Walthamstow Avenue Football Club is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Based at Green Pond Road, they played in dark and light blue hooped shirts, and light blue shorts. The club was established in 1900, and were one of the most successful amateur clubs in the country during the 1950s. The club ceased to exist in 1988 when it merged into Leytonstone/ Ilford, who later became Redbridge Forest and merged with

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

to form

Dagenham and Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as ...

. They have since been revived as an amateur football club, currently playing in the Sunday Essex Corinthian League.

History

Founded in

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...

, the club joined Division Two of the London League in 1901, but left at the end of the season. In 1929 they joined the Athenian League and won the league in their first season. In 1930–31 they reached the first round of the

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 ...

for the first time, losing 5–1 at home to

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 ...

. The club won back-to-back titles in 1932–33 and 1933–34, and in 1936-37 defeated

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 ...

opposition in the FA Cup for the first time, beating Northampton Town 6–1 in the first round, before losing 3–2 to Exeter City in the second round. The following season they won the Athenian League title for a fourth time, before retaining it the following season. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the club switched to the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

, and were its first post-war champions in the 1945–46 season. In 1951–52 they won the

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of professionalism within footba ...

, defeating Leyton 2–1 in the final. They won the league again in 1952–53, a season in which they also reached the fourth round of the

. Entering at the first round stage as a reward for winning the Amateur Cup the previous season, they defeated

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

in the first round,

in a second round replay, and Stockport County in the third round, becoming the first amateur club to reach the fourth round for 24 years."Electric Avenue" ''When Saturday Comes'', February 2013, p34 Drawn away to

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

, they held

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

to a 1–1 draw, before losing the replay, which was moved to Highbury, 5–2. The following season saw the club defeat Gillingham in the first round of the FA Cup before losing to

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

in a second round replay. In 1954–55 they won their third and final Isthmian League title, and also reached the second round of the FA Cup again after defeating QPR in a second replay in the first round, the last time they defeated a Football League club. In 1960–61 the club won the Amateur Cup, defeating West Auckland Town 2–1 in the final. In 1986–87 the club finished bottom of the Premier Division of the Isthmian League, and were relegated to Division One. The 1987–88 was the club's last one, with the club merging into Leytonstone/Ilford, who were later renamed Redbridge Forest.

Modern-day side

A modern-day Walthamstow Avenue, registered as Walthamstow Avenue 2000, was formed on what would have been the original Walthamstow Avenue's centenary anniversary in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. Playing at Town Mead in Waltham Abbey, they competed in the London County League for three seasons, before switching to the Middlesex County Football League for the 2003–04 season. In 2005 they merged with Walthamstow Pennant (founded in 2002, and themselves a revival of a team that merged with Leyton in 1995) to form Walthamstow Avenue & Pennant. The new club merged with Mauritius Sports in 2007 to form Mauritius Sports & Pennant. Since the previous revival, Walthamstow Avenue has been revived as an Amateur Sunday League side based in Leyton.

Honours

*Athenian League **Champions: 1929–30, 1932–33, 1933–34, 1937–38, 1938–39 *

**Champions: 1945–46, 1952–53, 1954–55 *

**Winners: 1951–52, 1960–61

Kenneth wilson greenhorn

1. Players that have played/managed in the Football League or any foreign equivalent to this level (i.e. fully professional league).
2. Players with full international caps.
3. Players that hold a club record. *

David Silman David Alan Silman (born 28 October 1959) is an English retired professional footballer who made one appearance as a central defender in the Football League for Brentford. He went on to play for over a decade in non-League football and had a spe ...

Stephen Wilkins Stephen Wilkins (born 31 August 1959) is an English retired footballer who played as a midfielder in the Football League for Brentford. After his release in 1978, he embarked on a long career in non-League football and made a return to professi ...

Robin Friday Robin Friday (27 July 1952 – 22 December 1990) was an English footballer who played professionally as a forward for Reading and Cardiff City during a career that lasted four years in the mid-1970s. His on-field performances were regar ...

* Arthur Hitchins

References

External links

*{{fchd, id=WALTHAMA, name=Walthamstow Avenue
The History of Walthamstow Avenue F.C. 1900–1988
Association football clubs established in 1900 Association football clubs disestablished in 1988 Defunct football clubs in England Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. Defunct football clubs in London Isthmian League Athenian League 1900 establishments in England 1988 disestablishments in England Walthamstow Redbridge Forest F.C.