Prior to the
start of the season there was a degree of unrest at the club, with demands
for changes being made at the Annual General
Meeting. This had followed a couple of disappointing seasons on
the field and deteriorating finances. Kingstonian did get some new recruits
though and returned to form in 1936-1937 by winning the Isthmian League
for the second time. They also had a decent run in both the F.A. Cup
and Surrey Senior Cup, although results in other cup competitions were
poor, even if this was mainly due to injuries and selection problems.
The team had many of the top amateur players of the time with Eastham,
Thornton and Whitehead all current amateur internationals and others
gaining Surrey or Isthmian selections. They had recruited the Whittaker
brothers from Nunhead with Bill, who had already been selected by Surrey
in representative games, claiming his place at Centre Half and Geoff,
a Surrey cricketer, able to play almost anywhere on the field. This
included filling in for his brother in that same position when Bill
was absent. "Dickie" Abbott was signed from Woking to play
on the right wing and together this made for a very strong team when
all were available.
Unfortunately a team of relative stars had its drawbacks as they had
other footballing demands on their time. Eastham was required for army
duties and only made one appearance in the current season, while Thornton
missed the end of the season due to being chosen for an F.A. XI tour
of Australia. Geoff Whittaker had cricketing duties that took priority.
Combined with a number of injuries, this made a regular line up able
to produce consistent form quite difficult.
K's started the season very well and it was only in December that they
lost their first league game to tenants Casuals after an unbeaten run
of 9 wins and 1 draw in the league. Due to the previous couple of poor
seasons they had had to start again in the preliminary round of the
F.A. Cup rather than being exempted until the later qualifying stages.
This did, however, allow them a good run in the competition and they
progressed through to the final qualifying match before losing at Walthamstow
Avenue. They had held a strong Walthamstow side until 10 minutes
into the second half when they gave away 4 goals in 20 minutes and ended
up beaten by 5 goals to 1.
The F.A. Cup run had included some memorable moments. They beat Sutton
United after a replay that was only required because of a successful
last minute Sutton free kick from 30 yards out in the first game. Jack
Daley was in the opposition line ups for these games having only that
season defected to Sutton. He was to score a goal in the replay and
K's only just survived to end up 3-2 winners. They also had a rare win
against bogey team Metropolitan Police and an eventful 3-1 win at a
packed out Hersham ground
that saw a wooden building, being used by some fans as a grandstand,
collapse. The referee also had to stop play on two occasions while the
crowd was pushed back beyond the touchline.
Earlier in the competition there had been a rough game against Post
Office Engineers at Richmond Road after they had held K's to a draw
in the first game. The replay saw an opposition player sent off for
a bad foul on Whitehead and things got worse for K's when Frank Okin
broke his leg after another tackle. Eventually K's won 4-1 but this
was only due to three goals in the last 15 minutes of a tough match
that had disorientated the K's players.
Frank Okin and Doug Smale had been challenging for the left wing slot
but, after this game, Okin's career was over and this led to Smale taking
up the position permanently. Smale ended the season as top scorer with
22 goals in 25 appearances, but was snapped up by Chelsea in March during
a crucial period in K's title challenge.
Other cups went less well with a 4-1
defeat by Nunhead in the first round of the Amateur Cup. K's were
very unfortunate to lose Bill Whittaker, who had to be taken to hospital
after fracturing his collar bone, while a minute earlier Mallinder had
been rendered a virtual passenger with a severely damaged ankle.
K's lost both of the competitions carried over from 1935-1936, although,
in the case of the Surrey Charity Shield, the final against Redhill
was only completed on the final day of the current season. In the other
final they were beaten 2-1 by Wimbledon in the early stages of the season.
However K's did perform the rare feat of beating Wimbledon in both league
matches, including a 6-1 home win, as well as in an early round of the
Surrey Senior Cup. Predictably K's made an early exit in the London
Senior Cup losing 4-2 to Dulwich in the first round.
For a championship winning season it was remarkable that Kingstonian
suffered their heaviest margin of defeat in post 1918 history, losing
11-0 to Ilford. While the team put out was not their best due to
injuries, it was an inexplicable defeat by such a high score.
Despite losing Smale, K's were able to hold on to their top spot in
the league although, with fixture congestion in the final two weeks
of the season and two games against one of their main rivals, Dulwich,
it was a close affair. K's had had to field reserves in one of the key
games against Leytonstone that they lost 5-0. This was a game they had
previously won but had been ordered to replay after fielding an ineligible
player, Thirlaway, who had failed to make 2 reserve appearances prior
to being included in the first team. Fortunately no points deduction
was considered necessary for a genuine error. K's were to beat Dulwich
twice in those closing stages and clinched
the title at Dulwich in the penultimate league game.
Dulwich, however, were to beat them in the final of the Surrey Senior
Cup played inbetween those two league games. K's had been forced to
field a weakened team that included Doug Whitehead, who was to turn
out despite an injury, but still took the game to extra time. In the
end K's were beaten by two goals
in two minutes during the first period of extra time in front of
8,000 spectators at Wimbledon.
It was a relatively happy season and, despite an early exit from the
Amateur Cup and many of the other cup games played away from home, K's
were able to report that the finances had been stabilised after a deterioration
in the seasons since their Amateur Cup win.
Kingstonian Reserves had a poor season, finishing 12th of 14 teams in
the reserve section of the Isthmian League, while the 3rd team finished
2nd from bottom in the Kingston & District League Premier Division.
