Carshalton Athletic

Carshalton Athletic FC are a non league club based ten miles south of the centre of London in the Wandle Valley. The club was formed in 1905 as Mill Lane Mission FC and were strengthened in 1906 when Carshalton St Andrews FC amalgamated with them.

In 1907 the club became Carshalton Athletic FC playing in the Southern Suburban League Division 2 West at Wrythe Green Recreation Ground. The club were quickly successful and gained three promotions. At the outbreak of World War One the club was suspended as their ground was given over to agricultural use. They reformed in 1919 and moved into the new home on Colston Avenue which was called the War Memorial Sports Ground in honour to those who lost their lives during the conflict.

In 1922 'The Robins' became founder members of the Surrey Senior League and later voluntary work on imperative ground improvements allowed progression into the Corinthian League by 1947. An enormous crowd of over 8,000 attended a local derby with Tooting & Mitcham United around this period. A couple of league titles followed before election was granted into the Athenian League in 1956.


In 1973 Athletic became members of the Isthmian League when they created a new second division. They were soon promoted into the Premier Division and remained there despite an upheaval of many different managers and club ownership issues.


Athletic did have some decent times with a couple of FA Cup First Round appearances and some local cup triumphs but after a period of twenty four years they were relegated. New owners came in the shape of Steve Friend and Barry Gartell who despite a threat of eviction from the ground slowly steadied the clubs finances. The clubhouse was vandalised in an arson attack which didn't help matters.

Former England and Tottenham defender Graham Roberts managed to take the team back to the Premier Division in 2003 but left soon after owing to players budget cuts. Later that year a planned twelve million pounds rebuild at Colston Avenue was withdrawn after local residents complained.


In 2004 Athletic were given a place in the newly formed Conference South but their spell lasted but just one season, being sadly relegated in their centenary year. In 2008 a new owner Paul Dipre completely transformed the club. Personnel was changed as was the youth set up. The teams colours were changed from maroon to red, the club got a new crest and buildings and facilities were all upgraded.


By 2009 the facilities were some of the best in the area with the new junior section having five teams and the club having three hundred registered children who enjoyed coaching. The first team missed out on promotion after extra time in a play off final against Staines Town.

At the end of the 2010-11 season Dipre banned ten loyal supporters who disagreed with the way Dipre was running the club, including changing the club colours and badge as well as appointing himself team manager. Eventually after throwing a sizeable wage bill at the first team without success Dipre stood down as manager in October 2012 with Tommy Williams replacing him.

Despite the team finishing in the relegation places at the end of the 2012-13 season, they were given a reprieve owing to a points deduction being incurred by Thurrock.


Carshalton Athletic FC will play in the Isthmian League Premier Division in the 2013-14 season.




My visits


April 1984


I was a young student based in Boreham Wood and decided my course was nearing its end. I decided one week day to educate myself in something that would give me far more satisfaction than some strange mathematics formula.


I travelled south of the river and used a one day travelcard to its fullest extent. I'd been to several grounds when I arrived at Colston Avenue. The first thing that caught my eye was the majestic covered terrace that filled the whole of the far side. It was very large for the standard of football and had big white walled exits. It looked very professional. The near end was just open flat standing and the far end an open grass bank. The near touchline consisted of a lot of open flat standing with a very small Main Stand near the half way line with various portacabins and outbuildings.


It seemed to be a ground with huge potential. I went on my way and took a train to their neighbours and big rivals Sutton United.

Thursday 16th November 2006


I had ventured to Surrey once again on a day when I revisited many grounds to take some photos. This time I arrived from Sutton and soon found the ground. It was open and I snapping away when a gentleman came out of a wooden hut. He asked what I was doing so I explained. He seemed delighted and invited me inside. He and other gents of his age who were involved with the club sat me down and made me a cuppa while we had a good twenty minutes chat about about Athletic, Scarborough and non league in general. They were great company.


The ground had changed as it was now more enclosed. Both ends had fences nearer the goal with both having basic covers. The Main Stand was now at least double in length after a relatively seamless addition.


I thanked my new friends and set off to find the new home of Tooting & Mitcham, which was made far easier by the bus advice I was given.

Carshalton Athletic 1 Margate 3 (Tuesday 8th February 2011) Isthmian League Premier Division (att: 157)

I was scheduled to be on late shift at work but the call up to an annual training course offered the opportunity of a game. As I was based in the city, a trip to Surrey looked inviting. I had read big things about the matchday experience at Carshalton on their website with real ale advertised in the clubhouse and them bragging that they serve the best burgers in English football. How could I resist?

I had a good walk to charge my appetite along the Embankment for a few miles. I did well to avert the magnificent Market Porter pub at London Bridge to head straight into the station and take a packed train south.

The walk from the station to the ground is short and I was soon greeted on the turnstile by two smiling young ladies. I paid a tenner admission plus just £1 for a decent programme. Other clubs would do well to take note of that price. I went into a fairly plush clubhouse which had nice leather chairs and plasma TVs with very modern pictures of the team and the club. They were definitely very imaged based. The clubhouse had three dartboards and held events. It was also open from around 5pm each evening and from 10am on a weekend. It did meals and was really trying to push its Sunday lunch then live football offers.

I had a pint of Sambrook's excellent Wandle Ale and sat to read the programme. It was nice to see a few Margate fans in there although it was not too busy with Robins. I went outside before kick off to take a few photos before going to the catering van to see if the burgers really did live up to the hype?

Well I have to say that they were OK but nothing out of the ordinary. The chips were very good mindst. The game had kicked off at quite a pace and soon the visitors went ahead to loud cheers from the twenty or so fans behind the far goal. The home fans at the other end tried to create a bit of an atmosphere without ever threatening the sound barrier.

New fences surrounded the playing area with ample reminders to fans about what time the clubhouse was open and for youngsters to get involved with Saturday morning training.

Athletic equalised before Margate took the lead once more. They looked very dangerous although Carshalton had their moments. I had heard the home fans saying that their match on the previous Saturday was as bad a game of football as they'd ever seen. They were getting their monies worth in the first half.

I wandered round the ground and stood on the great terrace. Some of the views weren't the best because of the large dug outs at the front but I love anything like that side which took me back to my youth. I was behind the goal with the 'Gate' fans when they were instructing the Robins keeper how to set up his wall and warning him how their taker would bend it. The kick went in the net via a large deflection. The keeper was not happy and his mood was not enhanced by the fans saying "We told you it would bend". The home skipper also took exception to comments about his general demeanour!

Chances continued to come in the second half, mainly to Margate but neither side added to the tally. It was a very cold night and I was very tired as my body clock was struggling with changes of shift. I made a move around five minutes from the end to catch an earlier train back to Victoria.

I had enjoyed the experience. I like clubs who have positivity and make the best of what they have, although I couldn't help but think that Carshalton had gone maybe just a little too far. Maybe my opinion comes from the previous experience down there of a warm small friendly club. Whater, I hope some of the kids on the clubs books become first team stars of the future. Community is definitely the way forward!

Vfl Bochum (Germany)

Vfl Bochum or Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft to give them their full title are a football club from North Rhine-Westphalia who were formed in 1848.

The club is one of the oldest sporting organisations in Germany having being formed after an advert in a local paper called for the creation of a gymnastics club. The club, originally called Turnverein zu Bochum had a short ban for political reasons but soon reformed. In 1911 it introduced a football section to the club.

Several splits and mergers took place over the next couple of decades before the Nazi Party enforced Bochumer Turnverein 1848, as the club was now known, to merge with Turn-und Sport Bochum 1908 and Sportverein Germania Vorwarts Bochum 1906 to form Vfl Bochum. The club played in the top flight in the area, the Gauliga Westfalen.

During World War Two with player and facility shortages taking effect, Vfl joined forces with Preussen 07 Elberfeld to form Kriegsspielgemeinschaft VfL 1848/Preußen Bochum but went their own way once peace was declared.

The club bobbed around the leagues until the formation of the new professional Bundesliga in 1963. Bochum were placed in the third tier Amateurliga Westfalen and won that title at the first attempt. They gradually progressed into the Bundesliga in 1971.

Die Unabsteigbaren (The Unrelegatables) managed to stay in the top flight for twenty years despite many scrapes at the wrong end of the table. During the early 70's the new Ruhrstadion was built on the ground which had originally been TuS Bochum's home before the amalgamation. Bochum also reached the final of two DFB-Pokal losing out to 1FC Koln and Eintracht Frankfurt during this era.

The team were relegated in 1993 and since then have been a classic example of a yo yo club spending time in the top two tiers. In 1997 and 2004 fifth place finished in the Bundesliga led to appearances in the UEFA Cup.

As of 2011 the sports club had 5,000 members with sections for athletics, badminton, basketball, dance, fencing, gymnastics, handball, hockey, swimming, table tennis, tennis and volleyball as well as the football department.

Vfl Bochum will compete in 2 Bundesliga in the 2013-14 season.


My visit

Vfl Bochum 2 Fortuna Dusseldorf 0 (Friday 18th February 2011) 2 Bundesliga (att: 24,100)

On the back of our successful lads weekend in Germany the previous year, the second edition was arranged for February 2011. Crusher was missing from the year before, but Carl and Colm were back.

We set off on the early Friday flight from Luton to Dortmund so that we could fit in some Friday night football. Many second tier Bundesliga games kick off at 6pm on Fridays to help avoid bigger games in the way of attendances and for TV.

I had booked the tickets for just 11 Euros each for the terracing weeks in advance. We had a wander to the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund on arrival and struck gold in obtaining tickets for their game the following day when we had been previously told it was a sell out. After a few celebratory beers around the market square and a brief siesta back at the hotel we set off for Dortmund station in readiness for our tea time commute.

The train service to Bochum was frequent and only took just over ten minutes. Unfortunately it took us that long for us to work out how to get the correct group ticket out of the machine. The ticket clerks would not sell them over the counter. We eventually worked it out and bought a ticket for around 12 Euros to cover the three of us. Before long we were at an extremely noisy Bochum station. It was quickly obvious that this was a big game and Dusseldorf had a large following.

We went for a walk to where I’d been advised was the main drinking area. Once again the message board on the internet guide to football grounds had come up with some useful suggestions. However, the area seemed more suited to later at night for the weekend people. We tried to get the beers in one traditional place but the bar staff seemed oblivious to our requests. The jury was out to whether this was deliberate or they were simply all hammered! We went downstairs on the square to board a tram.

Now I’d been on many tubes to Wembley so I was well versed in the sardine treatment, but these trams were really packed. Indeed it was so full we ran through every other stop after the central station. We emerged above ground outside the rewirpowerSTADION or Ruhrstadion to give it its pre sponsored name. The streets were mobbed as I tried to find out where I needed to collect the tickets from. I was sent around under the Main Stand while Carl and Colm waited for me. I eventually fought my way back and we found the correct gate. There was just time to buy a beer and go upstairs with it before we tried to find a place on the already busy terracing. Each block was fenced off so that only so many tickets could be issued for each section, thus making it safe. English authorities please take note!  

We managed to get up into the top corner which offered a decent view. Some youngsters were using the dividing fence as a climbing frame, which would have been no problem if they didn’t have flags on sticks and they’d have been in control of their feet. Several of us were continually prodded. I could see Colm was wondering when I’d lose my rag, but I acted like the perfect guest.

The fans in the central section were making a real noise, led by cheerleaders as seemed the vogue at all clubs who faced the crowd with loud hailers and got the crowd chanting and singing. The away fans had a section of standing down the side and then seats behind the far goal. We reckoned there was about 5,000 of them in Bochum’s highest gate of the season of 24,100.

The home side took the lead with an elfmeter (penalty) after the ref atoned for not giving a certainty earlier by taking the earliest possible opportunity to point to the spot. Marcel Maltritz sent the keeper the wrong way to start off the jingles and the home fans chanting the scorers’ home name after the PA man shouted out his Christian name. They got involved in Germany but I found it a bit too choreographed and plastic to be honest.

Bochum were up near the top of the league before kick off and they sealed a deserved victory with a deflected shot from Umit Korkmatz on the hour mark. We slowly filed out at the end and decided to walk back into town down the steep main road. I’m glad we didn’t walk to the ground! The roads were packed full of fans, some of whom were so drunk that they really didn’t know what was happening. There was a huge police presence determined to get as many fans as possible back to the railway station. We went the other way through the cordon, and after some helpful advice from a restaurateur we found a traditional drinking house where I got the first chance to look through the thick match magazine which had cost just 1 Euro.

We got settled for a couple of hours, enjoying the company of a rather extrovert man from Frankfurt who said he loved Merseyside! before heading back through the still noisy streets to the railway station in time for a few beers back in Dortmund before calling it a night.