History of CSFC
04 Jul 2010

Although the exact origins of the Civil Service Football Club are lost in the mists of time, there is little doubt that the club, nominally formed in 1863, is one of the oldest in the country. It was a founding member of the Football Association and a participant in the first ever FA Cup in 1871.

In fact the CSFC takes its year of formation from the date of the momentous meeting on October 28, 1863 in London when the club made football history agreeing with 11 other pioneers to establish a football association. It is presumed that the CSFC existed prior to this date. During the opening years of this century Civil Service regularly toured the continent and played a major role in helping to spread the game. In recognition of CSFC's pioneering work, the club has the unique distinction of being an honorary life member of Real Madrid and Slavia Prague. As many football clubs began to embrace professionalism CSFC decided to remain with the amateur code. The formation of the Amateur Football Alliance, the Isthmian League (1906) - finishing fourth in its inaugural year - and the Southern Amateur League (1907) when many other amateur clubs split from the FA to form their own Associations.

Civil Service can also boast international honours from among its ranks in 1920 C.W Harbridge, a CSFC club captain, won four caps for England, against Wales, France, Ireland and Belgium. He was among a number of Service players who featured on cigarette cards.

While the Civil Service took part in the FA Cup from its inception until 1951, Its main successes are to be found in other tournaments. In 1901, the same year as its first continental tour, the club won the London Senior Cup. The following year the CSFC reached the divisional final of the FA Cup, eventually losing to Luton and in 1903 the club progressed to the 3rd round of the FA Cup before going out against Fulham, both by then professional sides.

The years leading up to the First world war were the most successful in the clubs history, winning the Middlesex Senior Cup in 1908 and 1913, the Southern Amateur League two years running from 1912-3 to 1913-4 and the AFA Senior Cup in 1910 - which was coincidently won again in 1920 and 1930. The clubs modern successes came with two league triumphs in 1968-9 and 1970-1, having first won the SAL title in 1937-8

In 1989 and 1990 the first XI game the club a reminder of those halcyon FA Cup runs against professional sides in the early part of the century. In the 1988-9 London Senior Cup competition service disposed of two Spartan league sides and Vauxhall league side, Feltham, before narrowly losing to cup holders Fisher Athletic, of the Vauxhall Conference.
In more recent times success has returned to the club culminating in the 1st XI winning the AFA Senior Cup in 1997, beating Lensbury 4-3 to secure the trophy for the first time in 67 years. Season 2001/2002 saw the 1st XI return to Division 1 of the SAL and finish in a respectable 3rd place.

In 2005 both the 2nd XI and 3rd XI were promoted to their respective First Divisions and in both 2006 and 2007 the CSFC had its first five teams playing top flight football. The lower sides continue to perform well in both League and Cup Competitions.

The Southern Amateur League

The Southern Amateur Football League (the SAL) was founded in 1907, the same year as the Amateur Football Alliance (the AFA) to which it is affiliated. Nowadays the SAL consists of thirty-three clubs based in the Greater London area. However, in years gone by the league reached from Cambridgeshire and Suffolk in the north, to the Sussex coast and Hampshire in the south.

In the golden era between the wars the league was graced by such sides as Ipswich Town (now of Championship fame), Hastings & St. Leonard's (now Hastings United in the Dr Southern League) and Cambridge Town (Conference South).
The present day SAL provides football for a wide range of players from those at the top who play hard and to win, to those further down the league who are less competitive but still like a good game of football each week. Many 1st XI players are of semi-professional standard and it is common for players to move between the SAL and professional or semi-pro football.

SAL Representative Side

The SAL Representative XI sees the cream of the League's players pit themselves against counterparts from other AFA affiliated leagues as well as the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The games are played midweek with some in the evening under floodlights while others take place in the afternoon, making use of some of the superb facilities offered by our member clubs. Spectators are always welcome for all games, home and away.

Who the AFA are?

CSFC is affiliated to the Amateur Football Alliance (AFA), our County FA. The AFA in turn affiliates to the FA like other County Football associations such as Middlesex, London and Surrey. The AFA has around 420 affiliated clubs and has designated responsibility for managing local league football for affiliated clubs in the Greater London and Midlands since 1907. There are 6 full-time employees at the AFA and this includes the Secretary who heads the administrative function and a Football Development Officer (FDO) who is responsible for the development of the game in the AFA region.

All teams also play in the AFA cups and the 3rd – 7th teams also play in the SAL cups.The AFA cups are County Cup Competitions organised by the AFA. Referees for all these games are appointed by the AFA. The SAL cups are League Cups organised by the SAL and referees are not usually appointed until the latter stages of the competition. The County Football Association, the AFA, deals with your case if you are cautioned or sent off.