In The Beginning

The history of the Walthamstow Avenue Football Club goes back over a hundred years. A varied history that has seen a team of schoolboys evolve into one of the greatest amateur football teams of the 1950’s, winning the Amateur Cup in 1952. Alas this great club folded in the 1989/90 Season. The following year saw a new team called Redbridge Forest; the result of merging Walthamstow Avenue with Leytonstone and Ilford, who went on to become known as Dagenham and Redbridge. The year 2000 sees a new team with the old name revived, and Walthamstow Avenue 2000 F.C. is born.

In the late 1890’s a group of boys from Pretoria Avenue School enjoyed playing football under the direction of their teacher Mr Parkin Davidson. On leaving school they continued playing together on Saturday afternoons as Pretoria Avenue Old Boys. After winning the Old Boys Competition in the 1900-1 season, they decided to enter the Walthamstow and District League, Division II, with the new name of Avenue United, and a strip of white shorts and black ‘knickers’. They acquired a pitch on the Barclay Estates at Whipps Cross, and secured the services of a president, Mr R Briggs and a secretary Mr Percy J Snow. Their first season was very successful, ending at the top of the league and winning the Dewar Cup. Another name change came, this time to the familiar Walthamstow Avenue Football Club, and a change of club colours to light blue jersey with white knickers.
Such was the interest in the Avenue that they decided to run an ‘A’ and a ‘B’ team the following year. Unfortunately it was not a successful season, the ‘A’ team failing to be included in the final league table. By the 1904-5 season, Mr H J Heydon had taken over the role of Secretary and this year the ‘B’ team won the Dewar Cup in the 2nd Division and the ‘A’ team finished fourth in the 1st Division. The following season, the team obtained a new pitch at Lloyd’s Park where they continued to play for some years.
The 1906-7 season saw eager fundraising as they planned their first tour abroad to Holland, where they played against teams including The Willem II club which later became the first Dutch Club to turn professional. The following years saw further tours to Germany and again to Holland.
By the 1910-11 season they had moved ground again, this time to Higham Hill. This was their home pitch until the outbreak of war in 1914, when unfortunately the club was disbanded. By now the club now had quite an impressive record.

Dewar Cup Winners 1902-3, 1904-5, 1906-7.
Joseph Howard Cup Winners 1907-8.
Walthamstow League Div. I Runners-up 1907-8, 1908-9.
Woodford Dist. League Div. I Winners 1908-9.
Stoke Newington League Div. I Winners 1908-9, 1909-10.
Stoke Newington League Div. II Winners 1908-9.
Saturday Hospital Cup Winners 1909-10.
North London League Runners-up 1909-10.
Walthamstow Charity Cup Runners-up 1909-10.
North London League Div. I Winners 1910-11, 1911-12.
Tottenham Charity Cup Joint Holders 1910-11.
Tottenham Charity Cup Runners-up 1911-12.
London Junior Cup Div. Finalists 1911-12.
South Essex League Div. II Runners-up 1912-13.



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