC.   A very successful evening of the formal kind, apart from the separate-table arrangement inducing from Bill Douglas his only known box-up as toastmaster in calling the principal speaker before he had finished his meal; for a politician, the latter’s reaction was somewhat tactless.  The next stag dinner was back to earth at the local Red Lion and, though not that well supported, was held to be a good fixture; R.E. Griffiths (Director of Establishment) and Joe Toole were the guests.

Easter tours were fixed in the Isle of Wight and the New Forest.  No less than twenty clubs and two County FA’s replied to my enquiries, some offering duplicate dates which had to be refused, some reporting failure to shift a league fixture or to find a pitch, most suggesting “some other time”.  This sort of response, and the endless trouble taken by our actual hosts to make our programme, was standard for all towns in this country, but attempts to reciprocate at Belmont could never be fitted in.  This time five ladies travelled with the party – and one baby-in-arms who (with Ron and Mrs Newby) occupied a chalet annex at our hotel overlooking Freshwater Bay.

Against West Wight, one of the two leading sides on the island, our strongest XI went down 2 - 4, though the Council played most of the football.  A 3 - 2 win against New Milton next day was very welcome, as was the cordial entertainment afterwards and the invitation to come again; over that weekend, they had drawn with Southampton B.  Sunday’s activities included coarse cricket, walking over Tennyson Down, and several pleasant hours in the local, the coastguard excellent company.  Monday morning, we met and defeated (5 -  3) New Langton Brewery, followed by sampling and lunch with our hosts.  The afternoon was the big one against Ringwood on our way home and we turned out four of the players who had played in the morning; at 2 - 2 in the second half, Minear in goal, fractured his forearm and we were two goals down before his substitute could change; we recovered to 4 all but conceded five in the last twenty minutes.  One of the posters for the matches hangs over the bar at Belmont.  In London Town, Pat Latteman at centre forward was singled out as leaving the best impression of our football quality in all three games.

Next year the fixtures stemmed from 1953, hotels were the problem, but our friends at New Milton got the manager of New Milton Hotel to open earlier in the season than was his wont, and we enjoyed grand hospitality then and in later years; after we had, very regrettably, dropped our fixtures in the area, Godfrey Evans, (the Kent and England wicket keeper), took over the hotel (and Barclays Bank our stomping ground – he must have made them a marvellous host).

As a pipe-opener Lymington Reserves were defeated 2 - 1; their First’s had just dropped out of Div 1 of their league after 30 years, having dropped a point to Pompey A team.  Saturday was the return with New Milton who gained revenge by two goals as we were driving for the equaliser.  We did not have, as the last year, to cut short an extremely pleasant evening with the home side.  With a car-load of re-enforcements from The Smoke on Monday, a team of First XI strength won 3 - 0 against Romsey, one of whose players invited a noisily disgruntled spectator to see if he could do any better.  Charlie Boxall and family were on this trip, and Bert Organ was Captain and trouble shooter; the backs in one game were Stanley and Holloway.  Instalments on a basic charge of £6 were still being collected into the summer – there really was “not a lot of money about” in those days.

Between these seasons, a working party (this time dominated by an established Hockey Club and with expert assistance from the Housing Department’s St Helier FC) was led by our Bob Stoddart to render the pavilion more habitable, particularly by lining the walls.

Conscious of the lack of a bar, in a dummy run one Saturday, we successfully laid on a supper in a pub in Sutton, and a majority of our playing strength enjoyed a pleasant evening with old friends of the Club in Exiles and Old Grammarians.  For some reason there was no repeat.

1953/4

A new method of electing skippers was tried – all members were issued with ballot papers before the season started and asked to nominate for the team in which they had played a majority of games the previous year.  Only the Second XI furnished any conclusive replies and the Committee, as always, filled the gap.  One wonders if any AFA club at all has found a workable answer to this perennial problem; if our experiment had produced four results it might have anchored a man to the wrong XI for a season.

Among a few others, Les Franklin and Billy Jones joined us in this season, but Chas Pawsey hung up his boots on moving to Thorpe Bay (but he remained as Treasurer).  Freddy West, the ace supporter of all time, was now reported as being a regular.  Jock Connors relinquished his vital office after 6 years, was made our fifth life member, but proceeded to take Pat Latteman and Ron Shepherd to the newly formed boot-money club, Croydon Amateurs.

It is recorded that 41 players had participated in the Third XI, so what the changes must have seemed like in the fourths …

1954/5 

Bunny Austin had been in continuous touch with us as Committee man or with the whistle, and now moved into the Chair; Tony Garwood in the reduced office of Vice-Chairman was very warmly thanked for seven years valuable service, also including reffing.  These two were given the job of organising on-the-spot elections for skippers of all sides after early season matches, and this worked except for the Fourth XI.  Our opening account having broken even, subs were not changed.

For the first time, training sessions were laid on through the summer.  Ken Armstrong, of Chelsea and England, coached four sessions (for 35/- each) at the Council’s Ladywell Institution, where their playing field was made available and light entertainment provided for some of the inhabitants by an average of twenty players.  In AFA football, I have never seen our Pat Latteman’s equal as a header of the ball; Armstrong was outstanding in the air even in the professional world; the contrast in standard was fascinating.

The Fourth Team, even in the League, had been run on a full roster, with only the skipper anchored.  It was now decided to constitute a nucleus of several players to turn out every week, and this involved “sacking” several less able new-comers to keep the roster manageable.

Only two First Team men wanted to tour so we rested for one year.  So far, our sometimes-sizeable allocation of tickets for the big games at Wembley had been balloted but, from now on, they were allocated on seniority, and a man with enough service has sometimes seen two cup finals.  Even at 15/- thirty-five subs were outstanding in March, times were still hard, and the Treasurer non-playing.

Present members will be surprised to learn that, hitherto, there had been no interest in the League Dinner and our Secretary was conspicuous year after year by being on his own.  Now the Committee ensured a minimum representation for the future by agreeing to purchase two tickets, but in this red-letter year, the allocation was raised to four, since the First Team were champions of Senior Div. 3 (goal record 139 - 21), and the Seconds and Thirds runners-up with promotion from Junior 3 and Minor B respectively.  The latter side had indeed prospered, and they alone were as high as they could go.   Clearly, the training sessions of Ken Armstrong had paid off.    The Fourths were static at one from the base of the whole pyramid, with ten points for the second year running.  In the League Senior Cup semi-final, we held a lead until ten minutes from the end, then went down by the odd goal to Southgate Olympic, then holders of the AFA Senior Cup.  The particular feature was a 90 minute duel between Latteman and Ron Stewart, centre forward and centre half respectively of the League representative side.  Exits from all other cups were (perhaps advantageously) almost instantaneous.

All the players were greatly chuffed at the Club’s success as, of course, was Ken Armstrong.   In turn, Ken was successful with Chelsea as they won the English Championship for the first time in its history, and he also gained his one and only England Cap in the game against Scotland, England winning 9 - 3.

In those days, with no cricket, we had the use of the ground for twelve months if required and were, accordingly, able to stage the AFA Junior Cup Final (Ruislip Manor v Catford Wanderers) at Belmont after other grounds were closed to soccer.

The dinner at the Thameside was again a ladies’ night, and the heavy guest list included Sam Bartram, that great character in the Charlton goal. Once again, this contact with “the other half” was mutually much appreciated.

1955/6

The Swindle had brought in £150 and, after catering and other luxuries had been met from this, finance was still ideally balanced, so the level of subscription went into its third year unchanged, and all the officers into at least their second; Newman later handed over the Team Secretary job but continued the heavy job of drafting and distributing the team sheets.

In June, the Parks Department ran a demonstration five-a-side at Eel Brook Common, and the Club was invited to provide the opposition against Ken Armstrong, Bedford Jezzard, Jimmy Hill, Roy Bentley and Johnny Haynes.  Even after we needled them by scoring first, our lot were only beaten by a nominal margin.  Armstrong again coached at Ladywell.

We had another shot at elections for skippers, this time by way of nominations from the teams one Saturday, and balloting the following week for all those with more than one nomination ie. only those duly seconded.  In many of these operations over the years there would be about eight nominations per team.

Social life expanded slightly, with a local pub stag party before Christmas, a profitable joint dance with the Hockey Club, and a second successive ladies’ night to close the season, this time at County Hall.

The pitches were re-aligned and, for lack of stop-netting (and Ron White’s present iron discipline), by the New Year, five new and three kick-in balls at £3/10/- a time had been lost over the fences, a good example of the manifold and weird difficulties in running the ground at that period. The present pavilion had, however, now become a firm proposition – six years to go.  Rhys Francis joined us in that season.

A second bumper year.  The Firsts and Reserves were given Commemorative Plaques as Champions, having come from the bottom to the top division in straight seasons; the former were eleven points clear of the runners-up, and the team behind them within four points of relegation. The Thirds, already at top level, finished in mid-table.  The ill-used Fourth Eleven were again propping up the whole edifice with seven points.  They won their first home game at the end of March, proceeded to beat Easthamians as well, and were reported to have remained cheerful throughout.  There were also bits of cup runs in each of the Surrey Senior and League Junior, to the semi-finals.  In the former we went out to Westminster Citizens, whose old guard have a good recollection that we led 4 - 1 with less than half an hour to go but conceded their fifth in extra time.  The Reserves also lost to the subsequent winners, by the only goal – hard luck in depth.

Lambourne and Latteman won representative badges for five games with the League, while Nicholls filled in for the game against Cambridge University and scored two goals from outside right against the full international and Aston Villa keeper, Mike Pinner.

Chairman Bunny Austin and Bob Stoddart (Assistant Team Secretary) managed the New Forest tour in my absence, and they said the social success was never in doubt from the word go, but the playing aspect was unexpectedly gratifying.  Wide ranging efforts were again made to bring New Milton on a return fixture at Belmont, but no dice.  It has proved, in recent years, much easier to bring a German side back than it was with the natives.  With Brockenhurst, we drew 2 - 2, and lost a couple of damaged players.  New Milton was an exceptionally keen game:  5 - 1 up at half time, lost rhythm, led to a 6 - 5 lead at 80 minutes, then skipper Lambourne “rolled his sleeves up” and three goals came without reply.  On Monday we sought and found revenge on Ringwood for 1954.  This Club’s powerful First Team forward line was all there and won 5 - 3 after four “clear” goals at one stage.

1956/7

LCC (Staff) were now on top of the world, but greatly concerned by an uncalled-for threat to their success.  The Council had conceded Saturday morning leave in three weeks out of four, and players who had been in town anyway, and quite happy over all those years to meet at Joe Lyons (where the Information Centre is now) and proceed to any part of outer London, now had to get lunch at home at noon for a 2:30 KO.  Curiously, only the officers saw this risk and made many precautionary moves, most players appearing to accept the new circumstances without question, until the following season when they dropped out in crippling numbers.

Armstrong not being available for close season coaching, Lamborne giving a very creditable imitation.  Derek Brammar joined the Club – the only man ever able to get a goal kick through the centre circle against a full Belmont wind – and guested for the Seventh Team in his weekends up from Grimsby until the early 70’s, also appearing in the Barry Udall challenge match in April 1979.

An extraordinary rag-bag of a playing season.  The Firsts lost their first three games, took two points off Southgate Olympic away (then League champions), and by the end of February had only four draws to add to that and were propping up Division 1.  At this point Lambourne left the Club for the attractions of Bexleyheath, Johnny Newman took over the Captaincy, and they avoided relegation three off the bottom with 16 points.  The Reserves had a storming season, runners up in their division after leading to the end of January; the Thirds achieved mid-table, all these in the highest available company.  The chopping-block Fourths had an unfortunate run from February; having then gained nine points they finished with 12 from a possible 40 in the penultimate position in the whole league.

On the shining side of the medal, the Firsts won the Surrey Senior Cup of which “we had been robbed” in 1937, though no-one else got very far in any cup.  The semi-final was won 7 - 1 against Irving Sports, after a game abandoned at 4 - 5 down and, even with that five, our goal average over the whole cup run was 34-8.

The final against Old Westminster Citizens was ample and clear-cut revenge at 2 - 1 for what they did to us in the semi-final the previous year.  The contemporary account is of a game of true cup-tie cut and thrust, but little finesse, Citizens having near misses and two disallowed scores in the first half, we being robbed of the finest goal of the game by a reversed decision.  Their fine wing half Alan Godsare had been well-known in inter-departmental games.  Charlie Boxall scored the second goal.

LCC team:   A. Ryder, D, Hayden, D. Brammar, K. Middleton, M. Roberts, J. Newman (capt), C. Boxall, R. Shephard, J. Nichols, L. Wilks, E. Ward.

A measure of the peak which the Council scaled with this win is that Citizens were champions of Southern Amateur II in that year and went straight to the top of I in the next; they reached the final of the Old Boys Cup in 1962-3-4, winning the first two.  In the close season, Johnny Newman dropped out of serious football after an operation, but guested for the lower sides for several years, carried his kit to many a touch line, and developed into a very efficient referee.  Don Hayden also hung up his boots and went to join his father in running Sutton United, another of our local teams; the Club was greatly in his debt as Captain and Vice-Chairman, and also organiser, with his wife, of our catering from 1952.

The Chairman again conducted an Easter party to the New Forest, (somewhat weaker and reduced in numbers from its predecessors); with this trip he was the only ever-present at our home tours, and mostly lumbered with the trouble-shooting involved.  His account in London Town discloses that “after all that time” landlord Figgins at the Milton Hotel mentioned that he had a father at County Hall, perhaps why he had offered us so completely open a house (shades of David Langton, Good lord, my father …”).  We met old friends at New Milton and went on to their annual dinner dance in a body in the evening having gracefully lost to them 1 - 3 earlier on with a very mixed side.  On the Monday, because of our limited playing strength we acted on a previous year’s suggestion and joined fifty other sides in the Lymington Sixes, only to be beaten by their rule against any alteration of the original team.  With a forward injured in the first game, we conceded one goal in the closing minutes of the second and missed a penalty.  The other fixture of the weekend was a 3 - 3 draw with Lymington A.   All came home promising ourselves the same again in 1958.

1957/8

It was in fact the last tour that I should organise for nine years.  In the ’57 AGM, support for touring was so entirely absent that the new Committee never even raised the matter.

To that AGM, it was reported that the Swindle income had been falling off for years and was short by £70 of the contribution, £200, needed for catering in the Club.  Accordingly, subscriptions were raised to £1.  The motion to change our name to Witan was defeated on the grounds that the goodwill attaching to the name LCC should not be lost.  Far from the first time, the Committee were enjoined to be sterner with absentees from, and late-comers to, games which, as always, was honoured as far as the hard facts of getting the teams filled each week would permit.  Who hasn’t got a valid excuse?  Flushed with success, the Firsts and Reserves were to be entered in the main AFA cups, as well as the county versions.  Bunny Austin resigned the Chair, holding that he couldn’t see enough of the games to do the job properly, and Boxall moved in for a six-year stint.

In the season, the rocket started to come down.  The Committee, for instance, met less frequently, the Fourth XI had to be withdrawn from the League as late as December for lack of players and the respective positions and points of the other sides were bottom (7 points), next to bottom (5 points) and bottom (2 points).  Saturday morning leave had bitten; there was, in addition, a general exodus from the Council service and an epidemic of Asian Flu.  The Fourths joined up with Grammarians for the second time as a friendly side, gaining eight points.  The Reserves (in two cups) were the only side to get past the first rounds, but lost their mainspring in Les Courtney, captain for many seasons, and incidentally our best Publicity Officer ever.

For the first time since the war, we abandoned the stag dinner after canvassing several distinguished guests and substituted in its place our first (mixed of course) theatre party, fourteen strong.

On the brighter side, although the Firsts conceded 92 goals, Alan Ryder in goal had three caps for the League; on a re-shuffle the Reserves avoided relegation; London Town reported that few appeared down-hearted, games had been genuinely enjoyable, the Thirds were in sufficient spirit to get their two points in the last game, and that Old Westminsters who succeeded us as (joint) holders, needed extra time to put us out of the Surrey Cup.  We still had four bods at the League Dinner.

Leaving London on his retirement, Freddy West was made a Life Member and stayed in correspondence and in occasional contact with us to the end.  One first heard of him as “Colonel” F West, in constant action with the Home Guard during the war; in 1951 he transferred his loyalties to the Club and appointed himself general factotum at Belmont.  Remembering that this was the age of converted stables down by the railway the job offered plenty of scope for his self-effacing watch for what needed doing.  The “duty” which gave him infinite satisfaction was sponge carrier, and no referee could stop Fred trotting across to minister to one of his stricken flock, including defamatory descriptions of the offender.  Despite bronchial trouble, he braved all weathers to afford this service.  We greatly valued his friendship.

1958/9

The Editor recalls, at the start of the season, Ned O’Keeffe, a new recruit to the Council’s Schools Meals Department, rang Spud and the following conversation took place (you’ll have to insert the Irish accent yourselves): -

Ned:    ‘I’ve seen your advertisement in ‘London Town’ re trials for the Football Club and I’d like to come along if I may’.

Spud:  ‘Good, what standard are you?’

Ned:    ‘I don’t know, I’ve never played before’.

(a pause then ensued while Spud digested Ned’s statement and Ned considered what Spud must be thinking). ‘But I’ve played Gaelic Football’

Spud:  ‘What position do you want to play?’

Ned:    ‘Well, as I’ve said, I’ve never played before but I’m used to handling the ball so I’ll try playing in goal’

Ned came to the trial, was penalised for handling the ball in the ‘D’ outside the penalty area as he thought it was allowed, let in two headed goals from crosses he could have come and collected because he didn’t realise people could head the ball so hard and so accurately. However, he was in luck; goalkeepers, of any ability, were at a premium so he was ‘signed up’.   He subsequently played for 40 seasons, alternating between goalkeeper and centre forward, set a Club record for the total number of goals scored (and conceded?), as well as probably setting a world record for the only goalkeeper to have a penalty awarded against him for ‘hand ball’ – no goal line technology in the S.O.L.!!!

[Ed. A word of explanation of this feat is called for.  In the days when the Club's strip was green and gold, Ned recalls he was presented with a dark blue goalie's jersey which he continued to wear after the change of strip to the Witan colours of light blue.  The penalty was awarded after he made a reaction save in a crowded goalmouth and a colour-blind ref couldn't distinguish his dark blue from the teams’ light blue. Everybody else on the field recognised the ref had boobed, but it didn't stop the opposition taking advantage and scoring from the ensuing penalty. Ned was a bit miffed – ‘I wouldn't have minded but it was a half decent save’!!].

It would seem to have been tacitly accepted that the Fourths would have to run as a friendly side although, with a thin fixture list of only18 matches, there turned out to be sufficient new man-power not to need guest players.  This was, anyway, a sound policy decision for any club in that a buffer side at the bottom, with no league status to maintain, readily absorbs the constant team vacancies coming down the line, are easy (for us) to make fixtures for and has vastly eased the problems of team secretaries and others ever since.  Ned O’Keeffe appeared briefly in goal for this side and had just about established a place in the reserves when he was called up for (GB) National Service; his credentials were Gaelic football and having watched Irish internationals in a couple of well-known professional teams.

Many devoted Club men had run our Swindle over the years but, even on this our luck now ran out – the new organiser (in the Comptrollers!) got himself so tied up that he had to hand it over in mid-season, heavily in the red; Sandy Tolmie took over in the first of his sterling services to the Club and brought it back practically to normal; though, against that, at the end of March, a majority of subs were outstanding.

Belmont was now in the middle of a two-stage operation by the Parks Department to re-grade and surface the pitches, with long fallow periods, so playing conditions were cramped, the second pitch only 60 yards wide.  On the other hand, this was the year when the first effective steps were taken towards a pavilion.

The Club was short in numbers and was still losing experienced players, so all three League sides again came bottom, the Thirds with as many as twelve points, and they stayed up on the creation of an additional Minor Division.  The Firsts had gone back to square one in straight seasons, and the Reserves were right out of their depth from having stepped-up in Junior Division One; both teams got through one round of a cup.  Four sides were now getting the hammerings that only the bottom one was used to but were reported as being in high morale.  Right at the end Pat Latteman, who had for years worked for the Water Board and now Lloyds Bank, had his arm twisted by his manager and was “poached” by that club; a great centre forward, he won the AFA Senior Cup for them against Old Monovians a year or so later.

1959/60

The season continued the rout, save for the Thirds who came three from the foot with eleven points and stayed out of the bottom division, the Reserves did not.   The Firsts picked up four points, and the Club went through the formality of re-election.  The drain in manpower continued, was not matched by intake, and the Fourths had a very sketchy existence, playing often enough when one of the other sides was idle, but were the only side to get through one round of any cup.  New blood included Duncan Carter and Terry Burcombe.

The cost of running the Club had been successfully stripped down from about £250 to £150 (for 3½ teams), with catering excluded, and met direct from the Swindle.  At the time of writing (1980), it averages about £1300 for seven teams.

We had, jointly with the Hockey Club, continued to complain about the playing conditions and a Minute note’s that, on an inspection by their Chairman, the Sports Club had become aware of the unfortunate results of the Parks Department’s expensive operations on an old natural surface soil and drainage.  This refers, inter alia, to the fact, in disturbing the chalk and flint on which we are operating, they had brought the stones to the surface and one visiting player cut his knee to the bone in a sliding tackle.  This condition was remedied by more or less going over the pitches on hands and knees.

The end-of-season theatre was now established as our only social occasion with about thirty supporters.

London Town summed up editorially, that from the evidence of the inter-departmental cup there was scarcely a good first team in the service, but that the Club should be able to hang on till the pavilion could attract and keep new players.   Alan Ryder, the only reserve keeper, now moved out of London.

1960/61

The only advance on the previous year was that the Firsts got as many as seven points, otherwise exactly the mixture as before, including re-election, and no cup rounds won; the Fourths played eight friendlies, winning only one (against Thos Cook by 4-0).  Running expenses were down by £10 to £140, but our doubles competition Swindle had finally given up the ghost in attempting to supplement an inadequate subscription, fell £60 short of balancing to the routine calls on it, and was down to £50 carry-over.  Accordingly, Tolmie introduced and sold, with great success, a pools syndicate, with the Club able to put in a sizeable and attractive permutation each week and the fund well in the black for a number of seasons.  For safety, subs were also heavily upped to 50/- at the AGM, but in practice only 35/- was collected.

This was our last season in the old huts where we, and our visitors, had been surprisingly comfortable, provided enough people had remembered the multiplicity of odd jobs required, culminating in a ceremony of the keys and switches.  Our teams ate in their own big barrack dressing room provided someone remembered to carry the grub from the kitchen, and efforts had to be made to keep any sort of contact with opponents; are we now doing any better, or as well, in the latter respect?

The curious situation at the start of the season was that we were to operate with only one part-time keeper to three teams, and we did indeed depend on a roster of men who would have been happier out on the field until Ned O’Keeffe returned from National Service in the February.  Ricky Nelson and Dolan also joined.

Socially, we kept our spirits up with a stag evening near the Elephant, a party of 40 dined and then went on to West Side Story, and eight members attended the League jubilee dinner – in such a year!

1961/2 

The Council sides were now beginning to come off the bottom of the second trough since the war.  Although we were twice more to apply for re-election, never since have all our three (or more) sides been in trouble at once, and increased manpower permitted the Fourth XI to have a full season and finish with a record of 10 wins, 3 draws, 10 losses and goals breaking 69:60.  Applications for membership were suddenly being turned away.

Freddy Wise, on leaving the service and his back-room job, was elected a Life Member, as was J.F. Lyne, player in the 1920’s and now Chairman of the Sports Club which was providing our playing facilities.  Subs dropped back to 30/- after a slightly expensive but still financially profitable season; this was over-done and reverted to £2 in the following season.

To ensure that our players “got the picture” the Committee ‘primed the pump’ with 10/- a week towards the beer kitty for each visiting team in the new pavilion.  The League ran its first representative match at Belmont, now we had suitable facilities to offer, and the match against the Old Boys League was a great success in every way.

The following side beat Old Actonians Vets by 4 - 2 in a match to inaugurate the new building (ages in brackets):-

Minear (35), Murphy (50), Tupper & Newman (40 ish), Holloway (39) (capt), Norris (30), Boxall (40), Kirby (40), L.O. Wilson (38), Pawsey (42), G. Noakes (30).   A similar side beat the rest of the Club below 1st Team level at the beginning of the next season.

At the end of October, keeper Don Parry was made a member but Tommy Sammons was deferred for lack of information but did become reserve keeper, with Ned in the Firsts.

An Easter Tour to Paris “with some football thrown in” was mooted but died, as did the strong move to run a Jubilee Dinner; the theatre party continued large and successful.

The Council as a whole (interdepartmental) and, indeed, the AFA Rep side, have had only a small handful of wing halves (i.e. where you only need two men to do the job) who were, at our level, masterly in the mould of Blanchflower or Mercer.  Now, for this season, the Club had one in McMahon.  He not only put in a full ninety minutes of mid-field dominance every week, but made the onerous job look relaxed and leisurely.  He saw the First XI into top of the table at the New Year and finally into third position (the top teams’ points scores in Div III reading 25: 24: 24) and then completely disappeared during the summer.  The Reserves did not share this flash-in-the-pan, and lay one from the foot in the junior competition.  The Thirds, in a further season of Eddie Saint’s lively, driving captaincy, were in the middle of their table and never dropped into the lowest ranks.  The odd team won the odd cup round, and the Thirds did not flatter themselves in entering the A.F.A.

This was the year when Exiles admirable ground at Marble Hill (the finest “downland” turf any of us had ever played on) was whipped away from them and handed to schoolboys – abolish compulsory purchase!  The writer played in their last home match, having met them first in 1925, with Jack Cranforth (1910) scoring a hat-trick in our win.

1962/3

This was the season of the great freeze up, from 15 December until 16 February, on which date one L.C.C. side broke the ice on the one “playable” pitch at Gunnersbury, helped by referee Clarke of Fulham Compton, and got in a game against London Welsh.

Inevitably, the League competition was then abandoned but, in the intervening weeks, fixtures had been confirmed, players called, and only scratched late in the week when it was certain the impossible was still continuing.  The following week (23 Feb) Fulham Compton got a pitch going at Wimbledon Common, then that fine old fixture Bank of England (away) materialised; even when we set out on a full programme on 9 March, three of the four games were abandoned for a gale of sleet (“one of the worst days ever”).  The cups all continued but, again not for us; the Fourth XI picked up 18 (imaginary) points in their friendlies.

Our President changed for the first time since the war, Mr E.W. Newberry, Chief Officer Public Control, taking over when the Chief Engineer, Joseph Rawlinson retired.

In January, in the thick of the weather, there was a successful dance in the pavilion.  The League Six-a-Sides were inaugurated on the BBC ground, and L.C.C. made a good start.  Knocked out in the first round, we moved into the Plate, beat Savings Bank after 35 minutes (ten minutes each way!) of the semi-final, and only lost to Rapide / Smiths of England, who were on their way through the divisions to the League Championship.   Spurred on by this, we ran our own enjoyable Sixes on Easter Saturday from pick-up sides in the Club and visitors from Surrey County Council.

This year, and again two years later, there was a degree of support for a tour, and an exiled player in our old stamping ground looked for fixtures, but no joy.  There was of course a theatre party.

1963/4                

Apparently on the slide when football froze up, the Firsts now returned to winning ways and finished third in the table, albeit 10 points behind the runners-up.  The other three sides finished respectively last in their lowest division, mid table, and with results of 11:5:10:69:87.  Cup entries were again a complete waste of time.

John Newman continued his great service to the Club by moving into The Chair, and the balloting for Committee at the AGM was so close that it took three bites and a casting vote.

Innovation was in the air, and our first gymnasium sessions were started by Don Bonser at a school in Southwark, with twenty bods and a Club member as coach; this facility has been costing the Club cash and injured players ever since but retains solid support.  This season had, once again, started with open-air training at Ladywell, and finished with our only social occasion, at the Mermaid.

A major administrative headache hit us when the Council gave full Saturday morning leave, and there was no longer any member of the Club in the office to deal with emergencies.  These have since been handled by the roster operating on their own home phones but, for example, heavy cancellations now present a problem.

1964/5 & 1966

Two further inconsistent seasons, which were, in their way, so nearly identical they can well be taken together.  For the Firsts, the only difference in our applications for re-election to the League was that, in 1965, it was from one off the foot of the table by LCC, the next year it was by Witan at the bottom.  The Reserves were fifth then fourth from the top of their division, and the Thirds third from the bottom both times; the Fourths slumped to proportions of wins to losses of 4:17 and 3:20.  How consistent can you get?  The Firsts, Reserves and Fourths did get through one cup round each in the period; that seems to dispose of the playing scene, apart from reporting that a remarkable number of games were lost by the odd goal, and the teams were “fighting back”.

Faced with the need to change the name to GLC (with still “Staff” in brackets), the relevant AGM in fact adopted the more manageable title ‘Witan’ long in use in the service by successful rugby and rifle clubs.     [Ed. The Internet informs that ‘The Witan’ was the occasion when the King would call together his leading advisors and nobles to discuss matters affecting the country; the name is traceable back to the 8th century.   No doubt Spud would have been called upon had he been there.]

Witan AFC    1st Team   Circa 1965

Back Row L-R:  Pete Withey, Derek Balfour, Micky Weemes, Tom Sammons, Dave Hale, Barry Udall. 

Front Row L-R:  Paul Darby, Micky Dadd, David Nicholson, Bernie Sadler, Ricky Nelson

At the previous AGM in 1964, Charlie Pawsey had been elected to a Life Member (on relinquishing the money bags to Alan Tyler) after sixteen years of invaluable service as Treasurer, and as a player from 1933 to 1962; in the latter capacity he was essentially an individualist, but the team-work in Committee was first class, and he was not soon solidly replaced.

The new Treasurer met difficulties on changing his job, Alec Whiteman took over, but no full accounts were available for audit in either year.  In the second year Les Franklin finished a record run (only now exceeded) of seven years at Team Secretary, and Don Parry moved up.  The heavy proportion of cry-offs in the period were an undue strain on their time and patience.  Subs went up to £3, supplemented by 1/- a match fee after Christmas, and then to £4.  The pools syndicate, for lack of a major win, finally lost its attraction and was replaced by an easily run doubles competition as distinct from the old weekly sales.

There was a heavy influx of players in both seasons (for instance there were six keepers for the four teams) and clearly, in being fair to existing members, we did not absorb the newcomers too smoothly, the roster being very tough on the Fourths.  Even for the Reserves, in one month only the keeper, one so-called half back and a forward turned out four times.  A Fifth XI was fielded for one week and played short; there was a comment that, to keep them going, was a doubtful advantage in view of the pressure on the pavilion; they should see it now.  It was noted that wall-passes seen in the gym were beginning to spread onto the field.

In part, as a farewell to the LCC, a re-union of every available ex-player was held at Belmont giving those, who had changed in cow-sheds and washed from rain water butts, a chance to see how the other half now lived.  There were half-a-dozen each from the 20’s and 30’s, and Brimacombe from 1910, now pictured over the bar (see Page 23).  For the occasion, the following side played our regular foes from Bank of England (who thoroughly enjoyed the evening):-

Minear, Murphy (capt.), Holloway, Anstis, Brammar, Binyon, Elliott, Gray, Wilson L., Baldwin, Johnson

Jock Elliott, aged 53, 1933-39 and 1947-49, scored the only goal with a diving header.

The League at this point took over fixture making from week to week, not to the advantage of clubs like ours with full ground provision, which had been able to make a much more suitable pattern at the annual meetings.  Fixture cards had to be abandoned.   The theatre parties had been organised over the years by Charlie Boxall, Peter Stracey, and now, in the last of the run, by Ray Johnson.

At Easter 1965, Mill Hill Village had enjoyed a very successful tour to Luxembourg, they now invited us to join them in a repeat for Easter 1966, had to drop out themselves, and we recruited Monovians and Grammarians, filling our own coach for a week-end uniquely well organised by agents Page & May – wish they were still available.  As this broke new ground post-both-wars, a fairly full account is perhaps in order, collated from half-a-dozen volunteers in the team, versions of which appeared in a Club circular, London Town, and the AFA Record and is included in Chapter 9: Easter Tours Abroad.   Briefly, the tour was a social success but not from a results viewpoint: Neudorf: lost 2 – 4;  Diekirch: lost 2 – 3.

1966/7

World Cup year and a fantastic influx of players which broke the impasse from which we had been suffering.  By September a casual Fifth Team was under consideration and, in fact, with three pitches available, two full friendly programmes were provided, both sides won and lost about equally, and each, curiously enough, made and conceded over 80 goals.  Sixteen new members were on the books by November, digesting them was easy on two rosters, and even finding referees was simple.  As we were a keeper short, Charlie O’Keeffe came in as a guest, and has put up with us ever since.  At the important level, both the Reserves (one point down) and Thirds (on goal average) finished runners-up, and the new blood got far enough into the First team to put them in mid table.

An interesting AGM decision was to avoid major cups as they offered a risk to morale (as it was then) without compensatory advantages; sure enough, we survived a round in only one of the cups we did enter.

The financial balance carried into this season was again derisory, so the sub was increased to £5, reduced by £1 for prompt payment, with the residual competition continuing to involve more work than profit.  We also came up to date in no longer voting half subs “under call-up age” but “under 18 years”.  The Treasurer continued to find some difficulty in keeping the Committee in the financial picture.

Tom Linley took over the bar, to the great relief of those of us who had had to run it on a roster.  The Sports Club suggested everyone ought to go over to the new Council’s blue colours but did not see their way to subsidise the change, nor could we afford to write-off our old stock.

This was the year we first gained entry to the August Six-a-Sides of the Hassocks Club, near Brighton, who had shared our hotel on tour last year, but the actual contact was made in a pub in the City.  Although his brother runs the tournament, Charlie Boxall has never deserted cricket for the occasion.

On the assumption (happily, still extant in the 80’s) that Easter is for touring, twelve players returned to Luxembourg, this time amicably accompanied by Old Cestrefeldians.   Results:  lost 2 – 3 to Diekirch but won 4 – 2 against Amis des Sports.   For more details, see Chapter 9:  Easter Tours Abroad.

1967/8 

With five established sides, the Fourths were entered in the League; because the newly created bottom division, Minor Div. F, was for fifth teams and lower, Witan were in Minor E and proceeded to win it by four points over the runners-up and nine over the next club.  This was our first championship since 1956, when we took two.  The side was captained unconventionally by Don Parry in goal; they were voted medals in commemoration, having rejected the idea of a group photo.  The First XI “ran up” in their bottom division (by losing to the winners, Inland Revenue, in a needle last game) and the other two league sides consolidated one division short of the top.  In cups we returned to the Senior AFA and got nowhere, but only went out to Bowring Sports in the Surrey semi-final; the Fourths survived four rounds on the Novets, Fifths won a round in the Mander, and the others got the odd extra game.  Gerry Noakes hung up his boots after 17 seasons of prolific goal scoring.

To celebrate 75 years of existence, an early season match against a league representative B side was mooted, but what we finished up with was a 50 strong re-union at The Old Father Thames on the Embankment.

The previous season, having been rather more in the black financially, the Swindle was ended, but not our debt to Sandy Tolmie for his many years’ effort on this essential operation and he continued to make himself regularly available with the whistle till a year or two back.  Also dropped was the rebate on subs for quick payment, but this proved somewhat academic in that, by the end of the season, the Council had granted a subvention, knock for knock, on the amounts paid by players currently in their employ.  In these circumstances, subscriptions were, for some time, kept at the same figure representing running costs for the actual football, with the grant applied to catering and other social and fringe benefits.  This was the opportunity to acquire strip in the new colours, and members were also required to replace green stockings with royal blue at half cost.

Early in the season, commenting on a small red and white badge in his lapel, I had learned that Tommy Sammons was partly of Swiss extraction (accounted for his occasional continental style keeping?) and regularly spent holidays there, to which my conditioned reaction was “what about a tour”.  He came up with a fabulous production at Easter 1968 in Lugano, unlikely ever to be equalled.  The local press recorded this as a completely unprecedented visit of an English club to the Canton.  No concerted account of this event was ever published, and a first full record seems called for here – see Chapter 9:  Easter Tours Abroad, for details.  An additional account, supplied by ‘A Tourist’ can be found in Edition 14½ of Words of Witan, Item 10, page 17.

Briefly, the results were as follows:  Witan v Giubiasca: lost 0 – 3;  Witan v Gambarogno: lost 0 – 2;  Witan v Mendrisiostar:  lost 1 – 3.  Nevertheless, the social side of the tour was a resounding success.

1968/9

A renewed influx of players in September enforced a Sixth XI on our three pitches right at the start, and a casual vacancy allowed our Fifths to enter the League, where Bill Harris and his troops did remarkably well to run-up in Div. F.  The rest of the record is of undistinguished consolidation, and of an enthusiastic Sixth XI who took over strong Fifth XI fixtures and only won one and drew two although they, as well as their opponents, continued to enjoy their football.  The Fourths were in top position until March and finished in third position with only third XI’s in front of them.  The Reserves avoided relegation by a whisker.   Several rounds were cleared in several cups, the Thirds only went out of the AFA Minor in extra time to the holders, and the Fifths showed signs of things to come in reaching the third round of the League Cup.

The repeated adjustments called for by heavy intakes (fourteen more by December) induced us to discuss a manpower budget, and an optimum number of players for six elevens was fixed at eighty-six.

Quite a social season.  There was a successful dance at Belmont following a hockey match v. the ladies.  A party was at last fixed for the Dolphin Square restaurant and was much enjoyed.

Two further “small-a-side” competitions were entered - the Lambeth Borough under 21’s and the Percy Harris in Bethnal Green for Evening Institutes (via our gym class).  In the established one at Hassocks, Witan ‘A’ produced our first conclusive performance at this materially different game and reached the final, losing a grim struggle in a driving cloud burst and late evening light; all our supporters got very wet but stuck to their touchline supporting role admirably.

The first edition of ‘Words of Witan’ – September 1969 – contained an account, thought to be by Rennie Quinn, of the Club’s participation in the Hassocks Six-a-Side Competition.   [Hassock is a town a few miles inland from Brighton.   Witan’s Charlie Boxall has a brother associated with their football scene which is how we came to be invited to their tournament.]

There were 128 teams taking part in the competition, of which three were ours.

‘A’ Team:   Sammons, Sadler (capt.), Percival, West, Gilham, Moore.

‘B’ Team:   Cooke, Randall, Bloom (capt.) Darby, Leonard, Thomas.

‘C’ Team:   Johnson (capt.) Sartorio, Quinn, Appleby, Nelson, Russell.

The ‘A’ team played exceptionally well, got through 6 rounds and finished runners up.

The ‘B’ team, after a very promising couple of games, were knocked out in the third round.

The ‘C’ team unfortunately went out in the first round – being reduced to 5 players by injury to Mark Sartorio in the first minute, which didn’t help.

1969/70 

The outgoing Committee, led by Newman after six years as Chairman and two as Vice, now organised a general post of the officers to provide a smooth replacement for the Secretary in front of his retirement.  At the AGM, the latter was kicked upstairs into the Chair but still made the fixtures, Ned O’Keeffe took over his previous job and the Treasurer has catered from then on.  The Club colours were officially changed to light blue from green/old gold.  Life Membership had always been voted to Members as they ceased to be active but, on this occasion, we gave special recognition of Newman’s service by electing him while he was still in office.  The meeting closed with a show of slides of matches and the tours which fell as flat as many previous efforts at sociability in the office and without a bar.  A fee of 3 guineas was paid for coaching at Belmont in the summer.  That AGM also elected Mick Moore as Team Secretary, the first change in the job since 1947.

The League had, for some time, been hoping to split the senior sides into four smallish divisions of nine clubs, with a view to encouraging re-growth of this competition; this was to be accompanied by a zoned League Cup offering several games at least to fill out the programme.  Witan were in the majority which defeated their proposition, not least because twelve month’s warning to winning clubs seemed called for; the split was however applied to minor teams and robbed the Fifths of the promotion won last season.

Fifty-five bods turned up at the trial, involving much hanging about between the action, and the world cup type rush of new players included in this number left us a couple of dozen over the manpower budget figure.  Furthermore, several of the newcomers went straight into the top sides, and the re-balancing of the teams was dilatory and frustrating.  Eventually, with “minor” players only getting one game in three, a few veterans retired gracefully and later comers were put on a waiting list.  Yet another attempt was made to get the teams to generate their own skippers after two week’s operation, the response being nil apart from the sitting tenants.

Opening a new field of success, this was cup year.  Semi-finals were reached by the Reserves in the Surrey Cup and the Thirds in the League Cup, the Fourths became joint holders of the Mander after a draw with Owens, and the Fifths won the Burntwood in the second year of its existence.  It was the First team’s turn to be runners up but robbed of promotion by an amalgamation of City of London and Cassowaries; the Reserves made no mistake with their championship, the first of our sides this time to return to the top division.  The Fourth XI were also one off the leaders and joined the Thirds, who had beaten the ultimate champions of Div. C by 4 - 1 (making them the best side there?).  The Reserves and the Fourths were awarded plaques for their feats, the Fifths awarded themselves miniature cups and paid the difference.  The odd Seventh Team fixture was made.

Around Christmas, Mick Moore had suffered pressure of work, resigned as Team Secretary and set Pete Randall off on his long run to date.  In this season, Rennie Quinn started up Words of Witan, which was cordially received, soon acquired a cover produced by Ron Jenkins, and ran to five numbers by the end of the season, the last (which is probably out of print) carrying a very full account of the tour.  Two coach trips went to the South Coast, from one of which 4 sides competed at Hassocks, and Witan ‘A’ went out in the fourth round to the holders in a repeat of the ’69 final.

The Hockey Club organised St John’s Ambulance on to Belmont for the first time.

After looking at tours of Ireland, the Rhine, St Marie aux Chênes and elsewhere in France (never at home) a reputable agent provided Ned O’Keeffe (now tour organiser ex officio), Sammy and Percival with a trip to Cologne, very “package” as to grounds and hospitality by contrast, but still enjoyable.   Results: against Brohntal, lost 6 – 2;  against DJK Sudwest, drew 3 – 3 and against SSV Eintracht, drew 1 – 1.   See Chapter 9, Easter Tours Abroad, for more details plus further comment in Edition No.5, Words of Witan at page 1.

Financially, from £40 up at the start there was only £10 in hand in February, and the balance at the end minimal; retrenchment was indicated, a less generous splash with the Council grant.  Turnover was £900 on football, a recoverable £600 on the tour.

   Witan 5th Team    -     Burntwood Cup Winners 1970    

Defeated Centymca 2-0 (at Centymca home ground)

Back row: Geoff Prodger, Fred Leslie, Les Franklin, Graham Clark, John Baldwin, Alec Whiteman.

Front Row: Dave Angus, Andy Faulkner, Russ Burgess (capt), Andy Leighton-Smith, George Peters.

There were a dozen men from the 1930’s, several dozen from the early post-war years who were otherwise out of touch, and gratifying support from over fifty current players.  The main exchange of speeches between Les Williamson of Old Owens, a favourite speaker in AFA circles, and our own David (Nic) Nicholson went like a bomb; Brimacombe presented us with the photo of his team (see photo page 23) which hangs in the bar; he then left for Arundel to a standing ovation.  

1970/71

Sandy Tolmie entered this season as a Life Member and has, to date, continued to contribute his qualified refereeing to the essential services required by the Club.

A very comfortable and outstandingly successful season, absence of manpower pressure leaving all sides balanced and consistent, though we continued to recruit at First or Second team level.  Even the Sixths, who were continuing to maintain the fixtures made for the Fourths or even the Thirds not many years back, won more than they lost to the end of January, and kept a reasonable goal average overall.

With Senior 2 and Minor B championships and the Reserves already there, our first three sides now reached their respective top divisions.  The Thirds, above all, made up in spades for their lack of tangible reward in the previous season, winning the League Minor Cup and went out of the AFA Minor Cup by the only goal in the semi-final to Southgate Olympic.  The Fourths and Fifths were there as well at the League Cup finals, but the latter had to relinquish the trophy they held and the Fourths lost to the very experienced Parmiterians Fourths.

Witan III - 1971

Back: Les Terry, Jim Richards, Don Parry, Alan Neale, Alan Marks, Steve Leonard.

Front: George Peters, John Richardson, Ken Adams, Steve Hofford, Andy Mansfield.

Meanwhile, the top two sides were having cup runs:  in the League Cup, against Penguins, holders of the AFA Senior Cup, we twice drew 4 - 4, then went out 4 - 1.  Their Reserves, who held the League Junior Cup, put us out of that competition by the odd goal in the semi-final.

It was noted in November that the First XI finished a run of seventeen games without defeat, having scored in every match for twelve months, when they went out of the Surrey Cup with nine men v Corinthian Casual by one goal.  The Fourths were promoted into Minor B from second position and were on the heels of the Thirds still.  In the League Sixes, the A Team went out in the semi-final by the narrowest of margins to Old Monovians, who went on to win.

Terry Ginn got his league representative badge (the first since the mid 50’s).  Dolphin Square was again chosen for the evening out, Freddy Wise and Joan were our guests on the occasion in inadequate recognition of his absolutely final season of refereeing, latterly solely for the Club.

Witan enamel badges had now been designed (Johnny Newman), were made up and used to personalise medals to the First Team and plaques to the Thirds for their double.

Again, the finances were in decline, this time by as much as £60; again, the Committee solemnly resolved to retrench, but the sub was put up to £5.50, as it now came to be described.  Over all the years since the war it had been agreed that the standing balance carried between any two seasons should preferably be at least the amount of the basic working cost of putting the teams in the field.  Once or twice in the palmy days of the Swindle this target had been more or less reached; now perhaps, there was hope.

The Fifths were out of the League lime-light this year, suffered considerable congestion at the end from their cup runs, and suspected, that in the resultant mid-week games, the opposition were stacking their teams.  They therefore asked to be left out of the AFA Novets Cup in the next season to concentrate on the league.

The 1971 Easter Tour was to Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Germany.   See Chapter 9: Easter Tours Abroad, for more details;  also, Edition No. 6, Words of Witan, page 13.

Results:  Buchs (Switzerland),  won 3 – 1;   Wengen (Germany),  lost 3 – 5;   Schaan (Liechtenstein),  won 7 - 0