On this day: 12th January

It’s been over 20 years since we’ve lost a game on the 11th of January. That was against Dagenahm & Redbridge in the Essex Senior Cup, when a goal from Billy Cove couldn’t stop us falling to a 3-1 defeat.

The 1928 draw with Cheshunt was the 8th game in an unbeaten run which would strech to 13, until Leyton lost to Sutton United in the FA Amateur Cup. That unbeaten run would be bettered a year later, when Leyton went 14 games without defeat; 14 would not be bettered for another 23 years.

We’ve lost some of our earlier opponents on this day. London Caledonians were a team based in Holloway for London-based Scottish players. They were founder members of the Isthmian League, winning it in their first season, but folded following the second World War.
The Walthamstow Town we played in 1900 was formed as a merger of an original Walthamstow FC and Higham Hill. A second Walthamstow Town were known for much of their life as Gnome Athletic, the works team for Peter Hooker, who built engines licenced from the French company; Société des Moteurs Gnome et Rhône. They would later changed their name again, this time to Walthamstow Borough.

It is understood by some that Forest Gate Avenue (based in Wanstead) merged with another unidentified club in 1901 to become Avenue-Walthamstow, later changing their name to Walthamstow Avenue.

Football in E17 is never straightforward. Hopefully David Chapman will be able to shed more light on these complicated histories.

Thanks to club historian David Chapman, Charlie Ward and Steve Howe for the compilation of the club’s playing record.