Queen’s Park Rangers have always had a poor cup record. With exceptions only in 1967, 1982, and 1986 (and the Copa de Ibiza in 2005), they have struggled to make a significant impression in any knockout tournament. Even in 1954, when QPR were a humble club in the third tier, they must have responded with trepidation to a first-round draw against Walthamstow Avenue.
The ‘Stow’ had won the F A Amateur Cup in 1951/52 and the Isthmian League the following season. In the same year, winning the Amateur Cup, it had entitled the team to a first-round entry in the F A Cup. That served as a platform for wins against Wimbledon, Watford and Stockport, and it took them to a mouth-watering tie at Old Trafford. Impressively, they got a 1-1 draw before a replay at Highbury, which resulted in a 5-2 exit. They would soon have better memories of that ground.
Rangers were aware of Walthamstow’s track record, and the editor mentioned all of the above in ‘Comments’ in the match-day programme. This was a standard issue from QPR at the time—an 8-page publication (3d) with a very dull cover. The club persisted with this characterless look for too many years (four seasons in blue and white, then after a 2-year gap, more seasons in black and white).
You’ll notice from the images that the production was pretty standard, although interestingly, there are only three advertisements, though they are large. The tone of the advert ‘Urgently Wanted—Draughtsmen’ is not something you’re likely to see today, and we now have a completely different perception of ‘Crypto’.
But worthy of note is that the pen picture of Avenue’s Polish goalkeeper, Stanislavs Gerula, fails to mention that his picture was featured in Life magazine in 1952, showing him peering into the fog that dominated their initial home cup-tie draw against Watford (the replay was won 2-1).
Something else in this issue that would be less than likely to appear in a modern Matchday magazine is the note about peanuts! Inferior peanuts had been sold inside the ground by unauthorised traders. The club announced that they had reacted to complaints by selling peanuts themselves from the refreshment huts. Good for them!
The match itself was the cliched game of two halves. QPR strode to a 2-0 interval lead, but the amateur side bounced back in the second half to take the match to a replay. The first goal was scored by centre-forward Stanley Anderson, who scored 51 goals for Walthamstow in only 74 appearances.
The replay was held five days later at Walthamstow’s Green Pond Road ground on a Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m. This was due to the F. A rule that replays were not to be held under floodlights. The programme is also a standard issue of four pages (2d) this time, with the cover a lot more attractive than the Ranger’s, in my opinion. The colour image of the Avenue player in his two-tone blue hoops and red socks is a stylish one.
As you'd expect, there are more adverts here, with two local papers dominating the centre, team sheet, pages and, given the approaching winter, timely advice from Beard’s on how to Stop That Cough Today. There were no pen-pics of the Ranger’s players. By now, the draw for round 2 had been made and was noted on the back page written by the club’s publicity officer, though the prospect of a home tie against either Darlington or Barrow was probably not the reward either club was hoping for.
The game followed the previous one almost precisely. QPR established a two-goal halftime lead, but their lowly opponents again pegged them back. This time, extra time was played out, but no further goals resulted. With penalty shootouts decades away, a second replay was scheduled in another four days at neutral Highbury. Walthamstow had won the toss of a coin for the choice of venue. Rangers had favoured Craven Cottage.
Both clubs favoured an evening kick-off under the Highbury lights. QPR expected a bigger attendance than an afternoon workday offered and, therefore, greater revenue. Avenue, unsurprisingly, had players who would have to take further time off work to feature, so it suited everyone for the match to take place in the evening—suited everyone except the F.A, who, controversially, refused to alter their stance on evening replays. So the third game was also played at 2 pm, this time on a Monday.
Queen’s Park Rangers probably should have got the reading of their non-league opposition by now—no more complacency. But fate took a hand in proceedings now.
Both first-choice goalkeepers, Brown (286 apps) and Gullan (48 apps), were unfit. So QPR had to obtain permission from the Army authorities for the untried Alan Silver to get 48 hours of leave and play in the game.
The programme for this 2nd replay was only four pages long, but given the short notice, Arsenal produced a decent issue (3d). Behind the standard red and white cover, a full-page team sheet was followed by short match reports of both QPR Walthamstow games and a small article listing the 7 cup replays that used Highbury as a neutral venue over four seasons and showed the full draw for the 2nd round of the competition. The back page has two excellent action photographs from the replay at Walthamstow, even though they mention the wrong Rangers goalscorer for the first picture.
As the next QPR programme pointed out, playing conditions for this game were far from ideal. The pitch was soft and muddy, and those factors worsened with consistent rain throughout the second half. The first 45 minutes couldn’t separate the teams again, but while the Avenue adapted to the situation as the game progressed, ‘swinging the ball about’, the Ranger’s players ‘apparently forgetting all they had been told, persisted in short passing’. The result was a disaster from the league team’s perspective. Four unanswered goals were scored, two by the prolific Anderson.
Alan Silver never played for the first team again.
Although surviving as a club in that form until 1988, Walthamstow Avenue never beat another league team in the F A Cup again.
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