WEST HAM UNITED
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FOOTBALL PROGRAMMES
A Pictorial History
Please note: Links above are NOT updated
Steve Marsh & Stuart Allen
Postponed & Abandoned ...
Football League Rule 28 ...
Postponements and Abandonments - Procedures for
Re-Arrangement and Refunds
28.1 In the event of any League Match not being played owing to Football Association Cup Matches, weather or other causes over which neither Club has any control or being ordered to be replayed it shall be played on a date to be mutually arranged, but at the earliest reasonable opportunity. Both Clubs shall notify the Executive of such arrangements within seven days of the postponement being identified, for the approval of the Executive. Any League Match not so arranged shall have its date fixed by the Executive.
28.2 Notwithstanding the provisions of Regulation 28.1, the Executive reserves the right at any time to reschedule a League Match after consultation with and consideration of representations from the Clubs involved.
28.3 Every Club must have a publicly stated policy regarding ticket refunds or other arrangements for abandoned Matches.
28.4 When a League Match is postponed or abandoned the Visiting Club shall be entitled to receive from the Home Club out of the gate of either game, one set of travelling and/or hotel expenses (at the rate and as determined by the Executive from time to time) necessarily incurred by a party not exceeding twenty four and which in the opinion of the Executive are caused solely by the postponement or abandonment. This amount shall be a charge against the gate when calculating the 3% Pool under Article 67.2. A Club shall only be entitled to claim hotel expenses where it would be necessary or desirable for the Visiting Club to leave its headquarters before 9am on the day of the match, alternatively, not be possible to arrive back at its headquarters within five hours travelling time, including a stop of not more than 30 minutes, of the conclusion of the League Match.
Doubt if this Rule applied back in the 1946-47 season .....
West Ham United were due to make the long trip to play Newcastle United in a Division 2 fixture on the 8 March 1947. However the match was called off because of a frozen pitch but Newcastle forgot to tell the Hammers. West Ham spent £77 travelling to St James' Park, when they arrived at the ground the place was deserted!
Please Note:
Programme illustrations, if we have them will be shown on their respective page within the Programme Index for that particular season. A few token programmes are added to this section. It will be assumed that a Programme exists, unless otherwise noted.
If you can help expand the "West Ham United Knowledge Bank" with any omissions or corrections we would be pleased to hear from you. We are especially after confirmation of why a game was called off. Please email: theyflysohigh@btinternet.com
SOUTHERN LEAGUE
1900-01
MILLWALL ATHLETIC (First XI)
No programme issued
22 December 1900
Memorial Grounds - Match Abandoned 70mins due to Fog (losing 0-2)
Rearranged: 21 March 1901 (won 1-0)
1901-02
WELLINGBOROUGH TOWN (First XI)
No programme issued
2 September 1901
Memorial Grounds - Match Abandoned 78mins due to bad light (drawing 1-1)
Rearranged: 30 September 1901 (won 4-2)
There are many examples of matches being Abandoned due to bad light, only confirmed matches will be listed.
1921-22
CRYSTAL PALACE (Reserves)
26 November 1921
Upton Park - Match Abandoned Fog (winning 1-0)
Rearranged: 4 March 1922 (won 4-1)
1924-25
CHARLTON ATHLETIC (Reserves)
13 September 1924
The Valley - Match Abandoned referee collapsed on field and died
Rearranged: 3 January 1925
ARSENAL (First XI)
1925-26
CRYSTAL PALACE (First XI)
16 November 1925
London Professional Charity Fund
Upton Park - Match Abandoned: Bad light (drawing 2-2)
Rearranged: 30 November 1925 (won 3-0)
10 January 1925
FA Cup First Round
Upton Park - Dense Fog prevented the start of the match
Rearranged: 14 January 1925
1929-30
MILLWALL (Reserves)
18 November 1929
London Challenge Cup Semi-Final
The Den - Match Abandoned: Fog (losing 1-2)
Rearranged: 25 November 1929 (won 4-2)
1930-31
PORTSMOUTH (Reserves)
26 December 1930
Upton Park - Referee deemed the pitch unfit to play
Rearranged: 2 March 1931
1932-33
PORTSMOUTH (Reserves)
26 December 1932
Upton Park - Match Abandoned: Fog 68 minutes (losing 1-2)
Rearranged: 13 February 1933 (won 6-0)
1935-36
BURNLEY (First XI)
7 December 1935
Upton Park - Match Postponed: Fog
Rearranged: 3 February 1936
Boxing Day reserve games against Portsmouth were postponed in 1930 due to an unfit pitch and two-years later to fog
1936-37
ASTON VILLA (First XI)
12 December 1936
Upton Park - Match Abandoned: Fog 83 minutes (winning 2-0)
Rearranged: 26 April 1937 (won 2-1)
1937-38
MANCHESTER UNITED (First XI)
18 October 1937
Old Trafford - Fog
Rearranged: 23 February 1938
WALTHAMSTOW AVENUE (Reserves London Challenge Cup - Second Round)
18 October 1937
Upton Park - Match Abandoned: Fog 85 minutes (winning 1-0)
Rearranged: 25 October 1937 (won 3-1
1938-39
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (First XI)
25 January 1939
Upton Park - Snow
Rearranged: 30 January 1939
Aston Villa 12 December 1936
West Ham United v. Aston Villa
Football to the majority of people was a shadow game. Fog reduced visibility on nearly all the grounds to a few yards, and frost spoiled the games as test of skills. So bad were the conditions that attendances were far below standard, the average being under 14,000. One match was not started and four others were abandoned.
SECOND WORLD WAR PERIOD
1943-44
CLAPTON ORIENT (First XI)
15 January 1944
Upton Park - Reason ????
Rearranged: 10 April 1944
1944-45
CHELSEA (First XI)
25 December 1944
Stamford Bridge - Fog and Frost
Rearranged: 2 April 1945
CHELSEA (First XI)
26 December 1944
Upton Park - Fog and Frost
Rearranged: 19 May 1945
LUTON TOWN (First XI) Not Seen One!
27 January 1945
Upton Park - Reason ????
Rearranged: 4 May 1945
Both Christmas Day and Boxing Day matches against Chelsea fell to Fog and Frost conditions
1946-47
NEWPORT COUNTY (First XI)
14 December 1946
Upton Park - Fog, Visibility insufficent
Rearranged: 19 April 1947
SWANSEA TOWN (Reserves)
6 January 1947
Upton Park - Heavy fall of snow
Rearranged: 3 March 1947
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (First XI) No Programme Issued
22 February 1947
White Hart Lane - Frozen Pitch
Rearranged: 17 May 1947
CHARLTON ATHLETIC (Reserves : Combination Cup)
22 February 1947
Upton Park - Frozen Pitch
Rearranged: 27 May 1947
NEWCASTLE UNITED (First XI) Not Seen One!
8 March 1947
St James' Park - Frozen Pitch
Rearranged: 26 May 1947
LEYTON ORIENT (Reserves : Combination Cup)
8 March 1947
Upton Park - Frozen Pitch
Rearranged: 10 May 1947
Swansea Town Reserves
6 January 1947
1947-48
CHESTERFIELD (First XI)
21 February 1948
Saltergate - Snow, Players set off for match only to run into a
belt of snow in Derbyshire
Rearranged: 7 April 104
1948-49
GRIMSBY TOWN (First XI)
27 November 1948
Upton Park - Fog : Match Abandoned 51 minutes (losing 1-2)
Rearranged: 12 February 1949 (won 1-0)
Chesterfield Official Programme
21 February 1948
Chesterfield Supporters Club
21 February 1948
1950-51
IPSWICH TOWN (Eastern Counties League)
4 December 1950
Upton Park - Match Abandoned 80 minutes: Snow (losing 1-2)
Rearranged: Spotted Dog Ground 2 May 1951 (lost 1-4)
CHARLTON ATHLETIC (Reserves : Combination Cup)
17 February 1951
Upton Park - Inclement weather
Rearranged: 16 April 1951
PORTSMOUTH (Reserves : Combination Cup)
7 April 1951
Upton Park - Burst of terrible weather just before kick-off
Rearranged: 24 April 1951
This Eastern Counties League game against Ipswich Town on 4 December 1950 was abandoned after 80 minutes due to snow
1951-52
BRENTFORD (First XI)
29 March 1952
Griffin Park - Match Abandoned Snow 45 minutes (drawing 1-1)
Rearranged: 21 April 1952 (draw 1-1)
ALDERSHOT (Reserves : Combination Cup)
29 March 1952
Upton Park - Snow
Rearranged: 30 April 1952
Snow caused the Brentford game at Griffin Park to be abandoned at half-time, the Aldershot Combination Cup game at Upton Park was a non-starter
1952-53
CHELSEA (Reserves)
6 December 1952
Upton Park - Match Abandoned Fog 55 minutes (losing 0-1)
Rearranged: 4 March 1953 (lost 0-2)
1953-54
STOKE CITY (First XI)
2 January 1954
Upton Park - Match Abandoned Fog 83 minutes (winning 4-1)
Rearranged: 12 April 1954 (draw 2-2)
GREAT YARMOUTH TOWN (Eastern Counties League)
30 January 1954
Wellesley Recreation Ground - Match Abandoned Snow during second-half (losing 1-4)
Rearranged: 22 April 1954 (won 1-0)
The Hammers were losing 4-1 when snow caused the match to be abandoned in the second-half. West Ham won the rearranged game 1-0
1954-55
The weekend of 15 January 1955 was very nearly a "lost week-end", for only the Hammers "A" Team was able to complete its fixture. Games postponed that day included the First Team against Liverpool, the Reserves Combination game at Chelsea, the "B" teams Metroplolitan fixture at Dartford, The Colts v. Arsenal and the Juniors v. Briggs Minors. Unfit grounds due to heavy snowfall caused all the cancellations.
The "A" Team had a prolonged journey to Yarmouth Town for their Eastern Counties League fixture which they arrived late, the kick-off having to be delayed. However, the weather conditions at the coast were more favourable than those met en route, and although the ground was treacherous with a hard top surface and soft underneath there was no snow to provide a further handicap.
LIVERPOOL (First XI)
15 January 1955
Upton Park - Snow
Rearranged: 26 April 1955
CHELSEA (Reserves) Not seen one!
15 January 1955
Stamford Bridge - Snow
Rearranged: 27 April 1955
DARTFORD RESERVES (Metropolitan League) Not seen one!
15 January 1955
Watling Street - Snow
Rearranged: 27 April 1955
Liverpool
15 January 1955
1955-56
LEYTON ORIENT (Reserves)
27 December 1955
Leyton Stadium - Unfit state of the ground
Rearranged: 16 February 1956
HOLBEACH UNITED (Eastern Counties League)
14 January 1956
Carters Park - Extremely Unfavourable weather in Lincolnshire
Rearranged: 11 February 1956
BURY (First XI)
4 February 1956
Upton Park - Frozen Pitch
Rearranged: 19 March 1956
BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION (Reserves)
4 February 1956
Goldstone Ground - Frozen Pitch
Rearranged: 30 April 1956
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The Bury match was postponed because of a frozen playing surface. An interesting point of note however surrounded the rearrange game. Following an agreement by our Lancashire opponents to play the match by floodlight on 19 March 1956 a further postponment was threatened owing to the proposed banning of floodlight fixtures by the Players' Union. The difficulty was overcome and the fixture took place, to become the first League game played at the Boleyn Ground under "Floodlights".
1956-57
NOTTINGHAM FOREST (First XI) Not seen one!
26 December 1956
City Ground - Six inches of Snow
Rearranged: 15 April 1957
SWANSEA TOWN (Reserves)
26 December 1956
Upton Park - Foggy Conditions
Rearranged: 8 April 1957
WATFORD (Reserves)
23 February 1956
Upton Park - Heavy Rain
Rearranged: 16 April 1957
​Foggy conditions on Boxing Day 1956 caused the postponment against Swansea Town
1958-59
CHARLTON ATHLETIC (Southern Floodlight Cup)
13 October 1958
Upton Park - Continual rainfall during the week end
Rearranged: 27 October 1958
LEYTON ORIENT (Reserves)
13 December 1958
Upton Park - Reason ????
Rearranged: 21 April 1959
HEADINGTON UNITED (Metropolitan League)
10 January 1959
Upton Park - Inclement weather
Rearranged as an AWAY fixture 30 March 1959
LUTON TOWN (First XI)
17 January 1959
Upton Park - Bad Weather, Pitch Unfit
Rearranged: 13 April 1959
LUTON TOWN (Reserves)
17 January 1959
Kenilworth Road - Bad Weather, Pitch Unfit
Rearranged: 27 April 1959
Both Home and Away fixtures in the Metropolitan League were normally played on the oppositions enclosure. A few Token HOME matches were played either at Upton Park or The Spotted Dog Ground. The Headington United postponed match reverted to the Manor Ground, Oxford.
1959-60
WEST BROMWICH ALBION (First XI)
13 February 1960
The Hawthorns - Postponed on the morning of the game. Day before, eight inches of snow fell in West Bromwich
Rearranged: 9 March 1960
West Bromwich Albion
Rare postponed programme
1960-61
From the late 1920s right through to the 1963-64 season the Hammers held Public Practice Matches at Upton Park before the start of each season.
The 'Pipe-opener' served a two-fold purpose. First and foremost it gave the opportunity to raise funds for local and other deserving charities. The second so that fans can see the preliminaries to the upcoming campaign. The occasion was also used to run the rule over players who are "on trial" for possible places in the senior team.
Although the accent on "practice without injury" during these games it is always a natural thing for the players to "take it easy" when going into tackles, but this is usually compensated for by more goals scored.
The games are normally billed as REDS v. BLUES, or CLUB COLOURS v. WHITES and CLUB COLOURS v. BLUES.
ALL of these Practice Match programmes from the period are considered RARE.
This one in particular is hard to obtain, due to the fact the match was due to be played on a Thursday evening and was Cancelled at the last moment.
CLUB COLOURS v. WHITES (Practice Match)
11 August 1960
Upton Park - Cancelled at the last moment
(not re-arranged)
BURNLEY (FIrst XI)
26 November 1960
Turf Moor - Unfit Pitch
Rearranged: 18 April 1961
CARDIFF CITY (Reserves)
26 November 1960
Upton Park - Reason ????
Rearranged: 9 March 1961
Under-soil heating at Upton Park was still just a distant pipe dream
1961-62
LEYTON ORIENT (FA Youth Cup 3rd Round)
4 December 1961
Upton Park - Continual Rain
Rearranged: 15 January 1962
BLACKBURN ROVERS (First XI)
30 December 1961
Ewood Park - Bad Weather
Rearranged: 28 March 1962
1962-63
Football was virtually put on ice between late December 1962 and March 1963 as ferocious blizzards, drifting snow that reached 25 feet and regular temperatures of -20c made it the worst winter in football history and the coldest since weather records began. The number of postponements even exceeded the great white-out of 1947.
The severe conditions actually began on 22 December 1962, but worsened on Boxing Day when snow fell heavily in the south of England. 19 of the 46 Football League games were postponed that day with another three abandoned. "Football cut in half" screamed the Mirror headline the following morning
FINCHLEY (First XI - Opening Lights)
10 October 1962
Summers Lane - Abandoned 25 mins due to Fog
Rearranged: 13 November 1962
NOTTINGHAM FOREST (First XI)
26 December 1962
Upton Park - Snow
Rearranged: 22 April 1963
Supplement to the Fulham 31 January 1963 programme,which also fell victim to the weather
FULHAM (First XI : FA Cup Third Round)
14 January 1963
Upton Park - Snow
Rearranged: 31 January 1963
FULHAM (First XI : FA Cup Third Round) SUPPLEMENT issued
31 January 1963
Upton Park - Snow
Rearranged: 4 February 1963
​
BLACKBURN ROVERS (First XI)
Rare Programme printed but not issued
9 February 1963
Upton Park - Snow
Rearranged: 4 May 1963
NOTTINGHAM FOREST (Reserves)
16 February 1963
Upton Park - Snow
Rearranged: 13 May 1963
1964-65
MANSFIELD TOWN (Reserves)
6 March 1965
Upton Park - Poor ground conditions
Rearranged: 8 April 1965
NORWICH CITY (Reserves)
20 March 1965
Upton Park - Waterlogged Pitch
Rearranged: 26 April 1965
1965-66
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (FA Youth Cup)
8 December 1965
White Hart Lane - Ground Unfit
Rearranged game on 14 December 1965
Abandoned after 78 minutes due to Fog (losing 1-2)
Rearranged 21 December 1965 at White Hart Lane but was rained off and
switched to Spurs training ground at Cheshunt
CHELSEA (Reserves)
18 December 1965
Upton Park - Waterlogged pitch
Rearranged 22 January 1966
Note: The rearranged game would also fall victim to a postponement
ASTON VILLA (First XI)
27 December 1965
Villa Park - Match Abandoned 30 minutes (Frozen Conditions)
Rearranged: 7 February 1966
ASTON VILLA (First XI)
28 December 1965
Upton Park - Frozen Pitch
Rearranged: 5 March 1966
CHELSEA (Reserves)
22nd January 1966
Upton Park - Weather conditions
Rearranged: 7 February 1966
BRENTWOOD TOWN (Metropolitan League Pro Cup Third-Round)
22 January 1966
The Hive - Frozen Pitch
Rearranged: 12 March 1966
LEICESTER CITY (First XI)
26 February 1966
Filbert Street - Unfit Pitch
Rearranged: 9 May 1966
CARDIFF CITY (Reserves)
26 February 1966
Upton Park - Unfit Pitch
Rearranged: 7 May 1966
1966-67
STEVENAGE TOWN (FA Youth Cup)
9 December 1966
Broadhall Way - Reason ???
Rearranged: 19 December 1966
1967-68
WEST BROMWICH ALBION (First XI)
14 November 1967
Upton Park - Unfit Pitch due to continual rain
Rearranged: 11 December 1967
PLYMOUTH ARGYLE (Reserves : Combination Cup)
9 December 1967
Upton Park - Reason ????
Rearranged: 30 December 1967
SUNDERLAND (First XI)
13 January 1968
Upton Park - Poor Ground conditions
Rearranged: 24 April 1968
CONTINUE
