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The Evolution of the Charlton programme
Henry Irving
Posts: 85,482
With no games I thought people might like a different take on Addicks history.
So we start in 1919, we have just moved to a new enclosure between Charlton Lane and Charlton Church Lane that didn't yet have a name.
The single sheet from the Kent League local derby v Ordnance on Xmas day is the oldest known Charlton home programme.
We won 8 - 0 by the way.
So we start in 1919, we have just moved to a new enclosure between Charlton Lane and Charlton Church Lane that didn't yet have a name.
The single sheet from the Kent League local derby v Ordnance on Xmas day is the oldest known Charlton home programme.
We won 8 - 0 by the way.
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Comments
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And our form hasn’t changed in all those years!0
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Looking forward to further posts on this as time goes by.0
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Part two
Having moved to the Valley in 1919 and turned professional in 1920 we joined the Football League in 1921.
This is our first ever Football League programme from our 1 - 0 win at the Valley v Exeter
We're now a Ltd company and we're selling advertising.
The price has doubled from 1p to 2p but you do get more pages.
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Interesting thread, Henry.
Great to see programmes from milestone games. More please!
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Just reading the programme from the Exeter match .... I see Leaveys Ltd, the Super Hairdressers offer Vibro Massage services "amidst a surrounding of luxury and comfort".
Good Lord, the things that went on back in 1921.
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Love the history threads on this site, as previously stated keep them coming please.
Interesting to see Llewellyn at left back in the first game at the unnamed Valley, who would have thought that name was destined to become legendary in Charlton Athletiic's latter day history.5 -
More Programmes to come but interesting point made in twitter by the Rams Heritage Trust.
Players didn't wear numbers on their shirts in England until 1928 but in the 1919 programme our team is numbered 1 to 11 in the then standard 2-3-5 formation while the away team is listed 12 to 22.2 -
Love the look of this oneHenry Irving said:Part two
Having moved to the Valley in 1919 and turned professional in 1920 we joined the Football League in 1921.
This is our first ever Football League programme from our 1 - 0 win at the Valley v Exeter
We're now a Ltd company and we're selling advertising.
The price has doubled from 1p to 2p but you do get more pages.0 -
Prophetic Club Notes by Charltonian..."providing the necessary support is forthcoming, one is most hopeful that the bold policy of the Management will meet with the success it so richly deserves.:3
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A year later we were off to Catford0
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Sponsored links:
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Does the museum have the original Exeter programme? Cannot be many of them in the whole world. Amazing piece of Charlton history.0
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No, we don't have our own copy but one of our trustees, Paul Baker does.
Our collection is pretty good post 1945, especially for homes, but very patchy before then.
Donations from before 1945 welcome.
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Any chance we can see inside/on the back for the team line up?Henry Irving said:Part two
Having moved to the Valley in 1919 and turned professional in 1920 we joined the Football League in 1921.
This is our first ever Football League programme from our 1 - 0 win at the Valley v Exeter
We're now a Ltd company and we're selling advertising.
The price has doubled from 1p to 2p but you do get more pages.
@PaddyP17 wants to know if @SethPlum was playing?
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Do you have any of the end-of-season DVDs from the above seasons?8
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8-0, Ordnance firing blanksHenry Irving said:With no games I thought people might like a different take on Addicks history.
So we start in 1919, we have just moved to a new enclosure between Charlton Lane and Charlton Church Lane that didn't yet have a name.
The single sheet from the Kent League local derby v Ordnance on Xmas day is the oldest known Charlton home programme.
We won 8 - 0 by the way.1 -
Part 3
Another from Paul Baker's collection.
Programmes featuring former league clubs are much sort after and this 1923 programme is no exception.
Aberdare had joined the Football League at the same time as Charlton but were only to last until 1927 as a first class side. They failed re-election to the Football League and were replaced by Torquay United. They folded a year later.
The design is developing and whoever was our commercial manager is filling the cover with ads for local firms including the Royal Oak pub. This would not have seemed strange to readers as local papers and even The Times carried mostly adverts on their front pages in the period.
The game ended 1-1
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Don't be silly, no DVDs then.LoOkOuT said:Do you have any of the end-of-season DVDs from the above seasons?
We have the betamax tapes but no way to play them.0 -
Interesting, to me, that they’re priced as as 1 or 2 pence not 1d or 2d.0
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Leather grindery?
Ooer Matron, shiny shiny, shiny boots of leather.
Grind.
(Not for me I'm a vegetarian btw).0 -
Sponsored links:
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Ask PatheNews ...... there's some flickering footage of our 1923 Cup run:LoOkOuT said:Do you have any of the end-of-season DVDs from the above seasons?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQOK3bfMAbw
Great shots of The Valley, huge flat capped crowd, and a referee who looks like he's just stepped out of Monty Python.
A world that has passed a way.
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Super stuff , notice the crowd and fencing collapse to the right of the west stand.1
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Bloody bakelite fans! Just turn up for the big games. Where were they when we were playing at Pound Park?charltonnick said:Super stuff , notice the crowd and fencing collapse to the right of the west stand.3 -
Part 4
Suddenly we have a splash of bright red.
The heading has been simplified, gone are the footballers in action and there is just one advert.
The significance of this programme is that it was the first game played at the Mount, Catford.
Low gates at the Valley had helped to persuade the board to merge with non-league side Catford Southend but poor attendances, doubts from the Football League of the legality of transferring league membership and Millwall enquiring about using the Valley all forced a quick return home after only 16 games.
There is no known photograph of Charlton playing at Catford. Something for anyone currently with time on their hands to search for.
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I bet there was a right load of dancing after that game 🙂Henry Irving said:
Bloody bakelite fans! Just turn up for the big games. Where were they when we were playing at Pound Park?charltonnick said:Super stuff , notice the crowd and fencing collapse to the right of the west stand.1 -
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This has always intrigued me. Not one photo of either the ground or the team playing their. Not even any pictures of the derelict ground after we left (Wikipedia states "The Mount thus became vacant and fell into disrepair and, by the 1950s, had been completely demolished" which suggests that for a relatively extended period of time after we left the ground remained derelict but in situ)".Henry Irving said:Part 4
Suddenly we have a splash of bright red.
The heading has been simplified, gone are the footballers in action and there is just one advert.
The significance of this programme is that it was the first game played at the Mount, Catford.
Low gates at the Valley had helped to persuade the board to merge with non-league side Catford Southend but poor attendances, doubts from the Football League of the legality of transferring league membership and Millwall enquiring about using the Valley all forced a quick return home after only 16 games.
There is no known photograph of Charlton playing at Catford. Something for anyone currently with time on their hands to search for.
I'm sure there are many holy grails for the museum to find - how high up a list of most wanted items would a picture of The Mount be (A good thread to start? - "Museum Holy Grails - No 1 - XXX?)"2 -
(Great idea Henry)Henry Irving said:Part two
Having moved to the Valley in 1919 and turned professional in 1920 we joined the Football League in 1921.
This is our first ever Football League programme from our 1 - 0 win at the Valley v Exeter
We're now a Ltd company and we're selling advertising.
The price has doubled from 1p to 2p but you do get more pages.
Apologies if this is slightly off piste, as it doesn't include any programme info, but I thought some might be interested in this little tale from Jimmy Seed's autobiography, about a rainy day at the Valley in 1920:
'I recall how dreary The Valley was in 1920 when I played there for the first time in the Spurs reserve team against Charlton in a friendly game. I was Cup-tied, having already played in the F.A. Cup for Mid-Rhondda before signing for Spurs and, therefore, couldn't turn out for the first team in the fourth round of the Cup against Aston Villa in the famous game in which Tommy Clay put the ball into his own goal and the Hotspurs lost 0-1. Villa went on to win the Cup.
After a cold, wet and thoroughly miserable day [the match was abandoned half way through because of the weather-ed] we were unable to take a bath or shower, but had to stroll to a nearby hut so that we could change back into our dry clothes. [According to a different source, the players of both sides then went to a local pub (the Royal Oak?) where Jimmy entertained them on the piano].
Charlton Athletic became a professional club in 1920 and joined the Southern League in the 1920-1 season, and the following year were elected with nine other clubs to the then one-year-old Third Division
(Southern Section). It meant League soccer had returned to the district more than seven years after Arsenal had taken the big decision to move from Plumstead to Highbury (1913), a move which proved a tremendous success.
Naturally, the directors were delighted to have established League football at The Valley, but they obviously didn't know what they were letting themselves in for. Money was splashed around freely in anticipation of the boom that was expected, and in 1921 work on a stand, dressing-rooms and terracing was under-taken at an estimated cost of £14,000. The club didn't have the cash available, of course, but they entered a contract for £14,000 with Messrs Humphreys Ltd.
Charlton had bad luck from the start. The contractors were unable to build the stands on schedule, and it was not until well into 1922 that the work was finished. This obviously did not help to increase the number of supporters, and early in I922 Charlton Athletic were losing around £100 a week. Yet they had a wonderful run in the Cup in the 1922-3 season when they beat three First Division clubs - Manchester City, Preston North End and West Bromwich Albion - before being knocked out in the fourth round by Bolton Wanderers.'
[From The Jimmy Seed Story 1957]3 -
Henry knows that I can't resist a challenge so, since his earlier posting ("Something for anyone currently with time on their hands to search for"), I have found some contact details for one of George Laver's descendants. It struck me that the official photographer of the day might be a good place to start.
I'm waiting to hear from the descendant but, in one of his online postings, he mentions that he has a lot of family photographs going back to 1908, so there is a chance that they may also have some of George's sporting pictures.
It's a long shot, I know, but more news, if any, later.
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