When Kent Cup Matches Were Played On Saturdays

Back in the 1960s and 1970s (and, I dare say, several decades before then) the county and London cup ties were always played at weekends, with replays generally taking place the following weekends as required. The FA and Amateur Cups also went along those guidelines but, strangely, there never seemed to be any real congestion build-ups with league games; not even in the 1967-68 season, when Cray did really well in the cups and had to play games on both Saturdays and Sundays at Grassmeade at the end of the season. 

Because Saturdays were seen as match days proper, most non-League football clubs of the era played full-strength teams; it was also borne out of necessity due to the fact that the first team 'squads' consisted mainly of 11 (only 10 before the introduction of substitutes) outfield players and one goalkeeper. The more affluent amateur sides had a nice array of 'fill-in' players neatly nestled in their Reserves' teams who could be called upon one week to 'star' in the First Team if someone picked up a nasty injury, only to be dumped back into the Second XI again the following week when the regular player had recovered.

But that was how it was. The players accepted it and the supporters accepted it. I can recall back in the 1960s, when Cray still played at Grassmeade, the Reserves put on some blistering displays in front of good-sized crowds when the First Team was away in January and Fenruary at such heavenly places as West Ham's training ground at Chadwell Heath, simply because the Second Team was riddled with players good enough to warrant a First Team place but had to bide their time in the Reserves. In fact, I can further recall a time when the whole of Cray's First XI refused to go and play at West Ham because it was a well-churned-up mudflat of a pitch in the Winter months, so they all stayed 'at home' and played a Kent Amateur League match against Bromley Reserves. It was a cracker of a game, won in the end by a goal from former Bromley centre-forward Danny McDermott. Cray Reserves, meanwhile, travelled to West Ham on that day and returned with a 3-0 defeat which was a par for the course result for any Wands team going to the Hammers in those days.

The Kent Amateur Cup tournament in the 1967-68 season drew up some interesting fixtures and the Wands won 1-0 away to Athenian Leaguers Erith & Belvedere in what was a quarter final tie. Barry Diggins scored the only goal and lined Cray up with a semi-final match against Bromley, which the Ravens won 2-0 after a replay.  The final was held at Grassmeade, a common option for cup finals back in the 1960s, between Bromley and an unlikely but up-and-coming team from Swanley. After the first game finished all square at 1-1 after extra time, the replay on the following Saturday saw the underdog Swanley team win the trophy.

The Kent Amateur Cup lasted for another six seasons before, in 1974-75, it was reinvented as the Kent Senior Trophy — the alternative county tournament to the Kent Senior Cup — when amateur status was removed from the non-League game. Nowadays, clubs can only participate in one or the other of the two county cups, but not both, depending on each club's playing level and status.

This article was originally printed in the Cray Wanderers matchday programme -v- Bromley on Tuesday 1 October 2013 for the Kent Senior Cup Round 2.