Waltham Forest FC
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| Full name | Waltham Forest Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Stags |
| Founded | 1964 (as Pennant) |
| Ground | Wadham Lodge, Walthamstow |
| Capacity | 3,500 |
| Chairman | Turgut Esendağlı |
| Manager | Kem Kemal |
| League | Essex Senior League |
| 2016–17 | Essex Senior League, 12th of 22 |
Waltham Forest Football Club are a football club from Walthamstow, in the London Borough of Waltham Forest who play in the Essex Senior League. They have played under a number of names and were known as Leyton Pennant up until the end of the 2002–03 season.
The Full Story. Leyton Football Club by David Chapman Leyton can rightly claim, if not as the birthplace, but certainly as the cradle of football. In 1861 football was being played by the old Forest Club on the flat ground along Whipps Cross Road. It was the first time that a local club had anything like regular fixtures. Their off-shoot became known as The Wanderers, first ever winners of the FA Challenge Cup. In 1868 a Congregational minister, Rev William Morgan Lloyd, must have seen what was happening and encouraged the young boys whom he knew from both church and the Grammar School in Grange Park Road at which he held his services. They formed a Leyton Football Club and began playing their home matches on the open ground behind the Lion & Key, which doubled up as the changing rooms. This was four years before the advent of the FC Cup and many years before league football came about. The club went from playing no more than half-a-dozen games a season to weekly fixtures against newly formed clubs from all over London. They entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1874 achieving their only positive result with a scoreless draw at Southall. The following year saw the club awarded a walkover against Harrow Chequers and a tie against Clapham Rovers on The Oval. The seven nil defeat was published in most of the daily papers. Leyton never set the world alight, but two players, Edwin Scot and Henry Hailey, were selected for a trial match against The Wanderers for possible elevation to the England team. On the day neither shone and the chance was lost. Another player, Segar Richard Bastard, who left for Upton Park did represent his country in 1880. By 1880 the ground was required for building the Congregational Church and the club folded. In the winter of 1887 the members of the Matlock Cricket Club decided to form a football section. The Football League had begun in 1888 and by 1890 Matlock Swifts began playing local sides. Their record was an impressive 12 wins out of 18 games. The following season they entered the Herald Cup, which they won by defeating Holborn one nil. It was their first trophy. Matlock Swifts entered in newly formed Leyton & District Alliance for the 1892/3 season, becoming champions at the first attempt. ‘The Mats’ retained their league title the following season and also won the Essex Junior Cup. The next season saw ‘The Mats’ win the London Junior Cup by beating the Royal Ordnance. By now they were the strongest football club in the vicinity and in 1895 ‘The Mats’ changed their name to Leyton. Entering the South Essex League they carried off the championship although cup success was denied. In 1896/7 Leyton were once again champions of the South Essex League also winning the Walthamstow Charity Cup and the Essex Senior Cup. In the FA Cup Leyton went out to Woolwich Arsenal in the final qualifying round. Leyton’s momentum continued into the 1897/8 season when they joined the London League becoming runners up to Thames Ironworks and Brentford. They did retain the Essex Senior when beating Romford. Home matches were now mainly staged on the Essex County Ground – which was also used by The Wanderers and London Caledonians and for Essex County Finals. They were back in the South Essex League in 1898. For the last season of the 19th century it saw Leyton win the championship of the South Essex League by virtue of a League Decider against Grays Athletic, they also carried off the Essex Senior Cup. Leyton retained the Essex Senior Cup in 1901. The club now took a huge step-up by joining the London League for 1902/3 season, playing the reserve sides from ‘Spurs, QPR, The Arsenal, West Ham, Fulham and Millwall plus the Clapton Orient. Despite finishing in a lowly position they did once again win the Essex Senior Cup. The following season saw an improvement in the league and the club won the London Senior Cup for their first and only time. 1905 would be the last season as an amateur club for some years to come. Although only finishing in mid table, the management felt the time was right to turn professional. Leyton had seen Chelsea Football Club elected to the Football League and envisaged themselves becoming ‘the Chelsea of the East’. To this aim they joined the second division of the Southern League and arranged to play their home games at Osborne Road. The club’s ambitions meant signing on more experience professional players and these included Walter Busby from Woolwich Arsenal and Sam Meredith, the brother of the ‘Welsh Wizard’ Billy Meredith. Success followed as although they led the league for most of the season they were caught by Crystal Palace for the championship, both clubs winning promotion. 1906/7 was a period of stabilisation and a lack of goals were the clubs main problem. The highlight must have been the selection for Wales of Sam Meredith, becoming the first Leyton player to receive such an honour. New players soon followed. Sandy Tait, the winning captain of the FA Cup with ‘Spurs, and Ephraim Longworth, later an international with Liverpool. In time for the 1909/10 season the club made one of their best ever signings with the Rev. Kenneth Hunt. Hunt had won an FA cup winners medal with Wolverhampton Wanders and a gold medal in the 1908 Olympics. Leyton now made their mark on the FA Cup by reaching the last sixteen before being defeated by Leicester Fosse (now City). If Hunt was a good signing, then the signature of eighteen-year-old Charles Buchan, from under the noses of The Arsenal, was a master stroke. He made the first team immediately and his performance against Chelsea in the FA Cup bought in several transfer offers. Chelsea baulked at the asking price but not Sunderland who paid a then world-record fee of £1200 for the youngster. In less than two years Buchan was in the England side and the rest is history. Yet despite the fortune from the sale of Buchan Leyton were living beyond their means. Towards the end of the 1910/11 season a local business man took the club to court over the repayment of a loan. The judge allowed the club to continue but the result was relegation to the second division and the club resigned. Leyton regrouped and re-joined the South Essex League as an amateur club for the 1913/4 season. When war broke out in August 1914 it was known that the Osborne Road Ground would be available as the new tenants, The Grenadier Guards, would be moved abroad. So the decision was taken to once again turn professional. It would turn out to be a disastrous decision as seven games into the 1914/15 season in the Southern League Division Two and playing many clubs located in Wales, the money run out. Players were not paid and failed to turn up for several matches. The League suspended and finally ejected the club. In a way the war helped Leyton as their previous misdemeanours were forgotten and in 1919 the club rose like a Phoenix. The rather late decision to return to the amateur game meant the club having to join the Middlesex Senior League with their home games being played at the Hare & Hounds. In 1920/21 they once again entered the Middlesex Senior as well as the South Essex League. For 1921/22 election was granted the London League, the strongest in the London area outside of the Isthmian and Athenian leagues. A steady if not spectacular climb saw the club progress to the championship in the 1923/24 season. Games were still being played at the Hare & Hounds as well as the old cricket ground, now known as the Army Sports Ground, when available. The 1924/25 season saw a record appearance in the FA Cup when their opponents, Ilford refused to be beaten. After nearly ten hours the deadlock was broken when Leyton won by two goals to none. The championship of the London League was retained for a second season. The hat-trick in the league followed in 1925/6. Captain Tommy Cable was personally honoured by being selected for England, becoming the first Leyton player as this level to do so. Dawn was now breaking on what has to be the finest amateur club there has ever been. Under the continuing leadership of Tommy Cable, the Leyton side of 1926/27 carried off the ‘Blue-Ribbon’, the FA Amateur Cup, the first by a club outside the cartel of the Northern, Isthmian and Athenian Leagues. For the new season, 1927/28, Leyton were elected to the Athenian League. In the FA Amateur Cup once again Leyton came out on top winning against the odds at Middlesbrough’s Ayresome Park by defeating Cockfield from County Durham. Leyton also became the first amateur club to reach the final of the London Challenge Cup against Millwall. Not everyone was pleased to see Leyton’s dominance. The London and Essex FA’s suspended Leyton after just one game into the 1928/29 season. The suspicion was that no club could be this good, they had to be paying their players. The county associations wanted to see the books – which was complied with, but against the Associations regulation’s the supporting documents had been destroyed. For this Leyton were fined and the club’s directors had to resign. For the club it meant the loss of six weeks. It failed to stop the club in carrying off the championship of the Athenian League for the first time. In the FA Amateur Cup, a third final was reached, but a penalty miss by Reg Wright, replacement for Tommy Cable, saw defeat against Ilford by three goals to one. Had they have won then the Amateur Cup would have been retained for ever. Despite the club’s total dominance only Tommy Cable had seemed good enough to play for his country. For the 1929/30 season Leyton moved back to Osborne Road to the ground then known as the Brymay Sports Ground. Success in both cup and league escaped them but they did entertain two continental clubs from Paris. Club captain, Jim Preston was selected for England. 1930/31 saw the lifting of the Essex Senior Cup when beating Chelmsford. The next season saw the retirement of Jim Preston only to be replaced by George Armitage, a full international and once with Brentford. He was almost the last of the gentlemen amateurs. The following season saw the introduction of younger players such as Len Goulden on loan from West Ham United.
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