SOUTHALL'S Combined Counties League Premier Division rivals this season include the likes of Sutton Common Rovers, Badshot Lea, Spelthorne Sports, Hanworth Villa, Ascot United, Knaphill, Banstead Athletic and Egham Town.
Back in the 2017-18 Spartan South Midlands Football League Division One title campaign, it was only really Baldock Town that put up much in the way of a sustained challenge for Southall, with Harefield United, Rayners Lane and Hillingdon Borough among the club's other league rivals.
But what of Southall's opponents back in the 19th century?
Many of the games Southall played in their very early days are what in today's money would be considered as local derbies.
Some of the clubs that Southall played very early on included Reading, Ealing Allegro, Ealing Rovers, Western Wanderers, High Wycombe, Swifts (Slough/Eton - who, following mergers, eventually became Slough Town), Alexandra Club (Wycombe), Pilgrims, Trojans, Prairie Rangers (Wormwood Scrubs), Putney Association, Victoria (Marlow), Reading Hornets, Hendon (original Hendon team, not connected with the modern day Hendon), Old Wykehamists, Ramblers, Old Harrovians, Southill Park, St Stephens and Uxbridge Crescents.
Southall's early opponents also included teams that took part in the early years of the FA Cup, including Leyton, Woodford Wells and Wanderers, who won the FA Cup in its first and second seasons in 1871-72 and 1872-73, and went on to win the competition three more times, in 1876, 1877 and 1878.
Another of the sides Southall played in their early days was Upton Park, who were one of the 15 teams that played in the inaugural FA Cup competition in 1871 and reached the FA Cup quarter finals four times. They were also the inaugural winners of the London Senior Cup in 1882-83.
Although they were an amateur club, Upton Park are inadvertently responsible for setting the wheels in motion for professional football, after complaining about Preston North End's payments to players after the two sides met in the FA Cup in 1884. Preston were disqualified, but the incident prompted the FA to address the issue and, with the threat of a breakaway, the FA allowed payments to players the following year.
Upton Park were wound up in 1887 but were resurrected four years later in 1891. In 1892 they were founder members of the Southern Alliance, a league competition amongst teams from the south of England, but were bottom of the league with only one win to their name when the competition folded before the 1892-93 season ended.
Despite the similarity of name to the Upton Park stadium (officially known as the Boleyn Ground), the club had no connection with the ground and never played there, but there were formal links between Upton Park and West Ham United (who were then known as Thames Ironworks) and many players played for both teams.
In addition, Upton Park's home games in West Ham Park attracted large crowds to their games, which may have influenced Thames Ironworks' decision to move to the area from Canning Town, where football was not as popular.
Below are some of the kits from the 1870s, including Southall's (images courtesy of www.historicalkits.co.uk).
