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Crouch End Vampires F.C. are an amateur
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club from the Crouch End area of north London, based at the Muswell Hill Sports Ground. The club are affiliated to the Amateur Football Alliance and are currently members of the . The club was formed through the merger of Crouch End F.C. and Vampires F.C. in 1897.


Early history

Founded as Balmoral Football Club, Crouch End were invited to join a proposed
Southern Football League The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...
in 1891 but rejected the offer. The idea was subsequently dropped after
Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
joined the
Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
. On 3 October 1891, Crouch End played their first game of
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
competition. After beating Ashford United 6–2, their 1891–92 campaign ended in a 0–4 loss to
Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...
in the second qualifying round. Both Crouch End and the Vampires featured in the first ever season of the London League in 1896–97, finishing fifth and sixth respectively. In the Vampires' first ever London League game on 19 September 1896 they lost to Thames Ironworks 0–3. In 1897, Crouch End merged with the Vampires, who were based in Norbury, and were renamed Crouch End Vampires. On 6 October 1900, the club beat London Welsh 3–0 in the first qualifying round of the
1900–01 FA Cup The 1900–01 FA Cup was the 30th season of the world's oldest association football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (more usually known as the FA Cup). The cup was won by Tottenham Hotspur of the Southern League, who defeated ...
, but failed to beat
Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
in the next round. The following year, 1901–02, they played London Welsh again, running out as 0–1 winners in the preliminary round. They beat
Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...
4–2 in the first qualifying round, and overcame Willesden Town 3–1 in the second. They fell to Queens Park Rangers in the third qualifying round 2–0 on 2 November 1901. In the
1902–03 FA Cup The 1902–03 FA Cup was the 32nd season of the world's oldest association football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (more usually known as the FA Cup). Bury F.C., Bury won the competition for the second and (as of 2022) fi ...
, they beat West Hampstead 6–1 in the first qualifying round, but failed to beat Fulham in the second. Olympic gold medal-winner Richard Turner played for the team, as did his brother,
Alf Turner Alfred Docwra Turner (25 June 1879–1926) was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Bristol City and Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Notting ...
, who also played for
Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
and later turned out for
Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...
. Steadfast proponents of the amateur game, the club were affiliated to the Amateur Football Defence Council (the forerunner of the Amateur Football Alliance). In September 1906, the club was a signatory when the AFDC warned the
London FA The London Football Association (LFA) is the regional Football Association for inner areas of London. The London FA was established in 1882 and is affiliated to The Football Association. The London FA administers all levels of men's, women's and ...
that its affiliated clubs would be boycotting the
London Senior Cup The London Senior Cup is the County Senior Cup of the London FA. The London Senior Cup was first won by Upton Park in 1882. Although the leading professional sides in London no longer compete, the Cup has been won in the past by the likes of Ar ...
the following season. The following year, the organisation (then known as the Amateur Football Defence Federation) was reformed as the Amateur Football Association and they affiliated. They were also founding members of the Southern Amateur League the same year.


Recent times

The club are one of three founding Southern Amateur League members that are currently in membership, the others being Alleyn Old Boys and Civil Service. They currently compete in the Senior Division 2 of the Southern Amateur League. The club participate in an annual Easter Tournament hosted by KFC Rood-Wit, an amateur club in Antwerp, Belgium. Former
Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
and Queens Park Rangers player
Dave McEwen Dave McEwen is an English former professional footballer who played for Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers in the English Premier League. Career Signed from Dulwich Hamlet in March 2000, he initially shone in the Spurs reserves before ...
began his career at the club.


References


Further reading

*


External links

*{{official, http://www.crouchendvampires.co.uk/ 1883 establishments in England Association football clubs established in 1883 Football clubs in London Sport in the London Borough of Haringey Southern Amateur Football League London League (football)