Viking Greenford Football Club were a

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 based in

Greenford Greenford () is a suburb in the London Borough of Ealing in west London, England, lying west from Charing Cross. It has a population of 46,787 inhabitants, or 62,126 with the inclusion of Perivale. Greenford is served by Greenford Station (Lo ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, England. They played at Avenue Park.

History

The club was founded by the teenage Roy Bartlett, father of professional player Gordon Bartlett, in 1945 as Viking, growing out of a

works team A works team (sometimes factory team, company team) is a sports team that is financed and run by a manufacturer or other business. Sometimes, works teams contain or are entirely made up of employees of the supporting company. Association footb ...

at the

Associated Equipment Company Associated Equipment Company (AEC) was a British vehicle manufacturer that built buses, motorcoaches and trucks from 1912 until 1979. The name Associated Equipment Company was hardly ever used; instead it traded under the AEC and ACLO brands. ...

factory in

Southall Southall () is a large suburban county of West London, England, part of the London Borough of Ealing and is one of its seven major towns. It is situated west of Charing Cross and had a population of 69,857 as of 2011. It is generally divided ...

where Roy had been employed during the war. An adventurous football romantic with an indefatigable appetite for planning and organisation, Roy believed in football's ability to bridge geographic and political distances. He was also quick to recognise the new opportunities for adventure that new and enterprising tour operators could offer working-class boys like himself, and the club eventually became one of the most prolific touring clubs in English amateur football history. Their first match was played at Ravenor Park in Greenford against 342 Squadron Air Training Corps and resulted in a 13–0 defeat. They subsequently joined the Ealing Youth League, and in 1948 the club played their first overseas fixture, a 6–3 defeat to S.K. Furness of Belgium. This maiden voyage made Viking the first English youth club to play in Europe following the Second World War. The 1950s saw them join and progress through five divisions of the Dauntless League. They then joined 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 were admitted to the Nemean League, by which time they had become Viking Sports after gaining affiliated teams from different sports. In 1953, the club hosted their first foreign visitors, Fleurbaix of France, at nearby

Southall FC Southall Football Club is a football club representing Southall in the London Borough of Ealing, England. The club is affiliated to the Middlesex County Football Association. They are currently members of the . History Southall FC was fou ...

’s Western Road ground. Having finished as runners-up in Division Two in 1963–64, the club were promoted to Division One.Nemean Amateur League 1963–1970
Non-League Matters Their first season in Division One saw them finish as runners-up, and in 1965–66 they were league champions. In 1966 they moved to Avenue Park in

. In 1969 the club joined the Premier Division of the

Middlesex League Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbouring ...

.Middlesex League 1966–1984
Non-League Matters They finished as runners-up in 1978–79, and after a sixth-place finish the following season, the club joined Division One of the Hellenic League. In 1985–86 they won Division One, earning promotion to the Premier Division. However, they were relegated back to Division One after finishing bottom of the Premier Division in 1988–89. In 1989 a disastrous

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

attack by vandals destroyed the clubhouse and dressing rooms at Avenue Park. In 1991 the club transferred to the

Combined Counties League The Combined Counties Football League is a regional men's football league in south-eastern England with members in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Jersey, Kent, Middlesex, Oxfordshire, Surrey, and the western half and sou ...

, and in 1999 renamed themselves Viking Greenford. After finishing bottom of the league in 2002–03 and unable to finance themselves for the following season, the club folded. Their last manager was former

Wimbledon FC Wimbledon Football Club was an English association football, football club formed in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, south-west London, in 1889 and based at Plough Lane (1912–98), Plough Lane from 1912 to 1991. Founded as Wimbledon Old Centr ...

and

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

midfielder Steve Parsons., During their history the club played numerous friendly matches against European clubs on a regular basis, with a total of 92 matches at home and abroad. A tour of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in 1965 included a match against

FC Desna Chernihiv Football Club Desna Chernihiv ( uk, ФК «Десна» Чернігів) is a Ukrainian football club based in Chernihiv. The original name of the club was "Avanhard" (FC Avanhard Chernihiv) during its first year of existence as part of a repu ...

at their

Yuri Gagarin Stadium Yuri Gagarin Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Varna, Bulgaria. It was initially used as the stadium of Cherno More Varna and Spartak Varna. It was named after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's firs ...

, which they lost 10–1. One match against Stade Portelois drew a crowd of 3,000 to

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground is in a predominantly residential area and was ...

.The Vikings
In Bed with Maradona A club trip to

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

in 1968 unexpectedly coincided with the sudden Soviet invasion of the country following the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...

, and the team were forced to make a 300-mile dash in their coach for the border with Austria, in order to avoid becoming trapped in the country. Former players who appeared for Viking Greenford and later went on to notable professional careers at the highest level include

Alan Devonshire Alan Ernest Devonshire (born 13 April 1956) is an English former professional footballer who is the current manager of Maidenhead United. He was a wide midfielder who played for West Ham United, with whom he won the FA Cup in 1980, and Watford, ...

and

Les Ferdinand Leslie Ferdinand MBE (born 8 December 1966) is an English football coach, former professional footballer and television pundit, who is currently the director of football at Queens Park Rangers. A striker, his playing career included notable sp ...

Honours

*Hellenic League **Division One champions 1985–86 *Nemean League **Division One champions 1965–66

Records

*Best

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 ...

performance: Second qualifying round, 1993–94 *Best

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

performance: Second round, 1991–92 *Best

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

performance: Second round proper (last 64), 1996–97

References

{{Football in London Defunct football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in London Association football clubs established in 1945 1945 establishments in England Association football clubs disestablished in 2003 2003 disestablishments in England Hellenic Football League Combined Counties Football League Works association football teams in England