An Alternative Version of Cray Wanderers' History, by Ian Fordyce
Back in 2012, I was sent the following article by long-time Wands supporter, Ian Fordyce. Ian had been a supporter since the mid-1950s and had a wealth of knowledge about our club stored in his head. He was always a very useful source of information to 'tap' about Cray Wanderers and, at the time that I received Ian's email containing this article, I had not long set up the dedicated Cray Wanderers History website.
I agreed with Ian to publish this article on the History site but, after I closed that site, I thought this very interesting piece of work had been lost forever. But then I decided to interrogate my email account and successfully found the message where this article was attached. Sadly, Ian has since passed away after providing the following account, but I believe that his work should live on - especially as it is relevant to the history of Cray Wanderers Football Club.
I have supported the Wands since 1955 and I started researching the club history in 1958. By 1963, I had amassed all the information on the first 100 years, with very much the same content as the recently published "Forever Amber" book. Others, like me, have hit a brick wall on some periods of the club's history.
There are, however, a few differences of opinion that must be raised, based on my original research. I have listed these below:
• There is no written evidence to believe that the foundation of Cray Wanderers Football Club was linked to the construction of the railway across the Cray Valley; the work force would almost certainly have been itinerant Irish navvies with little or no knowledge of association football. The only link is the date of 1860. No other football clubs' histories suggest the arrival of football by railway construction workers, although such work would have been prevalent during the formative years of many clubs, before and after the 1860s.
The only slim pieces of evidence we have about the foundation of the club are as follows:
• The possibility that the Berens family brought the rules of association football via Westminster School/Oxbridge Universities and also may have provided a field to play on at, or very near to, their stately home at Kevington Manor in Crockenhill Road, St Mary Cray (later to be used as a school). Census records indicate that many early names linked with the club worked at Joynsons Paper Mill, which was situated in Cray Avenue, St Paul's Cray.
• It is claimed that the club was professional between 1895 and 1907. It is true that they didn't enter any of the few all-amateur competitions during this period, but this would not mean that Cray was a professional club, nor a full-time professional outfit (as seen in one recent article). The probability is that Cray didn't enter the FA Amateur Cup because of the travelling expenses, and they would have occasionally used ex-pro's or players who had been paid expenses.
• There is no evidence to suggest that the club was a nursery for Woolwich Arsenal. During this time, there were several very competitive matches with Arsenal Reserves and this would also have led to players switching clubs, as still happens with our neighbouring clubs today.
• I also dispute the location of the Twysdens ground, used by the club in the late 1930s. Certainly, when I passed the ground every Saturday afternoon between 1948 and 1951, Foots Cray were playing on a pitch immediately behind shops on the south side of Foots Cray High Street. Access was by the Barley Mow bus stop, and the pitch was parallel to the High Street, running down towards the river.
• There is also a mention of the club "regaining senior status" in 1951 when they rejoined the London League. The term 'senior' is normally decided by the County FA allocating a club to what they consider is an appropriate level, e.g. senior, intermediate, junior, minor, etc. Cray Wanderers played in the Kent Senior Cup every season from 1943 to 1951. The Kent Amateur League (now the Kent County League) at that time was arguably the equivalent of the present-day Step 5 level.
The above points need to be openly acknowledged to ensure accuracy is maintained within Cray's 150+ years' history.