Epsom & Ewell Football Club

Matchday Programme Feature Articles
Saturday 14 August 2010

Epsom & Ewell v Shoreham (FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round)

Please use these links to jump to your favourite articles:

Our Chairman Speaks
On This Day - 14 August
100 Memorable Matches
Home Venues - Exactly how many have we had?
Every Opponent A-Z
Talk of the Terraces - articles by Steve Davies, Steve Dyke and Alan Carter
Fundraising latest news
Programme Editorial Team
Back issues of programmes

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Our Chairman Speaks

We are already up and running, and here we are taking another step in the history of Epsom and Ewell Football Club. I'm sure that everyone connected with EEFC will enjoy our time here at Merstham F.C. for all the right reasons. Over the next few weeks you will see some new faces on the committee, I for one am looking forward to working with them all as there are plenty of ideas flying around, on things we can all do.

Most of my closed season had been taken up with the two ground shares, for those who do not know our Reserve and Youth teams are now based at Raynes Park Vale FC.

This ground offers a very good rail and bus service so making it more accessible. So with nothing to do on a Monday night why not come along and join us and support the teams.

Having missed our first match due to my son Ben getting married in Cyprus and hearing all about it upon my return, I did not quite know what to expect on Wednesday night at Croydon. Well, I loved it: 3 goals, a clean sheet and to see some of our signings.

I thought that the new lad from Newquay looked good, until I was told it was Al Mac!

So to finish up, here's looking forward to a great League season with fingers crossed on all our cup runs, starting today.

Best Wishes

Tony Jeffcoate (Chairman)


On This Day - 14 August

by Richard Lambert

Obviously not many matches on this date in history, but it is interesting to note that whilst we have always scored on this date, we have always conceded too!

39 years ago today the Blues were a club in crisis. The previous season Pete Norris's team had finished bottom with just ten points from thirty games, with our nearest opponents in the table sitting on 22. It was our fourth straight season with a bottom three finish and our eleventh in a row with a bottom half finish.

Things wouldn't get any better this year as the Blues would finish bottom again, yet this narrow 2-1 opening day defeat to Harrow Borough was quite heartening at the time as our boys were unfortunate to fall to a second half goal.

11 years ago today Epsom & Ewell opened up their season with a home draw against Kingsbury Town, but there were two notable events this day that the game would be remembered for. Firstly, a wonderful debut from Barry Stevens, who would go on to become the best winger to play for the club in twenty years with no-one matching him since, so far! Secondly, the game was disrupted by a torrential downpour at Merland Rise which rendered a large part of the second half pointless and the game petered out into a 1-1 draw with our goal coming from Simon Hatton.

Was it really 6 years ago today that we were stood at Merland Rise holding a minute's silence for long serving supporter and good friend Chris Henry? The game itself in baking heat passed uneventfully. Micky Owen put us ahead in the first half, playing in an unusual centre forward role, but we conceded in the second period and had to settle for the draw.

3 years ago today I produced my first programme in my role as Assistant Programme Editor. Looking back now it seems very basic, as was the football on show that day. We had been beaten 3-0 and 2-0 by Colliers Wood the season before, but they already had a game under their belts, whilst we had suffered a postponement in blazing sunshine at Chertsey Town three days previously and were about to get hammered by Crowborough Athletic in the F.A.Cup in a few days.

At least we managed to score this time, although there was a touch of fortune about the goal when Ross Shoefield's strike slipped through the keeper's gloves on a slippery wet evening. This equaliser provided some hope briefly before Charlie West scored an unfortunate own goal to hand the points to the visitors, and Ross's goal remained just a consolation.

Date / Day / Competition Opponents / F/T Scorers

14-Aug-71 / Sat / Athenian League 2 / H / Harrow Borough / 1-2 / o.g.
14-Aug-99 / Sat / Isthmian League 3 / H / Kingsbury Town / 1-1 / Hatton
14-Aug-04 / Sat / Isthmian League 2 / H / Ware / 1-1 / Owen
14-Aug-07 / Tue / Combined Counties Prem Div / H / Colliers Wood United / 1-2 / Shoefield



This Week in History

by Richard Lambert

What makes a memorable match?

A match can leave us with memories for a number of reasons. It could have been a big game like a cup final or promotion decider; it could have been a wild match with lots of goals, a big win, or even a heavy defeat. Add freak weather conditions, an odd refereeing decision, or just something a little bit special and you have a list of about 500 matches.

To try and get this list down to 100 has been an extremely difficult task. Occasionally, I have put matches together for obvious reasons, as you'll find out over the course of the season, and by the end of the season, we'll find out which was top of the list.

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100 - Epsom & Ewell 3-2 Chertsey Town
Combined Counties League - Saturday 19th September 2009

Let's start off with a feel good victory over one of our closest rivals these days. The Blues got off to a poor start in this League match, trailing early on, and it got worse as the visitors extended their lead before half an hour had expired. We desperately needed a goal before half time, and a far post header from Ben Hayward went back across everyone almost in slow motion, before going in off the post after 43 minutes.

The second half was only a couple of minutes old before Hayward repeated the trick at the other end, with the ball again bouncing in off the upright. At 2-2 Epsom had the momentum and took the game to Chertsey, before missing a great chance to win the game with five minutes remaining. However, another chance came along in the ninetieth minute when Ramzi Bedj Bedj cut the ball back from the bye line and there at the back post was Robbie Burns to tap in the winner.

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99 - Worthing 0-1 Epsom & Ewell
Athenian League Division One - Tuesday 10th May 1977

Following some great seasons, the Blues were also near the top of the table early in 1976/77. However, the news that the club were to be accepted into the Isthmian League for the following season had taken the edge off the performances, and after 14 League games without a win and a Cup Final coming up against Chalfont St Peter, Manager Pat O'Connell decided to play the Reserves in this match at Worthing, with only Alan Webb of the first team starting the game. As it turned out, it was Webb himself who scored what proved to be the only goal of the game, while another ever present, goalkeeper Dickie Vincent came off the bench and played in the outfield for the last ten minutes! Because of the switch, many players made their one and only appearance for the First Team that day, and one of these was Marvin Hough, father of our current player Kyle.

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98 - Epsom & Ewell 5-3 Kingsbury Town
Isthmian League Division Three - Saturday 9th January 1993

The 1992/93 season was a depressing one for Epsom & Ewell supporters. Not only was it to be their last at West Street before the developers moved in, but also we hadn't won a single home League game all season.

Fortunately though we recovered to defeat the visitors 5-3 that day. In goal for them was Ashley Beyes, who would go on to play regularly for Brentford, and was also a member of Grays Athletic's F.A.Trophy winning side not that long ago.

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97 - Epsom & Ewell 4-3 Metropolitan Police
Isthmian League Division Two South - Saturday 22nd August 1987

It was the opening game of the 1987/88 season, and it was raining. Raining so heavily in fact that some games across the South East were actually abandoned. On a boggy West Street pitch, the Blues found themselves behind three times in this match, equalising each time, and then with the last kick of the game, Gary Greenaway belted one in from 25 yards and we had won, despite leading the match for all of ten seconds!
Met Police recovered to gain promotion that season, only losing two matches all season, but this was one of them.

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96 - Feltham 1-2 Epsom & Ewell & Epsom & Ewell 1-0 Metropolitan Police
Isthmian League Division Two - Saturday 20th August 1977 & Wednesday 24th August 1977

These two matches are grouped together, as they represent our first ever match in the Isthmian League, followed four days later by our first home match at that level. It was more memorable because the home match was also the first under floodlights played by the club at West Street. By season's end the Blues had won the Championship of the Division, an the runners-up were Met Police. Had this result gone the other way, so would the title have done!

Home Venues - Exactly how many have we had?

If you asked your average Epsom & Ewell supporter this question, most would answer three: West Street, Merland Rise, and now Moatside. However, the really knowledgeable ones would give the correct answer of five, as we actually had two grounds prior to this.

We originally played in Epsom Recreation Ground, (better known these days as Alexandra Rec) from our formation in 1918 before moving to the Horton Hospital Grounds in 1922, with our move to the better-known West Street occurring in 1925.

In addition, we have actually played a lot more home matches at temporary venues, so you could argue that all of the below have all been home venues at one point or another: So maybe the correct answer to this question is in fact seventeen!!

Back in 1924 we were unable to charge a gate at Horton, as it was not enclosed, so our Amateur Cup matches that season had to be played at our opponents venues. Then we upgraded the floodlights at West Street in 1988 and played at Molesey for our opening two games of the season.

Following our move to Merland Rise we have had a number of fixture clashes and been required to utilise a number of venues, as well as conceding home advantage in some cup-ties. It's strange enough playing a home game at Dorking or Leatherhead, but when you have to travel to the other side of London to play your own home game, it's very odd indeed! Chalfont St Peter, seriously!!

Date Competition Opponents F/T Where Played

25/10/1924 Amateur Cup 2q West Norwood 3-0 Gorringe Park, West Norwood
15/11/1924 Amateur Cup 3q Redhill 0-5 Memorial Sports Ground, Redhill
23/08/1988 Isthmian League 2s Petersfield United 3-3 Walton Lane, Molesey
27/08/1988 Isthmian League 2s Finchley 1-4 Walton Lane, Molesey
22/01/1994 Isthmian League 3 Bracknell Town 0-1 Sandy Lane, Mitcham
12/04/1994 Southern Combination Cup 2 Molesey 3-3 Walton Lane, Molesey
17/12/1994 Isthmian League 3 Flackwell Heath 3-1 The Playing Fields, Chalfont St Peter F.C.
23/09/1995 Isthmian League 3 Flackwell Heath 4-3 Beveree, Hampton
03/02/1996 Isthmian League 3 Aveley 2-2 York Road, Maidenhead
25/04/1996 Southern Combination Cup 2 Leatherhead 1-0 Fetcham Grove, Leatherhead
07/05/1996 Southern Comb. Cup SF Ashford Town (Mx) 1-4 Short Lane, Ashford
27/01/1997 Southern Combination Cup 1 Wokingham Town 3-2 Finchampstead Road, Wokingham
08/04/1997 Southern Combination Cup 2 Ashford Town (Mx) 2-5 Short Lane, Ashford
13/09/1997 Isthmian League 3 Tring Town 1-2 Meadowbank, Dorking
01/04/1999 Southern Combination Cup 2 Wokingham Town 0-1 Finchampstead Road, Wokingham
25/04/2001 Isthmian League 3 Wingate & Finchley 0-4 Summers Lane, Finchley



Every Opponent A-Z

by Richard Lambert

Today, on the website, we start a new series. Over the years we have played many, many different opponents. How many opponents is a difficult question, as it all depends on your definition. Are Camberley and Yorktown different to Camberley Town, or are Epsom Town different to Epsom F.C. or Epsom & Ewell F.C.?

In my analysis, I have classed them as the same team, and will work through them all from A-Z. Some we have played many times, whilst others maybe just once or twice. Enjoy!

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Abingdon Town:
Played 13 - W5, D1, L7 - F20, A23 - Points per Game - 1.23 - Below Average

Abingdon Town climbed up into the Isthmian League in 1989, and we met for the first time at West Street on 26th September of that year, winning easily 3-0 with first half goals from Brian Perkins (2) and Paul Andrews.

They won the return match 2-1 in January of 1990, and then did the double over us in the following season, culminating in a 4-0 score line that sent them up to Division One as Champions and us down to Division Three, because we finished in the second half of the Division Two South table, which then merged with its Northern counterpart.

Our paths didn't cross again until 1998 when they edged us out 2-1 in a League Cup tie, and they dropped back into our Division for 1999/00 when goals from Andy Nimmo and Sean Grant won a match that was played on a Sunday afternoon at their picturesque ground in Culham Road.

In 2001/02 it was our turn for promotion, and we did the double over them for the only time, 2-0 away and 3-1 at home, but we were back in the newly renamed Isthmian League Division Two for 2004/05 when we defeated them 5-4 at Merland Rise. In our last meeting they got their own back for that first ever game with a 3-0 home victory.

Since that season they have resided in the Hellenic League, and are no longer even top dogs in Abingdon, now lagging behind their rivals, Abingdon United.

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Abingdon United:
Played 2 - W0, D0, L2 - F0, A3 - Points per Game - 0.00

We don't have happy memories of our games with Abingdon United. It is quite hard to believe that it was fourteen years ago that we first visited Northcourt Road for an F.A.Vase First Round tie, as I remember it like yesterday. A perfectly legitimate goal from Martin Jones was ruled out only once the ball hit the back of the net, and as the Blues looked set for a replay, an extra time goal gave the hosts a lead they would not relinquish.

Five years later we were there for another Vase tie, but this time our boys imploded. We had Ross Aller and Simon Hatton sent off for violent conduct. As he walked off to the dressing room, Hatton even apologised to us behind the goal. Aller would never play for the club again, and Adrian Hill used this result to change the personnel around, eventually leading us to a promotion. Needless to say, the nine men were defeated 2-0 and we never did score against them.

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Acton:
Played 1 - W1, D0, L0 - F12, A0 - Points per Game - 3.00

Cast your mind back to post war England. Can't remember? Fair enough! It was the 1945/46 season, and Epsom F.C. as we were known back then had reformed and retaken their place in the London League. In this League match on 10th November 1945 Acton must have had a very weak side, as we were nothing special in those days.

Except for our centre forward Gordon Brogdale. He was a bit warm, having played for the club back in the thirties as a sixteen year old and briefly for Crystal Palace. He scored 44 goals in 32 games this season, and was responsible for four this day in a 12-0 win that remains our largest ever League win and second largest in history.

Regrettably it counted for little as Acton folded within a month or two and their records were expunged. It didn't bother Brogdale though as he simply scored four more the following week against Carshalton Athletic!





Talk of the Terraces

Feature articles by Epsom and Ewell Football Club supporters.



Steve Davies

"Nicknames and Mottos"
by Steve Davies

On Wednesday night when I witnessed our 3-0 victory at Croydon Arena I was reminded that the splendid nickname of Croydon F.C. is "The Trams" which is due to their close proximity to the Croydon Tramlink Line.

Epsom's nickname (the Ee's) is sadly ordinary. Maybe we should change this to "the Nomads" after our last 18 years or so of nomadic existence!

This led me to think about other football club nicknames so here are a few that appeal to me.

The Sarnies Town - Egham Town: Shamelessly I didn't immediately spot that this was referring to the "egg" and "ham" components of the Surrey side's name.

The Lovely Boys - Petersfield United: Not sure if this is their official nickname but to my immense amusement I have heard the locals shout out "Come on you Lovely boys" from the sidelines which derives from their home ground which is situated in Love Lane.

Addicks - Charlton Athletic: The Addicks didn't seem to be a name of any significance until I found out that it was a corruption of the word "Haddocks" named after a local fish and chip shop.

Canaries - Norwich City: Strangely the nickname is not a reference to the colour of their shirts (which were changed to canary yellow to match their nickname!) but a reference to the popularity of Canary breeding in Norfolk.

Jam Tarts - Heart of Midlothian

Monkey Hangers - Hartlepool United: I am sure everyone knows the story behind this one, when during the Napoleonic war the townsfolk of Hartlepool hung a monkey believing it to be a French spy!

Shakers - Bury: The club's first Chairman, a Mr Ingham said before a Cup game with Blackburn "We will shake them! In fact, we are the Shakers!"

Trotters - Bolton Wanderers: Early on, their pitch was next to a piggery and clearances often landed in there. Players had to retrieve balls by "trotting" through the pigpens.

Honest men - Ayr United: Interestingly this came from a line in a Robert Burns poem "Tam O'Shanter - Auld Ayr, wham ne'er a toun surpasses, for honest men an bonnie lasses".

Wee Gers - Berwick Rangers: Amusingly this distinguishes them from Glasgow Rangers. (This will be really helpful to me as I often confuse the two!)

Moving to national teams my favourites are:

Elephants - Ivory Coast, The Desert Foxes - Algeria, Socceroos - Australia, The All Whites - New Zealand, Indomitable Lions - Cameroon.

And finally, my all time favourite nickname is for the New Zealand Basketball team who are nicknamed "the Tall Blacks!"



Steve Dyke

Fantasy Playscheme Manager

This article also contains a "You are the Playscheme Manager" Quiz so if you don't want to know the results, don't look at the bottom of the page now.

By the time you all read this it will be fitting to say "Welcome to Merstham" and here we are. Whilst I have been one of the most vocal on the issues we have experienced in 17 years of sharing at Banstead and I'm mighty relieved to be getting away, it will seem strange not to turn left at Tattenham Corner and right up Merland Rise for each home game.

There's a sense in which it may even have been a comfortable rut for us. OK we weren't getting very far on getting our own ground but we were only a couple of miles up the road. Now we have moved further away from home there has to be a greater impetus to get back.

The next two Saturdays I will be away on holiday, just as the season is getting going. My Summer has taken this course for the last couple of years because with kids we now have to take our holiday in the school holidays. I am also currently managing two weeks of Playscheme for disabled children for Mid Surrey Mencap, which is what I spend all year fundraising for - thank you for the generous support of my football club friends over the years on this.

This is the first job in my life where I've been the manager, which has given me insight in to what it is like to be a football manager, and last Tuesday gave me an incident where being an Epsom and Ewell Supporter saved the day.

Particularly at this time of the season, as the fantasy football and post match phone-ins kick off, there is a generally held view that anyone can be a manager. Very democratic and healthy but it's also false. The world of fantasy football can never equate to the moment on a real bench where your team is 2-0 down, doing nothing and you've got to come up with a plan when some of your best people are injured or didn't turn up.
Now some people like the part of a manager's job of having to think on their feet and make a decision. Take last Tuesday. We had a group of five severely autistic youngsters, and one profound and multiply disabled young lady in a wheelchair needing transport in a wheelchair taxi.

The swimming pool that we were going to rang us on Monday afternoon to report a chlorine problem, and no other swimming pools were available. The Monday night forecast said rain, then a gap late morning then more rain mid- afternoon. O.K. we think, let's try Bocketts Farm.

By Tuesday morning the forecast had changed to rain all day. OK we thought let's do something indoors - bowling at Tolworth. I was in the queue ready to pay when one of my staff taps me on the shoulder. "It's too noisy for two of our group, they've both gone downstairs and one of them is freaking out, screaming the place down.

"It was twelve; the wheelchair cab had gone and would not be back until two. What do we do Steve?" It's decision time:- ....

Quiz - You are the Playscheme Manager - What would you do?

As I walked down the stairs I considered the fairly limited options of being in Tolworth for two and a half hours with not much to do on a dull drizzly day. A decision was needed by the time I reached the bottom of the stairs and the minibus...

Oh yes, talking of the minibus. Merstham is not the easiest place to get to by public transport from Epsom so we are offering a park and ride scheme for some Saturday home games using the Mid-Surrey Mencap minibus. I'm hoping some of you took advantage of it today. If not on Saturday home games the bus (white with red markings) will leave from Epsom Clinic Car Park at 2 p.m. We have 13 seats available by donation to cover Mencap's diesel costs.

Because I am missing the next two Saturday home games, the games we are available for will be:

- Saturday 11th September v Guildford City
- Saturday 9th October v Molesey

...and every Saturday home game thereafter. If you are interested phone me on (01372) 740027. The route I will usually use is Epsom - over the Downs - Tadworth A217 - Gatton Bottom and into Merstham, so I could pick up along that route by arrangement.

You are the Playscheme Manager - Quiz Answers

I thought of 3 options in those 2 minutes -

1. The kid in the wheelchair and staff to get the next 418 bus to my house and everyone come back there for packed lunch and a play in the garden (accepting the premise there is nothing to do in Tolworth)

2. Go into Tolworth Tower saying we're interested in hiring offices on the top floor and take everyone up to see the view.

We finally chose:
3. Go across the road to Goals (which I was only aware of due to the Dave Wilson Trophy this year). Negotiate the use of a court for a bit of a kick around and use their bar for a mass packed lunch.
Being an Epsom and Ewell supporter saved the day!



Fundraising latest news

Please see the Fundraising page for the latest news about the club's fundraising initiatives (updated 06/11/2010):

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Epsom & Ewell Programme Editorial Team

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