Thames F.C.
| Full name | Thames Association Football Club |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1928 |
| Dissolved | 1932 |
| Ground |
West Ham Stadium, Custom House, London |
| Capacity | 120,000 |
Thames Association Football Club were an English football club from Custom House, east London (at the time part of Essex), who briefly played in the Football League between 1930 and 1932.
Unlike other AFCs such as Sunderland A.F.C., the word Association was initially presented as part of the club name – i.e. Thames Association or Thames Association FC. The "Association" was abbreviated upon joining the Football League, giving the team the more regular name of Thames AFC.
They were founded in 1928, in a similar manner to Liverpool, New Brighton Tower and nearby Chelsea: to play on a ground which had no football club in residence. In Thames' case, they were formed by a group of businessmen who had built the West Ham Stadium, with a capacity of 120,000, in the Custom House area of Essex (now part of the London Borough of Newham in Greater London); the stadium was primarily used for greyhound and speedway racing which took place during the week, leaving Saturdays free. The directors of the stadium decided to form a professional football club to play on Saturdays, to bring in additional revenue to the stadium.
The club began playing in the Southern League Eastern Division, and finished 14th in their first season and third in the season after that (1929–30). This was enough for them to gain election to the Football League Third Division South in the summer of 1930, in place of Merthyr Town. Thames continued to field a reserve side in the Southern League for a single further season, before withdrawing entirely in 1931.
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