BIG THREE RESERVES RUIN IT FOR REST

But Isthmians are go!

After dinner legend Bob “the Cat” Bevan MBE continues his trawl through the next decade of the two greatest amateur leagues

A S we move into the 20th century the Northern League’s second season of a three-year flirtation with a Second Division ended in a bit of a shambles.

However, at the end of the second year the rather attractively-named Thornaby Utopians and Stockton St Johns were promoted.

At the end of the next season 11 clubs left which led to the remainder forming a single division which included the second tier’s champions Whitby who returned to the top division. However, they found it a bit too much and left along with the Utopians after one year.

In 1902-03 the three ‘A’ sides of Middlesbrough, Newcastle United and Sunderland joined and during their three years of membership they rather ruined the league. In effect these were largely the reserve teams of the professional clubs and their impact can be seen by the league table.

High scores were frequent in one-sided games including a few doublefigure scores. By the time they left Newcastle Utd ‘A’ had averaged close to four goals per game.

After this the league settled back into normality with the odd club coming and going and, at the end of the decade, York City put in a short-lived appearance along with West Auckland who would claim world domination in the next decade! Meanwhile founder members Middlesbrough left to join the Football League.

So at the end of this ten years the overall table showed 33 clubs had taken part since the formation with Stockton heading the points table.

Leaving aside the ‘A’ teams and other ‘fly-by-night’ sides Bishop Auckland were already emerging as the most consistent performers.

On the goalscoring front Stockton and South Bank were impressive but again it was Bishops who were showing more consistency.

Not too much to shout about in the FA Cup, although Bishop Auckland got through to the so-called Intermediate Round,one before the 1st Round, and lost at home to Football League Second Division sides Burnley and Preston North End in the early years.

Bishops did make it to the 1st Round in 1905-06, losing again to Wolves who were about to be relegated from the top division of the Football League. Stockton also got through to this stage the next season losing at Chesterfield.

Things were a lot different in the FA Amateur Cup. In 1899-1900 Bishops beat Darlington in the semis and went on to win the trophy, beating Lowestoft 5-1.

Crook Town won it the next year beating Bishops 2-0 in the semis and Kings Lynn 3-0 after a replayed final. Bishops beat South Bank 5-2 to get to the final again the next year but lost 5-1 to Old Malvernians.

In 1902-03 Bishops lost in the semis to Stockton who went on to beat Oxford City 3-0 after a replay. The Cup was back in Northern League hands two years later as West Hartlepool beat Clapton 3-2 after knocking out Bishops in the semis. This was followed by Bishops losing 3-0 to Oxford City after beating Stockton, who in turn lost 2-1 to Clapton after beating South Bank in 1906-07.

Stockton lost again in the final the following year 2-1 to Royal Engineers after which a team called Eston United lost 6-0 to Isthmian League Clapton in the final a year before they would join the NL.

ISTHMIAN LEAGUE

It was 16 years after the Northern League kicked off that the Isthmian started with just six teams for the first three years of the decade, increasing to ten in the fourth. London Caledonians, a Londonbased Scottish club were the first champions. In the third year Dulwich Hamlet took the place of Casuals never to leave again.

In 1908-09 the table took on a more solid look. At the end of this decade the points total showed the longest serving clubs in the lead. Per game the new arrivals led the way on consistency.

As for goals, London Caledonians were closing in on a century but newcomers Leytonstone were most prolific.

In the FA Cup it was a bit early for anything too notable but Clapton did get through to the final qualifying round in the first year of the league only to lose 2-0 to Clapton (later Leyton) Orient and West Norwood were beaten 9-1 at home by Accrington Stanley.

It was different in the FA Amateur Cup. Clapton won the trophy in 1906-07 beating Northern League Stockton 2-1.

They won it again two years later beating Eston United 6-0 having beaten Leytonstone 8-1 in the quarter final. At the same stage Dulwich had beaten Bromley 3-0 before missing out on the final, losing 2-1 to Eston