Barking FC F A Amateur Cup Final programme 1927

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HISTORIC PROGRAMME FROM A WONDERFUL SEASON

 

 

I (DP) have obtained a very rare programme for the FA Amateur Cup final on 9-4-1927 played at Millwall’s ground. This was our only appearance in the final and we lost 3-1 to Leyton.The programme was expensive and I will have to cut down on the champagne at breakfast and sack some of the staff but it is worth it as I never expected to see one . On the way to the final our results included Kingstonian 6-1,Wycombe wanderers 3-2, South Bank 2-1 and the attendance at the final was 12,864.

 

 

Apart from the F A Cup we reached the final of every cup we entered.We started in the F A Cup in the preliminary round and reached the 1^st round proper, losing to Gillingham 2-0 after a 0-0 draw and played 8 games including Wood Green 6-1, Chelmsford 8-0,Great Eastern Railway Romford 7-4. We finished 3^rd in the Athenian League with results including Windsor and Eton 8-1,West Norwood 7-0,Sutton United 11-2. We beat Clapton Orient 6-0 in a friendly and reached the finals of the London and Essex Senior Cups. After beating Grays Athletic 10-0 in the Essex semi final we lost 2-1 to Ilford but we won the London Senior Cup, beating London Caledonians 4-2 in the final. Other results in the competition included Sutton Court 9-1,Catford Southend 7-6,Wealdstone 6-0, Enfield 7-1 and Leyton 6-3.

 

 

In our next programme I will include details from the Amateur Cup final programme.

 

 

 

HISTORIC PROGRAMME FROM A WONDERFUL SEASON PART 2

 

 

In our last programme I wrote about our record in 1926-7 –one of our most successful seasons ever. Our crowning achievement that season was to reach the F A Amateur Cup Final – our only national final appearance in which we lost 3-1 to Leyton at Millwall , having beaten them 6-3 in the London Senior Cup.

 

 

I have obtained a very rare programme for the FA Amateur Cup final on 9-4-1927 played at Millwall’s ground on a very wet pitch after heavy rain.The attendance at the final was 12,864. The price of the programme was one penny which is less than half a modern penny. We were known as Barking Town then and our shirt colours were blue and white hoops while Leyton played in white. Our team was E.T McCracken,J.S.Carman,C.Norrington,J.S.Kemp,A.J (Alf) Vango (captain),R.H.Young, A.A.Evans, J.F.Hawkins,T.Scarborough,W.V (Mickey) Guyton,W.S.Lucas. As was the custom until the early 1950s players were numbered 1 to 22 in the programme and I do not know how they were identified on the pitch –perhaps the numbers were pinned to their shirts . We were 1-11 and Leyton 12-22. Our scorer was Hawkins.

 

 

The programme noted that over 35,000 people saw the semi final and replay between Leyton and Southall and said that we had had a “splendid season both from a financial and a playing point of view.In the semi final versus South Bank at Bishop Auckland Barking gained the day after South Bank had taken an early lead through a penalty –an incident which might have had an unsettling effect.”

 

 

We were in the Athenian League while Leyton were in the London League . T.H.Cable ,the captain of Leyton “who formerly played for Barking assisted Queen’s Park Rangers occasionally while A.J. Vango has been identified with Gillingham.” This was the 1^st time that 2 Essex clubs had reached the final.

 

 

Millwall were then 3^rd in the Football League 3^rd Division behind Bristol City and Brighton & Hove Albion. The division included Merthyr Town and Aberdare Athletic. The programme commented that “ in the amateur field there is every cause for contentment for, despite all gloomy prophecies to the contrary, the great unpaid continue to flourish.Indeed fuller progress is only retarded by the increasing difficulty of obtaining suitable accommodation.” It also stated that the police have strict orders to eject any person encroaching on the field.