Calling all programme editors, football writers and amateur stattos…

If you’re like most football supporters, the likelihood is that you can call upon your own collection of useful statistics at the drop of a hat. You remember that crucial victory against your local rivals from 25 years ago like it was yesterday. You recall clearly that your side was top of the league for a fortnight in 1975 (particularly as it has probably never happened again). You can argue, undoubtedly until you are blue in the face, that there was a season when your team was in the relegation zone until the very last day before making a dramatic escape- even though your mate insists that you were out of danger a month previously.

Well we can help you win these arguments. And, if you’re a programme editor or a football writer, we can provide you with an invaluable resource to help you with your work.

You may not have noticed- sadly, it’s easy to miss- that we have a League Archive website. You can find it here- http://www.isthmianarchive.co.uk/ and it has mountains of useful information going back to 1988. Well if that wasn’t enough, at the end of the month the Isthmian Archive goes large- so large, in fact, that you’ll be able to trace our history and results right back to 1905! Richard Lambert, our Official League Archivist, has been working on completing this treasure trove of Isthmian information for years and finally- undoubtedly to the relief of his family who must have days when they forget what he looks like- it’s almost complete, and will be launched with a fanfare just before July turns to August.

Richard, speaking last week, explained that the project has been a labour of love. “It’s taken up the best part of forty hours a week for quite some time now. I’m a statistician by trade and enjoy the work, although I’m not sure if I’d known quite how much work was involved that I’d have taken it on! That said, I’m really delighted with the outcome and feel an enormous sense of achievement.”

As a supporter of Epsom and Ewell FC, Richard started delving into football history at the start of the last decade, but at this point only focusing on his club (take a look at their official website and admire his handiwork). He got these records complete, wrote a history book for the club which sold out, and then thought about the records for the Isthmian League- Epsom were members from 1977 to 2006 so he already had a great deal of relevant information. Getting permission from the League he decided to make a start, and began cross-referencing various sources of information before finding out that a relatively significant amount of them didn’t add up! Many visits to the British Library have followed, many hours have been spent pouring over old newsprint, club archives, official league bulletins and a hot pc, and many alterations to existing statistics have been made. One league table, for example, has been incorrect for one hundred and five years (luckily with no impact on promotion and relegation)!

Once the final archive has been posted there will be another article here bringing it to your attention. But, for the moment, please take a look at the information currently available and use it to settle those arguments once and for all. Thanks to Richard- actually, thanks aren’t anywhere near enough- for all of the time, effort and knowledge that went into creating this magnificent resource.

Here’s the link again: http://www.isthmianarchive.co.uk/