Southall

Like many famous old names in amateur football, Southall FC has suffered since the advent of semi-professionalism and the drop in crowds that clubs faced from the mid-sixties onwards. The club were FA Amateur Cup finalists in 1925 and reached the FA Cup first round on six occasions.

Southall were founded in 1871, with their first recorded game being played at Southall Park before the club moved to play home games at Red Lion Field as the club entered the FA Cup before becoming members of the Southern League in 1896-97.

Western Road

The club left the competition at the end of the 1904-05 season after they became professional in a move that nearly ended their existence. White Hart Field and Avenue Road had been home grounds until they merged with Southall Athletic, went back to amateur status and moved into a new ground at Glebe Farm on Western Road.

The West Middlesex League title was lifted in successive seasons before The Great Western Suburban League was joined in 1907-08. They won the competition in 1911-12 before playing in the short-lived United Senior League before advancing to the Athenian League in 1919-20. 

In 1924-25, the final of the Amateur Cup was reached where the side was defeated 2-1 by Clapton in front of 25,230 spectators at Millwall’s Den. Three appearances in the first round of the FA Cup followed which were eclipsed in 1935-36 with a run to the third round.

Western Road

Swindon Town and Newport (IOW) were defeated before Southall went out at home to Watford in front of 19,094 fans. The ground had to be sold to the local council who had a good relationship with the club. Defeat after a replay in the semifinals of the 1952-53 Amateur Cup against Pegasus saw the team within touching distance of an appearance at Wembley. 

When the Isthmian League was extended with Division Two added in 1973-74, Southall entered it. In 1974-75 they went up to Division One as runners-up which then saw a fourteenth-place finish twelve months later, the club’s highest ever league position.

Young midfielder, Alan Devonshire, made his debut and quickly attracted the attention of scouts. He went on to be signed by West Ham United for £5,000. The club changed its title to Southall & Ealing Borough around the same time to try to grow its supporter base and attract sponsorship.

v Bishop Auckland in the Amateur Cup in 1953

By 1977-78, the top tier of the Isthmian League was called the Premier Division from which Southall were relegated. They went down again in 1978-79 to the third tier Division Two. In 1980, the club returned to their original name.

In 1985-86 a tremendous run saw Southall, with Les Ferdinand in the side, reach the final of the FA Vase at Wembley with Gordon Bartlett as manager, where they were defeated 3-0 by Halesowen Town. This was after the club had been placed in Division Two South of the Isthmian League after it was enlarged.

Another league re-organisation saw Southall placed in Division Two in 1991-92 after Bartlett and the squad had moved on. Ealing Borough Council sold the Western Road ground for housing with the club being forced to find themselves a new home.

Western Road

Southall would become tenants of Chalfont St Peter, and then Yeading FC. The old Western Road ground had one last piece of stardom as it was used in the filming of an episode in the ninth series of Minder entitled "Last Orders at the Winchester."

It was first shown on the 4th of March 1993 with the vandalised ground and pitch in a right state, Dave's club faces permanent closure when one of Arthur's money-making schemes goes disastrously wrong. In an attempt to save it, Ray decides to organise a charity football match against the local police force!

Yeading FC. One of several clubs that assisted Southall

In 1992-93 Southall were relegated to Division Three and then the Combined Counties League in 1999-00 after several seasons of struggle. A fourth place ensued in 2003-04 before the club withdrew from the competition during the 2005-06 season. They regrouped and became members of the Middlesex League.

Southall played games at the University Ground on Argyle Road, Ealing Central Sports Ground and then Viking FC's old ground on Western Avenue and Osterley Sports Ground under player-manager Ryan De Costa. In 2010 Southall were taken over by Football & More Ltd, with the new company name of Lyca Southall FC.

In 2010-11 the club played their home games at Northolt Rugby Club in Greenford. A move was made for the start of the 2011-12 season to share Reynolds Field with Hanwell Town FC as a soccer school was also set up to try and bring the youngsters of the community together.

Hanwell Town. Another club that assisted Southall

After a relatively successful Middlesex League season, which ended in a third-place finish, Southall were promoted to the Spartan South Midlands League. Playing in Division One of the competition, as things started to look up at last.

In October 2013 the club received promising news that Ealing Council had chosen them as the preferred partner for the redevelopment of Norwood Hall Playing Fields, which would transform dilapidated facilities into something for the community to be proud of, including a first team venue for the club.

Burnham FC. Southall's latest landlords

In January 2016 Paul Palmer was appointed as manager, taking his side to the last eight of the FA Vase in 2017-18, by which time the club had become tenants of Burnham FC. The league title was also clinched which was rewarded with promotion to the Premier Division of the Combined Counties League.

Palmer departed and was replaced by Max Howell ahead of the 2018-19 campaign. The club moved to Burnham after a spell at Ashford Town. Fourth place in their new environment was considered a huge success before two seasons were lost to the worldwide pandemic.

2021-22 marked the 150th anniversary of the club which saw another run to the quarterfinals of the FA Vase. A runners-up league position saw Southall return to the Isthmian League as a South Central Division side where they ended in tenth on their return. 

Burnham FC. Southall's latest landlords

Southall reached the playoffs in 2023-24, losing their away semifinal on penalties against Leatherhead.

Southall FC will play in the Isthmian League South Central Division in the 2024-25 season.

My visits

Sunday 15th January 1984

I was out visiting grounds for the first time, in the days before I realised the value of a day travel card in London. Instead, I paid for each bus ride separately and ended up walking miles to save money. How ironic, as I wrote this blog when I was employed to offer customers travel advice in the capital!

I got to Western Road and the big metal fences were locked. I feared the worst but I found a wooden turnstile gate opened so I entered. I couldn't believe my eyes as I got around the corner past the raised clubhouse and offices to view the ground for the first time. 

Often you are let down when expecting something grand, often grounds have a similar basic layout but this place was a real beauty. Southall had amalgamated with Park Royal FC in the 1920s with the team predominantly made up of skilled labourers and, in their spare time, they set about improving Western Road. 

Although decaying by the time of my visit it still showed signs of class. The near end consisted of rows of terracing that continued round the corner to a smallish cover, where once stood the original main Stand before it was destroyed by fire. A high bank of open terracing stood at the far end with the near side also having plenty of room on its terracing. 

A replacement stand stood on top of the banking looking down on proceedings over the player's tunnel. All the terracing had metal crush barriers and a neat metal fence encircled the pitch. It was a stunning place. I'm just fed up that I didn't get to a game there. 

Sadly as mentioned above, the ground suffered from a lack of maintenance and vandalism as the area demographics changed dramatically. In a 2001 census of the area, just 11% of the community was white with the new inhabitants having different interests than their local non-league football club.

Southall 2 Codicote 0 – Abandoned at half time (Wednesday 18^th December 2013) Spartan South Midlands League Division One (att: approx 30)

Having felt rough for a few days with cold I wanted to get some fresh air to try and complete my recovery. Although the fixture list was hardly bulging with Tuesday's being the main non-league midweek night, I decided to finally go and take in a Southall game, as getting to Reynolds Field was relatively easy.

 

The winds were up as I alighted at Wembley Park for the 297 bus. On route, the rain started to lash down as the bus seemed to take an eternity through the Asian heartlands of Wembley, Alperton and Perivale. I got to the ground with the game already five minutes in.

The welcoming official charged me £2, deducting me a quid as they’d run out of programmes. He promised to sort something out for me, even if it was just so I could take a photo for this page.

I went down the steps and stood under the cover behind the goal. The spectators were split between there and being huddled at the back of the seated stand. The wind was howling and rain showed no signs of letting up. Southall went one up after a fine move saw Josh Brown hammer in a shot from the edge of the box. 

I mentioned to the loyal home fans that it may have been in vain in light of the conditions as puddles were beginning to form. After around thirty minutes another problem arose as the floodlights went out. The players and fans took refuge in the clubhouse and changing rooms.

The clubhouse also doubled up as a school during the week and was lacking many creature comforts, but it was better than the poshest lounge on such an awful night. Some groundhoppers were lamenting that it could have been their second abandonment in two nights after Monday’s game at Rayners Lane had bitten the dust owing to a player injury. 

The lights go out!

It was nice to have a chat with some nice people who genuinely loved the game. The lights came back on after about fifteen minutes, so I went back out and got chatting with a smashing bloke from Stanmore who went to around six games a week after previously following West Ham.

The wind and pitch conditions were seriously affecting the standard of the game. The visitors held a good line at the back catching the Southall forwards offside regularly. A scramble at the other end nearly resulted in an equaliser before David Bitsindou smashed home a quality finish into the roof of the net from an acute angle to make it 2-0.

A Codicote midfielder smashed a shot against the crossbar from thirty yards with the home keeper stranded. Southall looked a very decent side on what I’d seen, although Codicote also contributed some bright moments. At half time everyone made a dash for the covered facilities.

The kind home official, quite probably Vice Chairman Charanjit Singh Gill, took me to the board room so I could take an image of the programme before I bought a cup of tea for 80p and rejoined the conversation in the bar. 

A few subs went out to the pitch but started returning with the practice balls while the goal nets were being rolled up. The match had been abandoned, quite rightly in my opinion. It was suggested that the far-side linesman may have pushed for this decision. 

If it was, then he should have been awarded ten out of ten for common sense. I had total respect for all the players and officials for giving it a go. I got a lovely tweet from the Southall account after I had posted a photo of the game. They hoped I would return in nicer conditions. My whole experience suggested I would be doing so!

Some images on this page of Western Road have been taken from the internet to add to the three from my own personal collection.