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Welcome to the football pages of Winchmore Hill's website. 

Winchmore Hill Football Club is affiliated to the Amateur Football Alliance and play in the Southern Amateur League. For season 2007/08 the Club will field ten Saturday teams, two Veterans sides playing 'friendly' matches on Sundays, as well as a flourishing youth section with nine teams.

For more information click on the links on the left hand side of this page.

If you are interested in joining the football section, call the main club number in the first instance: 020 8360 1271 or email us at whcc@lineone.net

Season 2007-2008
Chairman's Report (click here)

Cup Draws - 2008-2009

Captains wanted for 2008/09 season
The Club is in need of captains for next season. If you think that you are the man for the job and can spare the time contact Chris Grey

Players wanted for Youth Section for  2008/09 season
For more details click here

Overview of the Season
Andy Carter - First XI Captain

How to sum up this season? One of contrasting emotions.  Frustration at not achieving more given the quality of the players.  Pride at the rearguard action and bottle shown by my teammates in the final few games to steer us away from danger.  Disappointment at finding ourselves in a relegation dog fight and lamely exiting the AFA cup (our cup) at an early stage.  Excitement at the occasional excellent performances turned in by the team.  And annoyance at the inconsistency of player availability, poor attendance to training and the injuries to our more important players.

Pre-season went well and we started the season with an away win which included a Jack Newton goal to beat newcomers Poly 2-1.  The next few games would epitomise our season.  Solid defensive performances coupled with decent attacking play but no end product to finish teams off resulting in three home draws on the spin.

As the festive period beckoned on a particularly damp day we welcomed back some old faces (Hursty from post-wedding syndrome, Bazza from Galeria fatigue, Penners upset at not getting a new Cockfosters tracksuit and Liam from we’re not sure where) and promptly thrashed Actonians 4-0 in probably our best display of the season.  Unfortunately it proved a false dawn as we lost scrappy games against Wilsonians and Salesians (both away).  The Salesians loss included the most bizarre goal of our season.  A standard clearance by me cannoned straight off the centre forward’s arse and into the net to give the opposition their unlikely winner. 

It was more of the same as we moved into the spring.  In addition to a defeat against Wickham we lost at home against Poly in our worst performance of the season by far leaving us in a seven way battle to avoid the drop that was to become hugely interesting and entertaining with several twists and a pretty funny conclusion!!

We entered the ‘squeaky bum’ period of the season with three games left against Wilsonians, Alleyns (both in the relegation mix with us) and Owens and needing by our estimations 6 points (it turned out that 4 would have been enough).  Good performances in different circumstances meant we accumulated 7 points and finished unbeaten over our last 6 games.    

As for the cup competitions the less said the better.  we exited both before Christmas with a shambolic home display in the AFA Cup to ‘Tinpot United’ and lost on penalties to 10 man Old Hamptonians.

On the player front, a few are worth a mention.  The loss of Hursty and Foley, both of whom even out of shape would be in my side every week, was particularly significant.  Old man Strouts was a revelation.  He was our most consistent and committed performer by a mile and demonstrated that you don’t need to be the best footballer to be the most influential player.  The Redbridge posse’s – Godfrey and Abi – emergence and contribution over the season was outstanding and both will have bright futures in the game if they continue to progress and listen to uncle Strouts!!  The confirmation that Davo is a centre midfielder and that if he puts his mind to it he can be the dominant player in the side and indeed the league over the next 5 years.  Jack Newton, my mate, the only player and indeed man I know that has hamstring’s 50 years older than the rest of him, a true medical phenomenon.  And finally to my defenders, sometimes there were three mostly there were four.  Whatever the number they performed superbly and ultimately were the difference between middle table comfort and Division 2.   

Over the season we performed admirably against the big three, losing tight games against Wickham (away and home) due a dubious penalty decision and an example of good finishing respectively, and Nottsborough (away) due to a missed penalty. We drew with Nottsborough and Owens at home in two very close and entertaining games and produced a fine away performance to beat a slightly under-strength Owens team at the end of the season to finish in style.  We struggled against mid table teams where our focus and motivation wasn’t right.    

To sum it up we finished in 5th, but having only conceded 19 goals in 20 games I suspect it should have been higher, which gives us something to work towards.  Winchmore Hill is a top 3 side and should be in contention for the championship every season.  However this doesn’t happen without hard work and commitment.   Where we go from here will be ultimately determined by the attitude of the clutch of players in their mid 20s and the leadership they chose to show.

Sir Ivor Powell, a former welsh international and team mate of Sir Stanley Matthews and still coaching at 91, was recently asked the 5 attributes that every footballer needs to succeed.  His response makes for salutary reading:  1. aggression; 2. determination; 3. will to win; 4. work rate; 5. consistency of performance.  Not a bad check-list to guide our future.