Wednesday 1 May 2024

Could we have ended up playing at Havering?


Broollands: it was also used for motor cycle speedway

A report in the Non-League Paper on Sunday brought to mind a rumour that was circulating among the Valley faithful in the md 1950s.   My father mentioned it to me and it might have been discussed in the Charlton 'Parliament' held in my uncle's newsagents in Lakedale Road late on a Sunday morning: it was the nearest thing we had to social media.

The rumour was that the board had considered relocating to Romford and renaming the club 'Athletic' just as Woolwich Arsenal became 'Arsenal'.  The argument was that Romford was more of an up and coming area than South East London.

Romford FC are in the FA Vase final, although they have had a nomadic existence and currently play at the former East Thurrock United ground which is 18 miles from Ronford.

However, the point as far as Charlton is concerned was that the Brooklands stadium (sold for redevelopment in 1977) had a capacity of 20,000 and regularly attracted 6,000.

Fortunately there was no repeat of the relocation to Catford.

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