West Ham United
Welcome to this introduction to my favourite team. Just click onto any of the club's logo's or the link in the navigation bar at the foot of the page to visit West Ham's official web site. Updates can be a little unreliable but all the latest news is here.
In 1900, the club was elected as a member of the Southern League and formed themselves into a limited company named West Ham United. Since 1895 upto this time they had been the official Thames Ironworks team, maybe amateur with some element of semi-professionalism, now with professional status however, this former link was cut. The memories have lasted a little longer though and even now the team is sometimes referred to as 'The Irons' as a secondary nickname after the more familiar 'The Hammers'.
As the club grew it became apparent that a home ground was desirable. In 1904 land was rented from the Catholic Church at a town called Upton Park in London's East End. Many British football fans mistakenly think that the towns name is that of the club ground but the stadium is in fact called 'The Boleyn Ground'. The club resides here to this day and maintained a good relationship with the Catholic Church. Ownership of the ground remained with the Church well into the last quarter of the twentieth century but I have no knowledge of present ownership. The club is now a Public Limited Company and the 1990's saw extensive modernisation and expansion for practical and statutory reasons and the millennium has seen a vast expansion to add crowd capacity and widen the pitch. This puts the stadium into a new catergory of international status and the playing surface may now be the envy of many clubs. I suspect therefore that the club now owns the ground but I don't know, answers on a post card...
The 1922/23 team played in the first ever FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium. Construction was completed just in time with no 'trimmings' in place and the final was an organiser's disaster. No thought had apparently been given to capacity and this was the days where ticket prerequisites were virtually unknown. The stadium at Wembley had been built to house a capacity of 120,000, mostly standing.
Also no consideration had been dedicated to the hosts of people that would want to attend the event as an historical occasion. Consequently the stadium overfilled to the extent that hordes of people filled the entire playing and running track areas. A mounted policeman on a white horse, Police Constable G. A. Storey, cleared the pitch by walking his horse, Billie, in an ever-increasing circle. Other mounted officers followed his lead and the crowd were backed onto the touchlines. Hence the final is remembered as 'The White Horse Final'. The crowd, mostly good humoured, stood on the touchlines. At least 200,000 people were there.
Postponement was unthinkable, the King was present and a riot may have erupted.
Kick off was delayed by 44 minutes and West Ham lost 2-0 to Bolton Wanderers. In the dying minutes with Bolton winning 1-0, the West Ham half back was dragged off the ball by people on the touchline and into the crowd. A no doubt nervous referee allowed play to go on. This incident allowed a Bolton player to seize possession and they scored their second goal from the immediate attack. Oh well, its all history now.
What is truly ironic is a point that most people seem to have missed. As the new millennium began, every football fan knew that the stadium at Wembley was to be demolished to make way for a modern super stadium and that the 1999/2000 season FA Cup Final would be the last to be played in the old stadium. As it happens, Chelsea and Aston Villa contested the event with the former carrying off the trophy. And there is the twist, Villa play in Claret and Blue as do the Hammers. This means that the losers at the first and the last FA Cup Finals played at the old Twin Towered ground wore the same club colours.
It may be dismissed by some (especially those who didn't win) but West Ham won the Football League war time Cup Final at Wembley in 1940. My memory plagues me a little as this was before my time but I think they won this again (or another trophy perhaps?) in 1946. I don't know... email me if you do!
True success is acknowledged for FA Cup Final wins in 1964, 1975 and 1980. In 1965 the Hammers won the European Cup Winners Cup (also held at Wembley that year) and were defeated semi-finalists in 1966. 1976 saw disappointment as the Hammers were defeated finaslists when they lost 4-2 against Anderlecht in Brussels. The score is an unfair reflection of a game that West Ham dominated in parts. A perfectly good Patsy Holland goal was disallowed and they knocked every lick of paint off the Anderlecht goal posts! Anderlecht's strength lay in the surprise counter-attack where upon they proved deadly. Many Hammers fans (all?) felt cheated by the result but that is all water under the bridge and long into the ocean now. Their foray into the same competition in 1981 was disappointing as was their short lived challenge in the 1999/2000 EUFA Cup after winning the final in their Inter-Toto Cup group.
Before we leave this part though we must remember West Ham's greatest success, winning the World Cup for England in 1966!
Well okay, some other teams padded the side out with their players but West Ham provided the Captain and the goal scorers, one of which is the only man ever to score a hat trick (3 goals) in a World Cup Final.
Many thanks to the special memories the late Bobby Moore left us, to Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters who graced football pitches everywhere for West Ham and England. Thanks too to the other important members of Englands most successful ever squad.
If your appetite is whetted, why not search for other sites about West Ham or perhaps visit their official home page. Thanks for reading my West Ham bit. The fans are famous for singing 'We're forever blowing bubbles' which is reputed to have started long ago when a lad with long, very curly hair used to support them and his nickname was 'bubbles'. Take care.
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