Great Amateur Sides Of The Past.

[Mince n Tatties]

When I was a kid growing up the sixties, my father who
Played amatuer for the now defunct Wood Green Town, was always
harping on about the great Amateur sides, like the giants Bishop
Aukland (who are still on the go) Corinthian Casuals, Crook Town
and Walthamstow Avenue.These clubs never hardly get a mention in the
modern world of football which my late father would have found a total shame.
1974 was the last Amateur Cup Final, won ten times by the mighty
Bishop Auckland... 049:gif

[gang]

Yes, the word amateur in football was a sham and it was decided to abandon it in England. Wimbledon were a top "amateur" side and they turned professional just before an investigation was to be carried out on their finances and joined the Southern League.

[RaySmith]

Dulwich Hamlet
Tooting and Mtcham

[Mince n Tatties]

Dulwich Hamlet
Tooting and Mtcham

Tooting n Mitcham are my other team.
Not one of the giants of the Amateur game though.

[cmg]

Most top 'amateur' sides made some kind of payment to their players back then. Dulwich and Corinthian Casuals being exceptions.
As has been said Wimbledon were well known for this and players like Law, Ardrey and Martin were coveted by many pro sides, but the 'rewards' at Wimbledon were too good.

Sutton also had a very strong and attractive side at that time (Hermitage, Goodall, Bladon) and their right back, Derek Gamblin, was one of the best I ever saw. He came from Hampshire (I think he was a farmer) and trained with Portsmouth who would have liked to sign him but couldn't make it financially worthwhile for him.

'Shamateurs' or not these two teams contested one of the great Wembley finals (Amateur Cup, 1963). Sutton played some excellent football but famously went down 2-4 to Eddie Reynolds' four headed goals.

[Peabody]

Pegasus were a great team, a mixture of Oxford and Cambriidge and truly amateur. Dagenham &Redbridge absorbed Walthamstow Avenue

May have got this wrong but I think Frankie Vaughan played for Finchly, who were another top amateur side.

[cmg]

May have got this wrong but I think Frankie Vaughan played for Finchly, who were another top amateur side.

I don't know about Frankie, but Charlie Vaughan (no relation) is an iconic name at Sutton United for whom he scored 248 goals in five seasons! He went on to a successful career with Charlton Ath.

[jarv]

I thought Frankie Vaughn was a decent boxer.  Tommy Steele was a very good player and I recall he did play in a testimonial at Fulham for whom I cant remember. Was it the maestro anyone?

[Holders]

Leatherhead in their day. I remember standing at the side of the road in Redhill with my mate trying to hitch a lift to Brighton the day they won there in the cup. We failed to get a lift - probably as we looked pretty undesirable! He was a Tanners fan so pretty gutted to have missed the game.

[cmg]

Leatherhead in their day. I remember standing at the side of the road in Redhill with my mate trying to hitch a lift to Brighton the day they won there in the cup. We failed to get a lift - probably as we looked pretty undesirable! He was a Tanners fan so pretty gutted to have missed the game.

The best player I played with as a kid was one Chris Kelly.
He later scored the brilliant winner in the game at Brighton that you mention and gained some fleeting fame as 'The Leatherhead Lip' for his outrageous press comments.
Chris, who was wonderful company, was never a modest type. It's a pity that he predated by a few years having names on football shirts. Chris always insisted that his name was spelled KELE, and I'm sure that's what he would have had on his shirt.

He had a very short career with Millwall and I'm sure one of his games was against us at the Cottage.

[MikeW]

I can remember my old man taking me to an 'amateur' cup final at the very old Wembley between Wimbledon & Sutton.  We got there early, sat ourselves down on the concrete steps at the front & then everyone behind us also sat down.  I've still got the prog somewhere.

[bog]

cmg, I remember Chris Kelly. Leatherhead were playing Leicester City in the FA Cup and were leading 2-0, he had a chance to make it 3 but tried to be too cocky and his effort was saved and they lost 3-2. I think his wish to play the fool may have stopped he becoming a top professional. Great memories!

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[Dodgin]

I think Tommy Steele played on the wing in the warm up game before Johnny Haynes Testimonial, on the other wing was Jimmy Tarbuck looked quite useful.

[rogerpbackinMidEastUS]

Hounslow Town (who no longer exist)
They reached the final of the Amateur Cup and drew 0-0 with Crook Town
but lost the replay 4-0
I played a few games for their reserves a couple of years later, they had a few
ex-professional players playing for them, I guy called Mchattie rings a bell.

[Barrett487]

Following the Wealdstone team of the Eighties brings back fond memories. Stuart Pearce played for the 'stones' , prior to his transfer to Coventry. After he left, they reached the FA Trophy final, beating Boston Utd 2-1 at Wembley to complete the double. Promotion to Division 4 was a no-go due to the stadium not meeting standards. I saw many games because my workplace backed on to the old Lower Meade stadium.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GLFJhmLN4Q You'll notice that Wealdstone's number 7 is Brian Greenaway.

Vinnie Jones was also at the club around that time, but you can't have everything i suppose.

[HatterDon]

When I was a kid growing up the sixties, my father who
Played amatuer for the now defunct Wood Green Town, was always
harping on about the great Amateur sides, like the giants Bishop
Aukland (who are still on the go) Corinthian Casuals, Crook Town
and Walthamstow Avenue.These clubs never hardly get a mention in the
modern world of football which my late father would have found a total shame.
1974 was the last Amateur Cup Final, won ten times by the mighty
Bishop Auckland... 049:gif

I was going to list the three clubs you led off with -- in bold.

[bobbo]

wycombe wanderers sprang to mind they were a great side in the late sixties and early seventies in fact i played on a sunday once or twice with johnny hutchinson (a prolific left winger for them) in a sunday side way back.
another excellent club from that period and again a league club now " yeovil " whom alec stock managed for a while.

[b+w geezer]

As a youngster I fell in love with my fairly local 'amateur' team, Hendon, while watching live broadcast of their 1960 Amateur Cup Final v Kingstonian. The Greens were a goal down with three minutes to play and then scored two! Attendance of 60,000 at Wembley and second half on BBC -- only one channel then. Some low-res footage here http://www.hendon-at-wembley.net/3.html.  So that level of football was quite a big deal until the 1970s anyway. Crowds were well over a thousand and sometimes into the two or even three thousands, for visits of local rivals Barnet or Enfield, or big guns like Wimbledon. As I later learnt, the players were indeed paid, and this, coupled with low wages in the lower Football Leagues, meant that teams like Hendon could attract some who would nowadays have turned pro. At least one regular,  Jimmy Quail, was in the full Republic of Ireland squad, but did not want to give up the day job. Same later for Iain Dowie, who was on a British Aerospace working trip to Holland one week when the club flew him back and forth to play in an important midweek game. (He later turned pro of course).

Standout memory, however, was only indirectly related to the team. In spring 1966 my father, brother and I were watching a midweek Isthmian League match at Claremont Road. At half time, there was an announcement that the England team, staying at the nearby Hendon Hall Hotel, were in attendance. And so they were, patiently standing in the drizzle, while the likes of us were under cover, watching football seven levels below theirs.  In a couple of months they'd be World Cup winners.  Even then, they were stellar. I got Bobby Charlton's autograph. Can you imagine the equivalent today?

[bog]

Great story B&W geezer.  :Haynes The Maestro:

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[MikeW]

Barrett 487:  Wasn't their ground off the High Street behind the cinema?

I think they then moved.

I went quite a few times as a lad (183 bus from Pinner thro Hatch End; went to school at the Salvatorian College for a year).

Going back a bit now but for a kid it was 9d to get in I recall!