Thamesmead Town

Thamesmead Town FC 

Ground: Bayliss Avenue

Capacity: 2,000

Club Founded: 1969

Club Dissolved: 2018

The story of Thamesmead Town FC is of a non-league club that progressed gradually before new owners fell out with the ground owners, leading to a move from their roots and subsequent closure.

Club History

Early Years

The new town of Thamesmead was developed from the late 1960s, with the football club being formed in 1969 as Thamesmead FC. It was originally set up for local youngsters to play on a Sunday, before it merged with Southlake FC in 1973. 

In 1979, the club moved to playing Saturday football, playing on the park pitches at Crossways. A year later, Thamesmead joined the lower reaches of the London Spartan League, playing home games at the Meridian Sports Ground in Charlton.

Bayliss Avenue

In 1985, the club changed its name to Thamesmead Town, moving to a new home at Bayliss Avenue. A couple of seasons later, they gained senior status and were admitted to the Premier Division of the London Spartan League. In 1991, the 'Mead' joined the Kent League, finishing runners-up in 2002-03. 

They were not to be denied in the 2007-08 season as they were crowned champions and promoted to the Isthmian League after extensive work was carried out at Bayliss Avenue in readiness for the higher level of football. Local funding was secured for a new stand as a separate 3G pitch for community use. 

However, the scheme hit many snags along the way, as the stand's completion was delayed. Meanwhile, Town reached the Isthmian League Premier Division via the playoffs after Keith McMahon's side defeated Maldon & Tiptree in the final. The side was relegated after just one season at the higher level before McMahon resigned in January 2015. 

The club was struggling for finances and support. Former Maidstone United chairman Paul Bowden-Brown took the same role at Thamesmead. Actions off the pitch endangered the club's future and would eventually lead to its closure.

The previous Main Stand at Bayliss Avenue

The trust in charge of the ground and facilities came into conflict with the club SC Thamesmead and Welling Town moved in. An annual rolling lease was rejected by Bowden-Brown, who instead signed a five-year deal for Mead to become the tenants at Princes Park, Dartford, to the disgust of previous club custodians.

In October 2018, the club withdrew from the Isthmian League. Their record was expunged, and the club was liquidated.

My visits

Wednesday 4th October 2006

With me having a day off work, I decided it would be a good day to venture to south east London and north Kent to visit some new venues. After alighting at North Greenwich station, I took the 472 bus past The Valley and into the new town of Thamesmead. 

The bus dropped me at Lister Walk, and a couple of minutes later, I'd walked up Bayliss Avenue to the grounds entrance. Once past the clubhouse behind one goal, I went through the gates. A club official was working away, and we had a brief chat. 

The venue was pretty basic at the time, with a small Main Stand down the left-hand side with a practice pitch behind. Traffic on the raised A2016 Eastern Way roared past behind the far open goal. The railed fence separated the pitch from spectators, and the flat, hard grass standing areas provided for them.

I said my goodbyes and took another bus past Abbey Wood station, past the retail complex where Erith & Belvedere once played, and to the home of Erith Town.

Thamesmead Town 2 Charlton Athletic 3 - after extra time

Kent Senior Cup Semi Final - Tuesday 23rd April 2013

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After completing my set of night shifts, I woke up on a lovely day and enjoyed a lovely lunch with an old friend. After a walk in the sun through Regent's Park, we went our separate ways as I checked out any last-minute changes to the midweek fixtures at home. 

I had fancied getting to a game at Thamesmead all season, but I was waiting until the new stand was completed before I did. A quick reply to my Tweet that morning had confirmed that fans would be allowed to sit in the new facility, so that looked like the game for me. I left home at just gone 5pm to take the tube to North Greenwich.

I wasn't sure whether it was the hot weather, but there was a strange clientele on board the train. All was revealed when I alighted at the O2 Arena, which was staging WWE. I always thought it took a strange breed to pay to watch that rubbish, but they could probably claim the same about me and my adventures.

The crowd around the bus stop was huge, and a sign told awaiting passengers that there were serious delays on the route owing to road works. Even so, I did not expect to wait twenty minutes for the next bus to arrive when they were scheduled to run every five minutes. 

I managed to force my way on board and got a seat upstairs for what turned out to be an epic journey. The heat didn't help conditions, and neither did the exasperated phone calls from those sitting around me in various languages I didn't understand. We went along at snail's pace and even slower as we approached Woolwich. 

The trek through the town centre was agonisingly slow. From dreaming of a couple of pints before kick-off, I was now resigned to missing the start. Many emergency vehicles were in the vicinity with their sirens blaring. We eventually met the main road once more and inched along towards Plumstead. 

Eventually, we picked up speed and entered the sprawling area that is Thamesmead. I got out at Lister Walk, arriving during the half-time interval, tired, hot, and thirsty. The journey had taken just short of two hours. The gates to the ground were open. 

No one was taking cash or selling programmes, so I went to the clubhouse and treated myself to a pint of Amstel and a free match poster and team sheet before grabbing a leftover programme from the previous Saturday's game against Grays from the turnstile block and going inside.

Bayliss Avenue had certainly changed since my previous visit. The impressive new stand stood unoccupied across the pitch, with the whole side fenced off and out of bounds to spectators. A small seated stand was behind the near goal, with a narrow, roofed standing area occupying the far end. 

The final side was a narrow strip of flat hard standing, which was packed with supporters. The Addicks had taken a large travelling support to cheer on their development squad, many of whom had played for the under-18s the previous day against Millwall. I was told that the score was 0-0, but it had been a good first half in which Town had missed a penalty.

As ever, I had a walk around the pitch to get some photos. Up at the far end, it looked like Athletic had been denied a penalty with referee Ian Fissenden giving a free kick on the edge of the box. This was not to the liking of Charlton coach, the ex Scarborough, Southend and Yeovil midfielder Nathan Jones, who whined on to the linesman about the decision. 

The official correctly told him to shut up after Jones swore at him. However, and this is what I hated about modern football, the referee and linesmen gave the visitors a penalty for a nothing incident soon after. The excellent Joe Pigott slotted the spot kick home. 

England under-19 striker Ade Azeez looked dangerous before Jordan Cousins went on a fine run and squared to Harry Gerard, who made it 2-0. Charlton looked in complete control, and it was only the heroics of Rob Budd, who was virtually playing on one leg because of an injury in the Thamesmead net, that kept the score down to two.

Towards the closing stages, I walked down towards the gate. I was in my Scarborough Athletic polo shirt, which grabbed the attention of a Charlton fan. Gary went to all the juniors' home games as well as most first-team home and away matches. His daughter lived in York, so he was also a Pickering Town supporter. He was with Keith, another loyal Addick.

I enjoyed the company of my two new pals as we discussed all manner of football. They told me that the reason I was late was that a lorry had overturned at Plumstead and two home players had missed the game because of it. They also said that Charlton's appointment of Paul Hart as the Head of Youth at The Valley would prove to be a superb signing. 

I mentioned the antics of Nathan Jones. They were not surprised or impressed. They had heard that the stand had opened against Grays on the Saturday, a little in advance of the certificate, so it had to remain closed for the evening's fixture. It looked fine to us, but our ridiculous health and safety laws had looked to have struck again.

Suddenly, from nowhere, Town got a new lease of life. Tyrus Gordon-Young got down the line and crossed in for centre forward Stuart Zanone, who volleyed home with aplomb. Cheered on by the locals, Thamesmead poured forward, sensing an equaliser. It came when the referee gave a harsh handball decision against Olly Muldoon. 

Just how keeper Dillon Phillips stayed on the pitch for his complaints was a mystery until I was informed that it was strongly rumoured that for Athletic to play in the competition, they insisted that none of their players could be shown a card. Chris Edwards sent the goalie the wrong way to send the game to extra time.

Fissenden showed a yellow card to a visiting player for continual dissent as Thamesmead's Edwards' superb long-range free kick hit the foot of the post and bounced out to safety. The woodwork came to Charlton's aid as a header rebounded to safety. Remarkably, this sparked Athletic into life.

Pigott superbly controlled a through ball and smashed it home past Budd to spark remarkable celebrations. It was great to see a county cup being taken so seriously. However, I didn't approve of Jones' passion, and it came as no shock when the linesman finally took enough from him. 

Referee Fissenden went across and sent Jones off. He had to go behind the goal to watch the final few minutes. More celebrations followed the full-time whistle from the joyous Addicks fans, who were in good form anyway after hearing of Millwall's home defeat to Blackburn. 

It had been a remarkable game of football, and Thamesmead deserved massive credit for their part in it. To be fair, so did the kids of Charlton, who must have been exhausted at the end. I'm glad my stubbornness had won the day, and I hadn't bailed out in Woolwich when so many pubs looked welcoming with the TVs showing the Champions League semi-final. 

Gary kindly gave me a ride to Abbey Wood station so I could have an easy journey home. I was back indoors at around 11.30 and ready for a good sleep!