Clapton FC v Barking FC

until 1923. During the second World War matches in the South Essex Combination were played at the Merry Fiddlers Ground, Dagenham as the Vicarage Field was converted to an anti aircraft site and all matches in 1945/6 had to be played away.

Barking were invited to join the Isthmian League in 1952 and won the championship in 1978/9, managed by Eddie McCluskey. In 1991, after 39 years at Premier Division level, the club suffered the first relegation in its history which was followed by the drop into Division 2 in 1996. Promotion back to Division 1 was won in 2000/1 under the management of Craig Edwards, Paul Downes and Alan Marson. Following restructuring Barking played in the Southern League Division 1 East in 2004/5 and 2005/6, reaching the play offs in both seasons. In 2006/7, following the tragic death of chairman Peter Webster and the subsequent liquidation of the parent company, the club was transferred to the Essex Senior League.

Our experienced management team is led by manager Mick O’Shea, who has a long and wide experience of management and coaching, with coaches Rob O’Brien (who is also our chairman) and Jeff Sears - who managed our Reserves to the Essex Senior League Reserve Division championship in 2011/12 with an unbeaten league record - and continues to fill this role. They are ably supported by sports therapist Alan Richards, We have a number teams altogether including Ladies, a men’s Sunday team and a thriving academy for youths and boys.

Barking have been champions of every league they have played in except the Southern League and the Essex Senior League (yet), culminating in the Isthmian League championship in 1978/79 and in that year the club was awarded the title of FA Non League Team of the Year. In addition to league championships the club has been very successful in cup competitions and over 100 titles have been won at all levels. The greatest success in national cups came in 1926/27 when the final of the FA Amateur Cup was reached and lost 3-1 to Leyton at Millwall, the ground staff having dug holes to clear the waterlogged pitch. A total of ten appearances in the last eight of the Amateur Cup was completed by three semi finals and six quarter finals. The second round of the FA Cup has been reached four times including the defeat of Football League opponents Oxford United in 1980. In the FA Vase in 1996/7 Barking reached the fifth round (last 16) and were narrowly defeated by a single goal at Mossley. The Essex Senior Cup final has been reached 14 times, of which seven were won, and the London Senior Cup has been won four times in seven finals. Other cups won include the Essex Thameside, Essex Elizabethan, East Anglian, London Charity, Mithras, Eastern Floodlit, Premier Midweek, Essex Intermediate, London Intermediate, Essex Junior, London Junior, London Under 18, Isthmian League Dylan Shield, Athenian Reserves, Essex, Hertfordshire & Neighbouring Counties, Fred Budden Trophy, Isthmian Youth, Eastern Junior Alliance Under 16, Hornchurch Charity, Ilford Hospital, Romford Charity, South Essex Charity, Stepney Charity, Waltham Forest Hospital, West Ham Charity, Addenbrooke Hospital, Barking Carnival, Collins Druce, Sugden, Ron Murrant, Peter Webster and Paul Winn, Dagenham & District Sunday League’s Bellamy and Nicholls cups. A memorable success came in 1996/7 when the Essex Thameside Trophy was won with the 22nd kick of the deciding kicks from the penalty spot against Canvey Island, which Barking won 8-7. The final kick was successfully taken by Uzodimma Agbasonu Barking's team in the Amateur Cup final in 1927 included at inside left Mickey Guyton, who continued to play for the club until he was nearly 40 years old. Guyton once scored all Barking's goals in a London Senior Cup tie against Catford South End which was abandoned with the score at 6-6. Although only one professional club's (Oxford United) first team has been defeated during the club’s history, in 1922 a 2-0 half time lead was held over the full Arsenal side in the London Challenge Cup. However the Gunners scored five times in the second half. Also in two FA Cup ties against Gillingham separated by 55 years the professionals required two matches on each occasion to progress to the next round.

We have links with both the Olympic Games and the World Cup. The 1900 Olympic gold medal winning Great Britain football team (actually Upton Park FC) included former Barking Woodville player William Quash, Peter Deadman was a regular member of the Great Britain Olympic football team in the 1960s and our 2002/3 team included Rene Regis who captained and scored for St Lucia in the World Cup. Over 30 Barking players have gone on to the professional ranks and the most recently famous old boys are Kevin Hitchcock, the Chelsea goalkeeper and substitute in the 1996-97 FA Cup winning team, and Darren Purse. In their time Arthur Featherstone (West Ham United), Jack Leslie (Plymouth Argyle), probably Barking’s first black player, John Dillimore (Millwall), Harold Halse (Aston Villa, Chelsea and Manchester United where he partnered the great Billy Meredith on the right wing, twice an FA Cup winner in three finals and capped by England in 1909), Jack Tresarden (West Ham United and capped in 1923), Len Casey (Chelsea), Peter Carey (Leyton Orient), Mark Lazarus (Queens Park Rangers), Laurie Abrahams (Charlton Athletic). Joe Hawkins (Millwall) were equally famous. Tresarden played for West Ham United in the first Wembley cup final in 1923. England amateur caps were won by Charles Bradley (1913), A. Evans (1928) and Johnny Wilson (1948).

Our most famous ex player is of course Bobby Moore, the West Ham United and World Cup winning England captain. He never played for our first team but research by Terry Gilbert, our website editor, supported by the memories of our