Twenty years ago

[E&E Rich]

Epsom & Ewell FC did not want this article placed upon their own website as it contains "a personal view". That's a very sad attitude which sums up exactly where the club is heading. However, as Club Historian I felt that this milestone was worth commemorating so I thought I'd place it here.

 

Our club face massive problems, yet instead of trying to find ways of dealing with them, they are more concerned with repressing any views expressed by anyone, just in case anyone might possibly find something that they can take offence at. Until they realise this fact, the club will remain in the nineteen seventies and will be overtaken by the ambitious and forward thinking clubs of which there are many at this level. 

 

Twenty years on, the club still hopes that a ground will fall into their lap, despite twenty years of it not happening, and they remain unaware of the fact that they need to make something happen themselves first.

 

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This Saturday afternoon I shall be visiting West Street, a small and windy road that leads up the hill and away from Ewell Village to the parish of Gibraltar, so named after miscreants used to be hanged there at “the gibbet” in medieval times. More recently, the area used to house a well-known non-league side by the name of Epsom & Ewell FC until 1993 and I haven’t been back there for twenty years. Until now.

 

Last Monday, 6^th May marked the twentieth anniversary of the final Epsom and Ewell first team game there; a 1-0 win over Chipstead in the Southern Combination Cup.

 

Cast your mind back to May 1993, if you were even born then, which some of the current players weren’t. John Major was the Prime Minister; petrol was 45.9p per litre and Swedish band Ace of Base were number one with “All That She Wants”. Twenty years have passed and all that Epsom & Ewell FC want is another ground.

 

The club has been sharing, firstly at Merland Rise the home of Banstead Athletic, in what.is believed to be the longest continual ground share in English football history, before moving to Merstham for a two year tenure. They are midway through a similar arrangement at Chipstead’s High Road ground. Whilst the club is not the only one without its own ground, Southall apart, I don’t know of any other club that has been without their own home for a longer period.

 

The present club has been in existence for 95 years, being formed in 1918 by a group of school leavers that grew up in the shadow of World War One. The club progressed rapidly into Senior football and in 1924 entered the Surrey Senior League. Three seasons later, the two-time League Champions progressed to the London League, which they also won at their first attempt. In the Thirties, the club also reached the First Round Proper of the F.A.Cup for the only time in their history, losing 4-2 to Clapton Orient in front of 9,485 at the Lea Bridge Speedway Stadium. However, the club struggled in the post war era and when the Athenian League threw them out in 1973 after numerous poor seasons it was no real surprise.

 

The irony was that the club had just cleared its debts, and also appointed a new manager, the former Fulham professional player Pat O’Connell. Under his astute direction, the club bounced back from the Surrey Senior League, and also reached Wembley Stadium in the first ever F.A.Vase Final in 1975, narrowly missing out 2-1 to Hoddesdon Town in front of 9,500. 

 

Although O’Connell departed in 1982, the club continued their rise under manager Adrian Hill, eventually reaching the heights of the Isthmian League Premier Division, but after he departed to Croydon in 1985 two relegations followed. The loss of the ground in 1993 was a massive blow from which the club has never recovered, and they reside in the Combined Counties League, under the Management of former player Lyndon Buckwell, who has been in charge for over six years now. The club has not won anything since finally winning the Surrey Senior Cup win in 1981, but will get the chance to end that run on Friday when they compete against South Park in the Combined Counties League Cup Final.

 

Stability is key at this club. There have been only eight Managers in the last 40 years, while nine of the current squad have made over 100 appearances, in fact five of them have over double that number to their credit. Unfortunately something else also remains stable, and as we now commemorate twenty years in exile it is important to remember those who have passed on since we left, all of whom died in the knowledge that we were homeless, and hope that this number stops increasing soon.

 

So why I am heading back there this weekend? In my mind the ground is still there, unclouded by the reality of the housing that now occupies the site. After twenty years though it is now time to consign that image to the history books and instead of living on memories, look forward to the hope that the club does not suffer a similar ending to that of its former ground. It is time to look to the future, starting on Friday.

 

 

 

 

[bobuk]

Without opening up this thread I knew It would be a long drawn out read, Jesus Christ you must be bored

[HKP]

Another positive comment from Bob.

[bobuk]

Another positive comment from Bob.

Good read though

[Big J R]

Quite so, though I can't get the connection between Gibralter and a place of execution

[bomaya]

Nice piece Richard. Don't see any controversy in there at all. I get the feeling they just don't like you to say anything anymore.

[E&E Rich]

It came from being hanged at the gibbet, another term for gallows. As was the case frequently with names in the past, gibbet morphed into Gibraltar.

 

Thanks for your support bobuk. My support for my club is what makes the subject interesting to me. I appreciate it's not for all though.

[Footy Mad]

Enjoyable read from a passionate supporter

[bobuk]

It came from being hanged at the gibbet, another term for gallows. As was the case frequently with names in the past, gibbet morphed into Gibraltar.

 

Thanks for your support bobuk. My support for my club is what makes the subject interesting to me. I appreciate it's not for all though.

No problem keep up the good work