Football Programmes of Yesteryear: The Isthmian League Five-a-Side Championship, 1979

Nineteen Seventy-Nine was a turbulent year in the UK. It began with the Winter of Discontent, and it ended with inflation at 13.4%. In between Margaret Thatcher was elected as Prime Minister, Liverpool won the league for the twelfth time, Lord Mountbatten was assassinated, Manchester City (Steve Daley) and then Wolverhampton Wanderers (Andy Gray) broke the British transfer record- Gray cost just under one and a half million pounds- we had the first European Parliament elections, The Clash released London Calling, the Jubilee Line opened, Douglas Adams published Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (42), and Brighton became the first major UK tourist resort to open a nudist beach, a stones-throw (and there are lots of stones to choose from) away from Whitehawk FC’s Enclosed Ground. Not that there is any connection between nudism and Whitehawk, as most of the year when you are exposed to the wind blowing across that pitch you’ll wonder why you didn’t put more clothes on, rather than wanting to shed them.

Barking were runaway Isthmian League champions, winning the title by twelve points from Dagenham. Harlow Town won Division One, and Camberley Town won Division Two.

And on November 29th, The Berger Isthmian League ‘Five-a-Side’ Championship was held at Wembley Arena.

The Isthmian foray into the world of five-a-side football seems to have only happened twice, and this was the inaugural tournament. It featured sixteen clubs, who were competing for the ‘Prince Philip Trophy,’ and was accompanied by the added attraction of a Celebrity match featuring a team of Test Cricketers managed by Doug Insole which included Mickey Stewart, Graham Roope and Geoff Arnold- each of whom had played for Corinthian-Casuals- against a Jimmy Hill side which included Frank McLintock, Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Jimmy Greaves- alongside, for reasons which remain unexplained, actor/singer Jess Conrad, who was celebrating having seven singles included in Kenny Everett’s ‘World’s Worst Record’ list.

The participants

Champions Barking sent a seven man squad, and current league leaders Enfield were also amongst the participants, along with Billericay Town, Bromley, Carshalton Athletic, Croydon, Dagenham, Dulwich Hamlet, Harrow Borough, Hendon, Slough Town, Sutton United, Tooting & Mitcham, Walthamstow Avenue, Woking and Wycombe Wanderers. Wycombe were at this point in twelfth place in our Premier Division, behind sixth placed Dagenham and fifth place Woking; but they were the only one of that trio to make it to the First Round of the FA Cup, along with Barking, Enfield, Leytonstone & Ilford, Chesham United, Harlow Town, Slough Town, Croydon and Hungerford Town.

The outcome

There doesn’t seem to be a record of the results anywhere, not even in Nick Robinson’s fabulous book, ‘The First 100 Years of the Isthmian Football League’ (unless you’ve hidden them, Nick!). Research shows that Walthamstow Avenue beat Woking 3-2 in the first round but lost 1-0 to Enfield in the Quarter Final, and that Barking defeated Billericay Town 5-4 on penalties after a 2-2 draw, before losing the same way in the second round to Bromley after a 1-1 draw- although it seems that both sides were terrible at penalties after that match as Bromley won the shootout 2-1!

Bromley had defeated Slough Town 2-1 in the first round, Billericay Town in the Quarter Finals, and Enfield in the Semi-Final- although the scores are elusive. How Wanderers progressed to the Final is as yet undiscovered.

The Final saw Bromley victorious, as they recorded a ‘Sudden Death’ victory over Wycombe Wanderers after the match ended in a 2-2 draw. This was apparently a hastily-arranged “next goal wins” idea, so when UEFA later adopted the concept of a Golden Goal in the European Championships, well you saw it here first! Newspaper Image courtesy of footygrounds.blogspot.com

Wanderers must have enjoyed the experience, as later, as a Football League club, they were inspired to enter- and to win- the Evening Standard London Five-a-Side tournament in 1994 and 1995. Mind you, although the latter two victories appear prominently on the club roll of honour, there is no mention of them being losing finalists of our competition in 1979. Martin O’Neill must have had defeat expunged from the records when he took over as manager.

The proceeds from the tournament went to charity. They were split between the National Playing Fields Association, and ‘The Goaldiggers,’ a charity who worked with the NPFA to provide hard surface play areas for children. There was a follow up tournament the following year, but that was the last one, sadly.

Moving on to bigger and better things

The Walthamstow Avenue squad included winger David Crown, who went on to play for Brentford, Portsmouth, Exeter City, Reading, Cambridge United, Southend United and Gillingham- and who had started his career with Grays Athletic. Harrow Borough featured Chris Hutchings, who went on to play for Chelsea, Brighton & Hove Albion, Huddersfield Town, Walsall and Rotherham United- signing on at Stamford Bridge in 1980.

Technical details

The programme, as you can see from the images, was black and white but had a green front and back cover. The publisher was Tony Williams (Football promotions) Limited- we suspect that this may well be the same Tony Williams who is today co-editor of the Non League Club Directory. Unlike all other football programmes, the only advertisements it contains are inside the back cover, one for the Non League Football Fellowship, which appears to be a vehicle set up to promote the Non League game, and one for a magazine named ‘F.A. Today,’ which was apparently published quarterly by the folk at Lancaster Gate.

We hope you enjoyed that trip down memory lane. Next week we'll be heading back to 1960, Kingstonian's FA Amateur Cup Final against Hendon (who were then in the Athenian League).