Crouch End Vampires F.C. are an amateur

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club from the

Crouch End Crouch End is an area of North London, approximately from the City of London in the western half of the borough of Haringey. It is within the Hornsey postal district (N8). It has been described by the BBC as one of "a new breed of urban villag ...

area of

north London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nort ...

, based at the

Muswell Hill Muswell Hill is a suburban district of the London Borough of Haringey, north London. The hill, which reaches over above sea level, is situated north of Charing Cross. Neighbouring areas include Highgate, Hampstead Garden Suburb, East Finchl ...

Sports Ground. The club are affiliated to the

Amateur Football Alliance The Amateur Football Alliance is a county football association in England. It is unusual among county FAs in not serving a particular geographical area. It was founded in 1906 as the Amateur Football Defence Council, was briefly known as the Ama ...

and are currently members of the . The club was formed through the merger of Crouch End F.C. and Vampires F.C. in 1897.

Early history

Founded as Balmoral Football Club, Crouch End were invited to join a proposed

Southern Football League The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...

in 1891 but rejected the offer. The idea was subsequently dropped after

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

joined the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

. On 3 October 1891, Crouch End played their first game of

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

competition. After beating Ashford United 6–2, their 1891–92 campaign ended in a 0–4 loss to

Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...

in the second qualifying round. Both Crouch End and the Vampires featured in the first ever season of the London League in 1896–97, finishing fifth and sixth respectively. In the Vampires' first ever London League game on 19 September 1896 they lost to Thames Ironworks 0–3. In 1897, Crouch End merged with the Vampires, who were based in

Norbury Norbury is an area of south London. It shares the postcode London SW16 with neighbouring Streatham. Norbury is south of Charing Cross. Etymology The name Norbury derives from ''North Burh'', (North Borough). Some local histories note tha ...

, and were renamed Crouch End Vampires. On 6 October 1900, the club beat

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Cymry Llundain) was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, ...

3–0 in the first qualifying round of the

1900–01 FA Cup The 1900–01 FA Cup was the 30th season of the world's oldest association football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (more usually known as the FA Cup). The cup was won by Tottenham Hotspur of the Southern League, who defeated ...

, but failed to beat

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

in the next round. The following year, 1901–02, they played London Welsh again, running out as 0–1 winners in the preliminary round. They beat

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

4–2 in the first qualifying round, and overcame Willesden Town 3–1 in the second. They fell to

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

in the third qualifying round 2–0 on 2 November 1901. In the

1902–03 FA Cup The 1902–03 FA Cup was the 32nd season of the world's oldest association football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (more usually known as the FA Cup). Bury F.C., Bury won the competition for the second and (as of 2022) fi ...

, they beat

West Hampstead West Hampstead is an area in the London Borough of Camden in north-west London. Mainly defined by the railway stations of the same name, it is situated between Childs Hill to the north, Frognal and Hampstead to the north-east, Swiss Cottage to ...

6–1 in the first qualifying round, but failed to beat Fulham in the second. Olympic gold medal-winner Richard Turner played for the team, as did his brother, Alf Turner, who also played for

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

and later turned out for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. Steadfast proponents of the amateur game, the club were affiliated to the Amateur Football Defence Council (the forerunner of the

). In September 1906, the club was a signatory when the AFDC warned the

London FA The London Football Association (LFA) is the regional Football Association for inner areas of London. The London FA was established in 1882 and is affiliated to The Football Association. The London FA administers all levels of men's, women's and ...

that its affiliated clubs would be boycotting the

London Senior Cup The London Senior Cup is the County Senior Cup of the London FA. The London Senior Cup was first won by Upton Park in 1882. Although the leading professional sides in London no longer compete, the Cup has been won in the past by the likes of Ar ...

the following season. The following year, the organisation (then known as the Amateur Football Defence Federation) was reformed as the Amateur Football Association and they affiliated. They were also founding members of the

Southern Amateur League The Southern Amateur League (SAL) is an association football league in England affiliated to the Amateur Football Alliance (AFA). It is based in and around Greater London and caters for 11–a–side men's adult teams. A feature of the league i ...

the same year.

Recent times

The club are one of three founding Southern Amateur League members that are currently in membership, the others being Alleyn Old Boys and Civil Service. They currently compete in the Senior Division 2 of the Southern Amateur League. The club participate in an annual Easter Tournament hosted by KFC Rood-Wit, an amateur club in Antwerp, Belgium. Former

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

and

player Dave McEwen began his career at the club.

References

External links

*{{official, http://www.crouchendvampires.co.uk/ 1883 establishments in England Association football clubs established in 1883 Football clubs in London Sport in the London Borough of Haringey Southern Amateur Football League London League (football)

Early history

Recent times

References

Further reading

External links