Friday 20 April 2012

Evening Standard London 5-a-Sides, 1983

You don't see much indoor football on TV these days, and when you do, it's usually the Masters series in which one-time great players shake off their walking frames and career-threatening injuries to entertain a provincial crowd of a few hundred people.

Once upon a time, however, people in the Thames TV area could look forward to the annual treat of the Evening Standard London 5-a-Side tournament at Wembley Arena. Here, the other end of the football spectrum fell under the spotlight, namely those players trying to break into the first team at any number of clubs around the capital.

Here's a chance to see some of the action from the 1983 tournament featuring eventual winners Millwall. Keep your eye open for a future England team physio in goal for Arsenal, a legendary England striker in the making for The Lions and the scorer of the opening goal for The Gunners who, little did we know it, had a glittering future in club management ahead of him...

9 comments:

  1. If I recall this tournament went on well into the 90s. However, I think it jumped the shark when they let Wycombe play and they won.

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    1. Might have been this tournament I recall Telford winning around 87/88? They were on the cover of Match...could be wrong though.

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    2. There was a similar nationwide competition called Soccer Six that ran for a long time from the late-60's onwards. Maybe Telford had success in that?

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  2. I think the London event ran until 1985, Terry, but then interest tailed off and it was ditched. Then, I think, it made a return in about 1993, if memory serves.

    Wycombe may as well have had West Ham's place for all the success that *they* had in the competition...

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  3. Argh you beat me to it! Happy memories though, have a video of one of the 90s efforts somewhere, may have to dig it out...

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  4. That'd be good - nice one! :)

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  5. A very, very young Terry Sherringham!

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