Carshalton

Early years

Carshalton Athletic traces its roots to two separate teams playing in the area of Wrythe Green in Carshalton in the early twentieth century. Whilst the club's history is dated to the formation of Mill Lane Mission in 1905 it also recognises the importance of officials, players and supporters of Carshalton St Andrews in its history.

Mill Lane Mission was organised by the Mill Lane Mission recreational facility for teenage boys and began playing friendlies in 1903. They were formally registered with the Surrey County FA in September 1905 and continued to play only friendly matches until 1906 when they joined the Croydon & District League Division 2A. During 1905 and 1906 discussions were held with Carshalton St Andrews over amalgamation.

Carshalton St Andrews was formed in 1897 by the vicar of St Andrews, Revd. C.W. Cleaver and began playing in the Surrey County Herald League. In 1902 they were promoted into the Southern Suburban League Division 2 West. They agreed to fold and amalgamate with Mill Lane Mission in 1906 but did not formally do so until they had honoured their remaining obligations at the end of the 1907–08 season.

Meanwhile, Mill Lane Mission registered their name change with the Surrey F.A. and began playing under the name Carshalton Athletic F.C. in 1907. The first ever match under this name was on 7 September 1907 at home on the Wrythe Green recreation ground in a friendly against Westbrook (Thornton Heath).

Carshalton Athletic's original colours were those inherited from St Andrews who played in Red with white stripes.

After the name change the club went on to win successive promotions in 1908, 1909 and 1910 which were rewarded with election to the Junior Division of the Southern Suburban League. During this time the club put out a reserve side and a midweek Carshalton Wednesday side (many different clubs set up these sides to play after the shops had shut 'early' on Wednesdays) and these two sides both performed well – the reserves winning the Croydon and District League Division 2A in 1909 and Carshalton Wednesday were runners up in the inaugural Surrey County Midweek Cup.

Before the outbreak of the First World War further success in both league and junior cup competitions was achieved. In 1913 the club won the Suburban League Division 1 West and the following season added the Suburban League Division 1 East title to this. In the same period they also won the Surrey Junior Cup, Surrey Junior Charity Cup and the Croydon Charity Cup and were runners up in the London Junior Cup. The outbreak of the war curtailed this period of success and the club went into a period of suspended animation during the war as its home ground was given over to agricultural use.

Following the reformation of the club on 31 March 1919, and after playing on a number of different grounds, Carshalton Athletic finally moved into their new (and current) home in Colston Avenue during the 1920–21 season. This was built as a memorial to those members of the club who died in the War.

The interwar years were otherwise relatively uneventful. The only silverware the club won was the Surrey Intermediate Cup, in 1922 and 1932. In the league, the club remained in the Southern Suburban League, finishing as runners up in 1922 before becoming founding members of the Surrey Senior League in the 1922–23 season. At the same time the club gained Football Association senior club status and this allowed Carshalton Athletic to enter FA national competitions and county senior cups for the first time.

Post-war and the Corinthian League

With the upheavals of the Second World War in Europe over, preparations for the resumption in football at Colston Avenue began 1945 with applications made to join the London League (senior side) Surrey Intermediate League (reserve side) and to enter the London Senior and Surrey Senior cups.

The club did not apply to enter the FA Challenge Cup or FA Amateur Cup because facilities at the ground were not up to standard for these competitions. The club did make it a priority to improve the standard of the ground and facilities to make them suitable for the higher reaches of the amateur game. The work on the ground proved to be needed the following season as Carshalton Athletic were elected into the Corinthian League, which had been set up in the previous year, for the 1946–47 season.

Several years of indifferent league form followed with only minor highlights in cup competitions, although the club continued to grow as evidenced by a record attendance of over 8000 for an FA Challenge Cup 3rd round qualifying tie against local rivals Tooting and Mitcham United. Behind the scenes the club was taking steps to improve the club's chances on the pitch including hiring a coach for all sides for the first time but the club committee ensured that they retained the final say in selection decisions.

A far better period began with the first match Carshalton Athletic played against a team from overseas at the start of the 1952–53 season. Hengelo from the Netherlands were the opponents in what was to become a regular friendly fixture over following years. Carshalton went on to win the Corinthian League title by 3 points from Hounslow Town at the end of the season and the reserve team finished second in their league, 2 points behind Uxbridge.

The 1953–54 season brought further success as Carshalton Athletic retain the league title, finishing 2 points ahead of Edgware Town, although cup success was still proving elusive. This was rectified somewhat in the 1954–55 season as the club reached the final of the Surrey Senior Shield and the quarter-finals of the FA Amateur Cup for the first time in their history (this was also the first year in which two Corinthian League teams reached the quarter-finals). The 1955–56 season was unremarkable on the pitch but did see further advances around the ground as Carshalton Athletic's success of recent season was reflected in the size of the supporters club with over 2000 members. It was also the club's last appearance in the Corinthian League as the summer of 1956 saw election to the Athenian League.

Athenian League

For the next 17 years the club competed in the Athenian League with little success and finishing at the bottom of the table twice (1959–60 and 1960–61 seasons). Their best performance came in the 1963–64 season when the club finished the season in third place. Around the ground floodlights were finally erected on six pylons in 1967.