Founded around 1883, Crouch End F.C. were one of the top amateur football clubs in London at the end of the nineteenth century, playing host to such well known clubs as Queens Park Rangers, Millwall and Leyton Orient as well as some of the lesser sides such as Tottenham Hotspur.

The club was a founder member in 1907 of both the Southern Amateur League and the Amateur Football Alliance and in 2008 celebrated 125 years of football. Read below for the full story.

The Beginnings

The origins of Crouch End Football Club are lost in the mists of time but it is known that it was operating at least as early as 1883. The club played its home games at Crouch End Playing Fields in Park Road which is now the site of North London and Highgate Cricket Clubs.

In 1893 the club received an invitation from Woolwich Arsenal to become founder members of the Southern League but declined in order to remain amateur. Arsenal were ultimately elected to the Football League and so the Southern League did not come about for another couple of seasons but the invitation gives some idea of the esteem in which the club was held at that time. Fixture cards from the 1890s include a number of prominent opponents including Tottenham Hotspur and Millwall Athletic as crowds well into their hundreds were attracted to games.

Crouch End vs Vampires

The merger with Norbury-based Vampires F.C. took place in 1897 to give us the present day title of the club. In 1907 the club sided with the amateurs in the great split between the Football Association and the newly formed Amateur Football Association (now the Amateur Football Alliance). The club was a founder member of both the AFA and the Southern Amateur League. The club won its first honour in 1912-13 by winning the championship of Section ‘B’ of the Southern Amateur League (equivalent to Division 2). The following season the club retained its top flight status only to disband at the outbreak of war.

After the cessation of hostilities the club was not immediately reconstituted but another club was formed in Crouch End, using the title of Mount View F.C. As the club contained a member of former Vampires it successfully requested permission from the Football Association to take on the title of Crouch End Vampires which it has held to this day.

Back to the S.A.L

The club moved from the Middlesex County Amateur League to become founder members of the Nemean Amateur League. The Vampires were Senior Division champions in 1926-27, winning promotion to the Premier Division of which they were champions the following season. This success helped the club gain election back to the Southern Amateur League where it has stayed ever since.

In its first season back in the SAL the handbook lists the club’s ground as being the Hare & Hounds Ground in Clapton, but the club moved back to its heartland the following season, playing in the grounds of Alexandra Palace, at Nightingale Lane in Hornsey (the current Alexandra Park ground is at the Wood Green end). That move lasted just two years, however, before the club relocated again to Folly Farm in New Barnet. This served as the club’s home until 1939 when it moved on again to the Woodside Park Garden Suburb Club opposite the present-day Old Finchleians Memorial Ground.

The move to Woodside Park happened just in time for World War II with just enough time for the team photo to be taken before hostilities caused the League to cease operations once again. The Vampires did, however, managed to accrue their second major trophy before this happened by claiming the AFA Middlesex Senior Cup in 1937-38 as an SAL Second Division side, having won promotion as runners-up in Division Three two seasons previously.

The move to Coppetts Road

In 1945 the club returned to action immediately with a makeshift SAL competition being played in 1945-46 with the Vampires finishing 2nd in Division 2. Promotion back to Division 1 for the first time in 34 years occurred in 1949-50 when the 1st XI became champions of Division 2 for the second time. This was followed by the move to the current ground in Coppetts Road, Muswell Hill. The clubhouse was built by club members and originally consisted of just the two bar areas and changing rooms but was later extended to include the food hall.

The team won Division 3 in 1960 under the astute tutelage of J.W. Lingwood, whose son Jimmy was captain. In the team photograph of that year it is possible to see a number of future stalwarts looking much younger than many will remember them. Among these is a certain R. Swinburne, who went on to become a personification of Crouch End Vampires F.C. for much of the next half century until he passed away in 2004. Another character at the club then was Jack Bruce, who served on the committees of both the Nemean and Southern Amateur Football Leagues.

Centenary Celebrations

During the next two decades the 1st XI flitted between the Second and Third Divisions with a 3rd placed finish in Division in 1974-74 the best to show for their toils until promotion back to Division 1 was gained in 1979-80. In the build up to the club’s centenary it was fitting to see the side in the SAL’s top division once again but the pinnacle of the club’s achievements came three years later when, bang on schedule for the 100th anniversary celebrations, the club became champions of the League for the first and only time. For good measure the 2nd XI also brought home the AFA Middlesex Intermediate Cup.

Despite slipping back into Division 2 in 1986 the side returned to the top flight at the first attempt meaning that for the 1986-87 season all seven Vampires sides were competing in Division 1 of their respective sections of the SAL.

The 1st XI slipped back into Division 2 in 1990 but the arrival of Brian Owen as 1st team manager signalled the beginning of the club’s most successful period. An unbeaten championship season in 1991-92 returned the side to Division 1 where it challenged regularly for the next 10 seasons at the top of the SAL. A final game defeat at home to Nat West Bank at the end of the 1992-93 season saw the side’s title hopes dashed and the following season the side came 2nd place. This time, however, there was more than consolation as club’s won its first and only AFA Senior Cup with a 3-1 victory against Old Ignatians at Midland Bank’s Beckenham ground, goals coming from Pat Rimmer, Karl Bateson and Tony Bannister.

Back to the Top

In the team that day were two of the best players ever to represent the club. Steve Langley (pictured holding the Senior Cup) and Ben Smart formed a formidable centre-back partnership. Sadly, both suffered untimely deaths in the next decade. With the 1st XI once again vying for the SAL championship in the 1996-97 season Ben suffered a brain haemorrhage and died aged just 28. A few short years later Steve was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed away aged 42 years in 2003. The untimely loss of Ben, shortly followed by another stalwart – Ian Goldie – led to the introduction of the Annual Memorial 6-a-side tournament.

Both Ben and Steve were, however, still present when the club won its second AFA Middlesex Senior Cup by beating Old Ignatians (again), this time by 3 goals to 2 at Old Owens at the end of the 1995-96 season. The club again finished runners-up in Division 1 with that 2nd championship proving ever elusive.

Following the departure of Brian Owen the Vampires continued to challenge. Under the tutelage of former Alexandra Park manager Paul McKiernan the side secured a 3rd place finish in 1999-2000 and once again reach the final of the AFA Senior Cup. This time, however, luck was against the Vampires as they became the first side to lose-out in a penalty shoot-out following a hard-fought 1-1 draw with UCL Academicals.

125 Years and Counting

The 21st century has seen the club’s flagship side struggle after the dizzying heights of the 1990s with consecutive relegations to Division 3 of the League but with former 1st XI goalkeeper Ina Singh at the helm the team won promotion back to Division 2 during 2007-08 and the club is eagerly awaiting the start of the 2008-09 campaign with renewed optimism