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The Early Years
Founded in 1947, the Club
name comes from a small district in Tooting, South London. There is also an
underground river called Graveney which runs from Tooting into the Croydon
area.
Alas, the two founder members
have passed on so the early history is somewhat sketchy. The Club was formed
as Graveney Sports Club and thrived throughout the fifties, sixties and
early seventies. At one time there were three football sides in the Balham &
District League. The Cricket section fielded two Saturday and one Sunday
sides. There was also a mid-week Badminton section.
In 1966 (a famous year for
achievements elsewhere!) a Cricket fixture card appeared with 62 games
arranged from the third week in April until the end of September. There were
some interesting opponent names form the early fixture cards: - Meux's
Brewery, The Colonial Office, Croydon West Indian's, The War Office -
Airscrew to name but a few.
The club had various home
grounds: - Middleton Road Morden, Court Rec. Epsom, Gibralter Road in Ewell,
before taking up a more permanent home at Raynes Park, Taunton Avenue in
1971. The club stayed at the Old Southern Railway Sports Ground until 1987,
then with pitch hire and membership costs escalating, a decision was taken
to become a 'wandering side' and so we have remained to the present day. |
