The Club was founded in 1892 as L.C.C. Association Football Club for Officers of the London County Council. The Factories Act in the Victorian period allowed all work to end at 2pm on Saturdays and the establishment of the first Football League in 1888 provided our largely all male staff of those days with the inspiration for how they could spend those extra free hours.

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The name Witan AFC wasn't adopted until 1965 when the Great London Council became a successor body to L.C.C. and stems from the Anglo-Saxon 'Witanagemot', an early form of local council. 

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Our early history was rather nomadic. We had many temporary homes including sharing a 'meadow' with Dulwich Hamlet F.C. and in 1903 the London Athletic Club in the grounds of an L.C.C. Mental Asylum in what was then known as Stanford Brook, now the home of impertinent new kids on the block, Chelsea F.C. Pity we lacked the foresight to keep hold of that small patch of real estate and continue to use it for real football.

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The first Minute Book from 1894 onwards records many odd facts, such as the supply by Council Engineers of a pulley system for raising and lowering the crossbar so we could conveniently share a ground with L.C.C Rugby Club (crossbars were introduced in 1882). Also, the weekly account for half-time lemons! (Was there a problem with scurvy among our early forebears?)

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Social events after games seemed to be the norm with accounts of much singing, poetry recitals , and feats of skill or "Derring-Do" and going on late into the night. Apart from wondering how they got home in those days, it's reassuring to know some values change little, our Saturdays often remaining predominantly social to this day. It may lose something in translating from Latin, bout our motto remains basically as "Win or lose, we hit the booze!"

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Accounts of early tours, many published in 'The Gazette', included games against newly formed European sides. Share of gate receipts often paid all the expenses of such tours with up to 3,000 spectators reported, notable games including Standard Liege in 1902 and Ajax in 1904 who lied in the press about the result claiming a 5-0 win.

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1907 brought the split with the FA and we became founding members of the Southern Olympian League in 1911.

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Subsequent high points have been winning AFA Surrey Senior Cups in 1957 and 1992 and, after numerous runner-up finishes, finally becoming AFC League Champions in 1995. Also in our Centenary year, presenting Club legend 'Spud' Murphy with League Winners Trophies for all 5 of our teams plus the Surrey Senior Cup at the League Dinner.  

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Our Centenary Dinner filled The Oval Banqueting Suite with former teams from the 50's onwards with whom we are still in touch via our WOTS organisation (Witan Ol' Timers) who still meet (and drink) regularly, but without the football.

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Now an open club since the demise of the GLC/ILEA, and again without a permanent home ground of our own, it may seem the 'Witan Glory Years' are a chapter from the past, we are still thriving and growing again and are convinced that the next chapter will be written in the not too distant future. 

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1. Witan Senior Division 1 Champions 1995 & Senior Cup Winners 1996 (not quite double winners, but we briefly held both trophies in 1996 when this picture was taken - I'm 3rd from the left, back row) 

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2. Witan Senior Cup Winners 1996 (immediately after the final. Derek Randall can be seen on the left of the picture. I think Spud Murphy was also there, but he wasn't in any of the pictures) 

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Club Legends

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'Spud' Murphy

No appreciation of Witan is complete without the mention of 'Spud' Murphy, stalwart for over 60 years and Life Vice President of the AFA. He will be remembered as the 'Mr. Witan' and was instrumental in reviving the Club after WW2, recording the Club's history from which the above extract is taken, and from 1965 in finally gaining us a permanent home ground at Belmont in Sutton, good enough to host many Senior Cup Finals.

 

Derek Randall

At present, we are led by AFC Witan stalwart and long-serving legend Del (aka "Delbert" or more formally just "Derek"). Del continues to help organise games and has been fundamental to the daily running of the Club for about the last 100 years (give or take). 

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Kolbassia Haoussou

'Marcel' (as he is known to his teammates) is one of Witan AFC's longest serving players, famous for his concrete-wall-like defending on the pitch. However, his influence stretches far beyond the boundaries of Barn Elms.

 

Marcel is co-founder of Survivors Speak Out (SSO), a national network of torture survivors supported by the 'Freedom from Torture' charity. Marcel's work has had a global impact: he has addressed the UN General Assembly in New York and the United Nationals Committed Against Torture and in 2020 he was awarded an MBE for his services to survivors of torture and sexual violence. 

 

It goes without saying that Marcel is an inspiration to us all and we are extremely proud that he is part of the Witan AFC family.