Aldershot Echoes - Part 1 - League Applications

Aldershot's Football League Applications

Part 1

Aldershot Town's first application for league membership of the Football League was made in 1929. At this time there were two Third Divisions, regionalised on a Northern and Southern split. Every season the bottom 2 clubs from each division faced possible ejection from the League competing to win the votes of the other league member clubs in an election against the non-league applicant clubs, the prize being those two league places.

In the 1920s the vote was more fluid than it came to be in the 50s and 60s. Torquay United had replaced Aberdare Athletic in 1927 after a tied first vote, and Carlisle United took Durham City's place a year later, outscoring them 33 votes to 11.

Aldershot Town were optimistic applying for Football League membership just 3 years after formation. Southern League finishes of 6th and 7th were steady enough but unspectacular, a Hampshire Senior Cup win in 1928 was good for local pride but carried little weight with the electorate. 1929 was a difficult year to apply. The two league members applying for re-election, Exeter City and Gillingham, both had solid league records since joining upon the foundation of Division 3 in 1920, both having finished in the bottom two on one occasion.

1929 Election results

VOTES

Exeter City 42

Gillingham 35

Argonauts 6

Aldershot Town 5

Kettering Town 1

Thames Association 1

Llanelli 0

This was a promising result for the Shots, to attract more votes than Kettering Town, champions of the division both sides played in for two years running. The classically named Argonauts were even younger than Aldershot; in fact Argonauts had not played a single match! The grand concept behind the club was for a team retaining amateur status to play in the Football League. As London's senior amateur club all followers of the amateur game would support Argonauts - a grandiose plan, and debatable as to why amateur purists would want to watch professional opponents.

Argonauts had first applied in 1928 on the back of an announcement their matches would be played at Wembley Stadium. London already had 11 Football League sides at this time, 4 of them in the west of the city, yet Argonauts polled 16 votes, close to financially troubled league club Merthyr Town's total of 27. The other non-league applicants - Kettering Town and Peterborough United - received just 3 and 2 votes respectively.

When the 1930 vote came around Aldershot Town had enhanced their pedigree having put a stop to Kettering Town's run, winning the Southern League Eastern Division Championship by 3 points. Gillingham were again appealing to their peers for re-election and another chance, joining them were Merthyr Town, their third time in six seasons. Merthyr had suffered a terrible season, holding up the table with just 21 points from 42 games, having conceded 135 goals. Their attendances had slumped to an average of 2,500 due to a combination of poor football on offer and mass unemployment in the South Wales coalfields. A club's attendance was important to other clubs in the division as at this time gate receipts were split. Clubs voted out of the league had generally failed to ingratiate themselves to their fellow League members by failing to pull paying customers in times of lean football results. Coventry's visit to Merthyr in March 1930 saw them leave with under £1 as their share of match receipts.

Argonauts, still yet to kick a ball in anger or amateurism applied again. They received no support and were never heard from again. Surprisingly an alternate ill-conceived concept team was elected as Merthyr's replacement. Thames Association based in a speedway and greyhound stadium in Custom House, East London were just two years old. In the same division as Aldershot Town, Thames achieved 14th and 3rd placed finishes, 8 points behind the Shots in their championship season, but bettered them off the pitch: -

1930 Election Results

VOTES

Gillingham 33

Thames Association 20

Aldershot Town 19

Merthyr Town 14

Llanelly 4

Argonauts 0

The management committee and supporters of Aldershot Town must have been devastated to be usurped by a club the Shots had proven their superiority over on the pitch. For the 1930/31 season the Southern League was reorganised into smaller, localised divisions. Aldershot Town finished runners-up in their section (just 16 matches) and champions of division 2 of the London Combination, which was entered for a weightier fixture programme. The Shots also reached the FA Cup 3rd round for the first time, before bowing out to Second Division Bradford Park Avenue; they also won the Hampshire Combination Cup for the second year running.

Norwich City had an unblemished record since joining the Football League in 1920. Fellow nominees for ejection Newport County had faced the vote once before, in 1923, obtaining comfortable support. Aldershot Town applied for the third time in 1931, along with Llanelli and now Southern League Merthyr Town, whose desperation was evident by their simultaneous application to Division 3 North.

A cat amongst the pigeons was Mansfield Town. They had first applied for election to the Northern section in 1927 gathering 8 votes, the highest of the non-league applicants. Mansfield's next attempt was in 1929 when the 16 votes they recorded was 2 more than outgoing Ashington but 8 less than York City who took the league place. In 1930 they missed out again, wooden-spooners Barrow received a low total of 22 votes, but the non-league challenge was split between Mansfield Town (15) and Lancashire Combination runners-up Manchester Central (13).

The reason for Mansfield's application to the Southern section is unclear, based in Nottinghamshire perhaps they were motivated by the larger share of gate receipts they could receive in their travels to southern clubs. A guaranteed place in Division 3 North was available as Wigan Borough, playing at Springfield Park the later home of Wigan Athletic, had resigned mid-season. Chester City, previous recipients of a total 2 votes in 2 previous election applications took the Northern place.

Mansfield's gamble paid off, they took Newport County's place and have enjoyed uninterrupted League membership ever since. Ironically this would benefit Aldershot Town in the future…

1931 Election Results

VOTES

Norwich City 38

Mansfield Town 25

Newport County 19

Aldershot Town 14

Merthyr Town 2

Llanelli 0

In the second part of this tale we follow the story through to the successful application and see the Shots finally enter the Football League

With grateful thanks to Martin Gooday for generously giving his permission to reproduce this series.