Players & Teams from the past
If you have any pictures from around Leverstock green I would be most happy to have a copy: Email me at
green854@btinternet.com
This site is ongoing and updated when information comes along.
Leverstock Green football club, formed in 1895, were not placed in any football leagues for the first two years of its existent. Any games played were friendly’s, until the 1897 – 98 season, when they played in the Mid Herts Division II.
I have not found any mentioned of the club after the end of the 1898 season.
For the next 8 years it seems the club shut down.
Re-emerging in 1906 to start again.
Leverstock Green could not maintain a full team, many team members came from the surrounding area, some changing each week. ,
In January 1907, the village team went to play a game against Boxmoor, with only 8 team members.
In identifying the various team members that made up the Leverstock Green Football club, I have had to trawl through many papers and books, using the national census when appropriate. The newspapers would sometimes give a surname, without any initials, but most of all, no names were given at all.
I took the most obvious person and if I could not separate a person from more than one possibility, I have left the first name blank.
LEVERSTOCK GREEN 1895 - 97 FOOTBALL TEAM
As the players are wearing long shorts that went out of fashion in 1905 and shin pads, worn over the socks went out of fashion in 1900. This must be some of the original 1895-97 team members. Sitting it the positions they would have played on the field.
Picture taken from Barbara Chapman’s excellent book Leverstock Green and Bennetts End
You can roughly date most passing fads in football kit. Big belts, for example, around your middle; if you see players wearing them, it’s likely to be pre-1900. They were to hold up your long knickers and make yourself look tough, like a boxer. Shin pads arrived in 1874, invented by Sam Widdowson in Nottingham who cut down cricket pads. Until about 1900, they were worn over the socks, so always easy to spot. In the 1880s the first football studs appeared. In 1905, long knickerbockers were replaced by shorts. In 1939, the first shirt numbers appeared.
In the 1890s, 2-3-5 ("the pyramid") became popular as a more balanced tactical formation. It would become standard for a long time and was used by all the British teams. The transition from 1-1-8 to 2-3-5 did not happen over a day, though. Other formations, such as 2-2-6 and 1-2-7, had been taken into practice in between.
With the popularity of the set-up, a standardization followed with numbers linked to the position on the field:
Typical pyramid playing positions for teams around 1910
The position of players in photos of unknown teams, dating back to the 1900s, sitting, arms folded, usually five at the front, three in the middle, three at the back, just as they lined up on the field, gives an indication of just who they are, when consulted with a list of names from a newspaper. Though I contemplate their fate, wondering which of these innocent young men survived the First World War.
The team members pose in there playing positions
Leverstock Green Football club sometime before World War One. Date and team members are as yet unknown
Picture taken from Barbara Chapman’s excellent book Leverstock Green and Bennetts End
This article appeared on Saturday September 6th 1919, and would appear to be the start of football leagues across the country after the end of the war.
FOOTBALL
On Saturday last all war time substitutes for
“Football, our winter game,”
were relegated to the limbo
of the past and thought out the country followers of football
showed that they were more than ever devoted to the game.
Team taken from the Gazette
26th Jan 1907
Seabrook
Mayo
Thurnham
Sears
Ingham
Perry
Plowman
Rance
How
Rance
an F Thurnham played for Highfield 1908
Team taken from the Gazette
23rd Feb 1907
Seabrook
Mayo
Hill
Mathews
Sears
Ingham
Haves
Plowman
Perry
Brigginshaw
Turner
Team taken from the Gazette
6th April 1907
Seabrook
Mayo
Hill
Mathews
Sears
Ingham
Perry
Plowman
Cleveland
How
Turner
Team taken from the Gazette
1908
seabrook
Mayo
Windebank
Lee
Stone
Latchford
Rance
Cleveland
King
Webster G
Webster M
Team taken from the Gazette
1908
seabrook
Mayo
Windebank
Lee
Sears
Latchford
mead
Cleveland
King
Webster G
Webster M
Team taken from the Gazette
September 6th 1919
Lee
Seabrook, Briginshaw
Dell, Cox, Taylor
Parkin, Botwright, Perry,
Seabrook, Summers,
Team taken from the Gazette
September 18th 1919
E Lee
J Seabrooke
C Brigginshaw
P Dell
D Cox
C Parkins
P Botright
D Perry
F Seabrooke
F Summers
P Elkins
A Dell (reserve)
Team taken from the Gazette
November 15th 1919
Lea
Brigginshaw
Odell
C Parkins
Botwright
Parry
F Seabrook
A Hobbs
S Hobbs
Snoxhall
W Parkins
Team taken from the Gazette
22nd November 1919
Lea
Brigginshaw
Odell
Snoxhall
C Parkins
Botwright
Parry
F Seabrooke
A Hobbs
S Hobbs
W Parkins
Team taken from the Gazette
31st January 1920
A Lea
A Hobbs
S Hobbs
C Parkins
F Seabrooke
A White
P Botwright
G Hawkins
H Fountain
Vaughan
Mitchell
Team taken from the Gazette
6th March 1920
A Lea
A Hobbs
S Hobbs
C Parkins
F Seabrooke
White
Snoxhall
Sumner
Perkins
Winsor
Steers
Team taken from the Gazette
10th April 1920
A Lea
A Hobbs
S Hobbs
C Parkins
White
Winsor
Steers
Lea
Dell
Day
Cox
Team taken from the Gazette
23rd October 1920
C Parkins
A White
H Fountain
E Perkins
A Dell
B Clark
H Gentle
B Brinklow
W Weston
T Aitkens
P East
LEVERSTOCK GREEN FOOTBALL CLUB With Edmund Perkins in this picture the date would be from the start of the season in 1920
Their are 10 Leverstock green footballers in this picture, missing is Cecil Parkins, a team member through the year.
Known players are, from left to right
Back row number 4th is Walter Parkins
Edmund Perkins is front row first left.
Goalkeeper was possibly Albert Lea
Leverstock Green V Boxmoor at Leverstock Green 11th October 1919
First round of the HERTS JUNIOR CUP Score Boxmoor won 2-0
Lea in goal played well, saving Leverstock Green from a drubbing. No other team members given.
1911 Cup Final between Berkhamsted and Highfield from Hemel Hempstead. Played at the Salmon fields in Apsley. Highfield are playing in the dark tops.
What the cup was is to be found out
1905 - 1906 Season