Leyton F.C.
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| Full name | Leyton Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Lilywhites (or Lillies), The Swifts |
| Founded | 1868 (reformed 1997) |
| Dissolved | 2011 |
| Ground | Leyton Stadium, London |
| Capacity | 4,000 |
| 2010–11 |
Isthmian League Division One North, resigned |
Leyton Football Club was an English association football club based in Leyton, in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The team withdrew from the Isthmian League Division One North in January 2011 and disbanded. The first team to go by the name was founded in 1868, and the latest incarnation of the club, which began playing in 1997, won a High Court action in 2002 in support of its claim to be a continuation of the original team, making it the second oldest existing club in Greater London, after Cray Wanderers.
The team members played in white shirts with blue shorts and white socks, and the team is one of a number of teams nicknamed the Lilywhites; the reason for this is unknown, but may be related to "Lilywhites No 5", the first official ball of the Football Association. The Lillies were unrelated to their Football League neighbours Leyton Orient.
The club was founded in 1868, and disbanded several times (late 1890s, 1911, 1914 and 2011) in its history. In 1975 the club merged with Wingate F.C. to become Leyton-Wingate F.C., until 1992 when the two clubs parted company and the name reverted to Leyton. In 1995 the club merged with Walthamstow Pennant and moved away from Leyton Stadium to become Leyton Pennant F.C., now known as Waltham Forest
A new Leyton Football Club was set up in 1997, and following a High Court case in 2002, won the right to be recognised as a continuation of the original club. A statement by lawyers Richard West Freeman Christofi reads:
At the beginning of the new millennium Leyton won back-to-back promotions, winning the Essex Senior League in 2001/02 then finishing second in the Isthmian League Second Division the following season. In 2003/04 Leyton finished second in the Isthmian League First Division North, gaining a place in the new Isthmian League Premier Division for the following season as the non-league pyramid was reconstructed. In 2004/05 Leyton finished fifth in the Isthmian Premier Division and reach the final of the play-offs for promotion to the Conference South, but the Lilywhites were beaten 2–1 in the final by Eastleigh.
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