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Post by taylov on Feb 4, 2018 17:55:13 GMT
Found this postcard of the original Eastleigh side of 1908/09 (click to enlarge) The team photo is probably taken at the L&SW Railway Sports Stadium at the north end of Dutton Lane. This was a large site with a football ground, surrounded by a concrete banked cycle track, and with a grandstand about the the size of the 2005 stand at the Silverlake. To the town end was a cricket pitch with pavilion. You walked to the end of Dutton Lane and along the footpath. The club originated as LSWR Athletic in the 1890s and played in both the Southern League and Western League in 1898 and 1899 seasons. So long before we gained promotion to the National League the likes of Eastville (Bristol) Rovers, Reading, Swindon & Bristol City all played against this Eastleigh club. The local papers suggest that crowds were in excess of 1,000 for some matches nearly 120 years ago. The map shows the L&SWR sports grounds - the cricket pitch and pavilion is at the top of the map, which sadly is cut off just south of the football/cycling ground, but it shows you the location. The very upper edge of the map just show the edge of the banking for the cycle track around the football pitch. By 1902/3 the team had dropped the link to the railway company in its name and were simply "Eastleigh Athletic". They were members of the Hampshire League from 1896 and for a short time at the end of the Century played at the same time in both that League and the Southern League. There was a five season break in Athletic's membership of the Hampshire League after 1925, but they were back in Division 2 for the 1930/31 season as S.R. Eastleigh Athletic, still at the Dutton Lane ground. The following year they finished second behind Bournemouth. After WW2 they did not enter the league for the first 2 seasons (45/6 and 46/7). Renamed as B.R Eastleigh Athletic after the nationalisation of the railways they played in the Hampshire League through the 1950s. They missed 1961/2, but were back again from 1962/3 to 1964/5. In their last season they finished bottom of Division 3 out of 16 clubs. Their Dutton Lane ground was built upon by British Rail when the goods yard and rail track were expanded towards the river by the end of the 1960s. In the FA Cup, they had 2 good runs - (1897/98) saw the Railwaymen reach the 3rd Qualifying round. they beat the Oxford Cygnets (away) 2-6; then the Reading Amateurs (away) 1-4 before travelling down to Bristol to meet Eastville Rovers (now Bristol Rovers) who were then in their first season at Eastville. Rovers won 2-0. In 1902/3 - beating Basingstoke (away) 0-2; North Hants Ironworks 2-2 away, 3-0 at home; Staple Hill 7-0 at home before losing to Whiteheads, the torpedo factory side (Champions of the Dorset Senior League) 3-1 away in the 4th Qualifying Round. The winners were drawn against Swindon in the next round and lost 9-0.
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Post by blueandwhite on Feb 5, 2018 22:19:29 GMT
Did Eastleigh athletic ever play swaythling athletic?
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Post by taylov on Feb 5, 2018 23:11:43 GMT
Did Eastleigh athletic ever play swaythling athletic? Yes, at least 6 times in the league. Although both sides were in the Hampshire League throughout much of the 1950s, they didn't play in the same division until 1958/59 when they were both in H.L. Div 2. They remained in the same division for a further 2 seasons. As well as the 6 league matches there were almost certainly cup games between the 2 clubs but these are more difficult to trace. Tony
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Post by taylov on Feb 6, 2018 10:50:32 GMT
Did Eastleigh athletic ever play swaythling athletic? STOP PRESS !!!!! Latest results (from "The Story so far") 1948/9 Southampton Senior Cup (R1) : SR(Eastleigh) Athletic 4 - Swaythling 0 1949/50 Hampshire Intermediate Cup (R2): Swaythling 3 - BR (Eastleigh) Athletic 0 1958/59 Hampshire League Div 2: Swaything 1 - BR (Eastleigh) Athletic 4; BR (Eastleigh) Athletic 0 - Swaythling 3 1959/60 Hampshire League Div 2: Swaythling 0 - BR (Eastleigh) Athletic 4; BR (Eastleigh) Athletic 4 - Swaythling 0 1959/60 Russell-Cotes Cup: Swaythling 3 - BR (Eastleigh) Athletic 0 1960/61 Hampshire League Div 2: Swaythling 2 - BR (Eastleigh) Athletic 2; BR (Eastleigh) Athletic 1 - Swaythling 2 Which seems to be 9 games between the 2 sides which Swaythling won 5, drew 1 and lost 3. Tony
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Post by taylov on Feb 8, 2018 15:27:46 GMT
Here's a 1895 version of the the end of Dutton Lane showing the precise location of the Athletic's ground and stand. Click for detail. The ground is above the "U" of "EASTLEIGH U D",
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Post by tenacres on Feb 8, 2018 21:25:11 GMT
Cheers for this, very interesting history from Eastleigh's "forgotten" club.
Don't suppose there are any pictures of the ground?
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Post by taylov on Feb 8, 2018 23:07:06 GMT
Cheers for this, very interesting history from Eastleigh's "forgotten" club. Don't suppose there are any pictures of the ground? I've got one very poor quality photo taken from the grandstand looking across the Athletics football pitch on a LSWR sports day, but its not up to being reproduced. I know that there is at least one superb photo of the grandstand and cycle track - I saw a copy of it years ago but a search of the local museum recently failed to turn it up.
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Post by taylov on Feb 11, 2018 19:30:41 GMT
Click on this to expand. A photo taken in 1906 at the LSWR sportsday. The photographer is in the grandstand that was on the halfway line of the football pitch on which the prize giving is taking place.. The wooden fence kept spectators off the cycle track which surrounded the pitch. The treeline behind is next to the River, so we are looking to the east, away from the main railway line. The cricket pitch, pavilion and footpath to Dutton lane are to the right of this photo.
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Post by taylov on Feb 11, 2018 19:49:22 GMT
I've played around with the image and think this is better.
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Post by taylov on Feb 13, 2018 20:33:52 GMT
Here's a great team photo of Eastleigh Athletic FC from the 1923-4 season Unusually, a number of the players are named on the reverse- back row - Leach; Ted Read; Ernest Aycliffe; Dick Mills; Woods middle row - Charlie Ince; Jimmy Swindon; Peter Knox front row - Miller
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Post by back4more on Feb 28, 2018 12:16:15 GMT
Those photos tell so much about society at the time, especially the prize giving. The bowler hats in the grandstand. The flat caps and boaters worn by the main throng. The long dresses, still worn then, which we don't tend to associate with the 20th century. Likewise the clean white smock dress worn by the little girl over what might have been a thicker woollen dress. And everyone wearing what looks like their Sunday best, including jackets, on what looks like a late spring day judging by the full foliage on the trees. It's hard to look at those photos without wondering what stories those people could have told us - and how much of our modern day vocabulary they would be able to understand.
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Post by rocky on Mar 2, 2018 19:51:03 GMT
absolutely mate, different era back then
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Post by taylov on Mar 3, 2018 20:02:21 GMT
It's the very first image of the thread that haunts me.
Eastleigh Athletic 1909. Five seasons later and these young men could well have joined up in the enthusiasm of August 1914. At least 33 men from the railway works did not return from France and they are remembered to this day on a Roll of Honour at St Marys Church, Church Rd, Bishopstoke. Many others would have been wounded but they seem to have been forgotten.
A second memorial used to be at the Loco Works and lists a further 42 men from there lost during WW1. That memorial was moved to the Eastleigh museum in recent years.
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Post by taylov on Apr 25, 2018 12:56:43 GMT
Missed this when it was sold on eBay for just a fiver !!!!!!! The Eastleigh Loco works FC side of 1906-7. Click on the image for a superb enlarged photo. Tony
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Post by back4more on Apr 28, 2018 9:55:32 GMT
It's interesting to remember that the idea of using subs is a very modern one and, as this photo reflects, many amateur sides would have had just eleven shirts. What was still a modern feature at the time was the goal net which can be seen in the photo and the history of which is mentioned in this article. www.punditarena.com/football/english-football/thepateam/john-alexander-brodie-creation-football-nets/It's taken us over a century to move to the next major step of goal line technology. That article is particularly interesting to me because I spent 20 of the first 23 years of my life living 50 yards from the end of Brodie Avenue.
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