| Full name | Thames Association Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Short name | Thames | |
| Founded | 1928 | |
| Dissolved | 1932 | |
| Ground | West Ham Stadium, Custom House, London | |
| Capacity | 120,000 | |
| Chairman | Louis Dane[1] | |
Thames A.F.C. were an Englishfootball club fromCustom House, east London, which played inthe Football League between1930 and1932.
The club was founded under the nameCustom House Athletic,[2] but, to avoid confusion with the amateur Custom House F.C., changed its name toThames Association before playing a match.[3] Unlike other AFCs (e.g.Sunderland A.F.C.), the wordAssociation was initially presented as part of the club name – i.e.Thames Association orThames Association FC. The "Association" was abbreviated upon joining the Football League, giving the team the more regular name ofThames AFC.[4]
They were founded in1928, in a similar manner toSheffield United,Liverpool,New Brighton Tower and nearbyChelsea: to play on a ground which had no football club in residence. In Thames' case, they were formed by a group of businessmen who had built theWest Ham Stadium, with a capacity of 120,000, in theCustom House area of Essex (now part of theLondon Borough of Newham inGreater London); the stadium was primarily used forgreyhound andspeedway racing which took place during the week, leaving Saturdays free. The directors of the stadium decided to form a professional football club to play on Saturdays, to bring in additional revenue to the stadium.
The club began playing in theSouthern League Eastern Division, and finished 14th in their first season and third in the season after that (1929–30).[5] This was enough for them to gain election to theFootball League Third Division South in the middle of 1930, in place ofMerthyr Town. Their request to join the league was considered alongside applications fromAldershot,Llanelli andArgonauts.[6] The success of their application required them to suddenly upgrade the quality of the team. To achieve this objective, the newly promoted club placed an advert for"First Class Players Wanted. All Positions" in the June edition of theAthletic News.[7] Thames continued to field a reserve side in the Southern League for a single further season, before withdrawing entirely in 1931.[8]
Thames' spell in the Football League was a short and unhappy one. The club struggled to attract spectators. It established a supporters' group, which at one point had over 1,000 members. However, this effort did not translate into a reliable supporter base that would regularly attend matches.[9] Despite the stadium's capacity of 120,000 (making it the largest ground in England to regularly host League football), the club holds the record for the lowest known attendance for a Saturday Football League match; just 469 fans paid to watch Thames playLuton Town on 6 December 1930.[10]
Unable to compete with established teams nearby that included:Charlton Athletic,Clapton Orient,Millwall andWest Ham United, Thames struggled. By December 1931, the club was under severe financial pressure. To keep the club afloat, the players agreed to take a pay cut.[11] They finished 20th out of 22 clubs in1930–31, and 22nd (i.e., bottom) the following season (1931–32). This prompted the club directors' decision not to seek re-election to the League for the following season and wind up the club, despite an approach from Clapton Orient to merge the two clubs.[12] Their league place was taken byAldershot.
Thames AFC are not the same club as Thames Ironworks FC, a club that predated them by over 30 years, and would go on to be renamedWest Ham United.
| Season | League record | FA Cup | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Pos | ||
| 1928–29 | Southern League Eastern Section | 36 | 13 | 5 | 18 | 67 | 74 | 31 | 14th | — |
| 1929–30 | Southern League Eastern Section | 32 | 17 | 6 | 9 | 80 | 60 | 40 | 3rd | First round |
| 1930–31 | Football League Third Division South | 42 | 13 | 8 | 21 | 54 | 93 | 34 | 20th | First round |
| 1931–32 | Football League Third Division South | 42 | 7 | 9 | 26 | 53 | 109 | 23 | 22nd | First round |
Notable players for Thames included formerEngland internationalJimmy Dimmock, formerWelsh internationalsLen Davies andMoses Russell and ex-Arsenal strikerHenry White.Eddie Perry went on to be aWelsh international.[13]
Thames' home colours were red and blue quartered shirts with white shorts and black socks with red and blue trim.[14]
Thames' record for their two seasons in the Football League was played 84, won 20, drew 17, lost 47, scored 107 and conceded 202. The club's record league win was 6–3, againstMansfield Town on 2 April 1932, while their record league loss was 8–0, againstLuton Town on 11 April 1931 andFulham on 28 March 1932.[15][16] The furthest they ever reached in the FA Cup was the First Round proper, in1929–30,1930–31 and1931–32.[4]
In total, 103,698 fans watched all of Thames' games, at an average of 2,469 per game, which ranks them as 122 out of all the 130 Football League teams in terms of attendance.[17] The club's record highest attendance was approximately 8,000, againstExeter City in August 1931.[18]
