Stones presented with Shield from the 1928/29 season

This week the club were delighted to be presented with a Silver Shield from the 1927/1928 season with the inscription “Wealdstone F.C. Champions 1928-29 Res section. E E RYDER.”

While the donor wishes to remain anonymous we asked Roger Slater author of numerous publications on the history of Wealdstone FC to investigate the story behind the shield..…….

“The 1928/29 season was the 7th season Wealdstone played at the Lower Mead ground having moved from the Belmont Road Ground in 1922. It was the clubs first season in the Athenian League having taken a significant step up from the Spartan league.

"The Shield is the Reserve Section Championship Shield, the First XI not winning the Athenian league itself until the 1951/52 season.

"Both Wealdstone teams were free scoring that season with the reserves scoring 97 goals from their 26 matches, winning 18and whilst the First XI finished mid table they were the league’s leading scorers with 81.

"Unfortunately, we have limited information on E E Ryder, he first appears in the club records in August 1926 in a pre-season trial match and must have made an impact as he was subsequently selected as a half-back in the second league game of the season against Polytechnic where he scored on his debut as the team won 4-1.

"He remained a regular first teamer until the 1928/29 season where he lost his place to a certain Harold Smith who eventually became the first Wealdstone player to be 'sold' as he joined Notts County for £10, a set of shirts and a first team friendly!

"EE Ryder remained in the reserves for the remainder of the season, a worthy member of the championship winning side, but he never appeared for the first team again.

"There was also an E Ryder who played for Wealdstone around the time of WW1 (1913-14) and it possibly could be the same person if he started young and returned later and there was also an RJ Ryder in 1932-34 who played for the club and this possibly could have been a younger brother?"

If you think you have any information on any of the Ryder's then please do get in touch with the club.

As was the norm at the time Wealdstone played on both Boxing Day and Christmas Day with both the first XI and reserves playing Hampstead home and away. Hampstead later became Hendon (1946) with the two teams going on to play in the 1966 FA Amateur Cup at the Empire Stadium Wembley some 36 years after E E Ryder was winning the reserve section title, and we don’t need another excuse to show the Movietone highlights of the 1966 final.

Wealdstone will be making more history on Tuesday night when the team hosts former Premier League side Oldham Athletic for the first time ever and to be part of it buy your tickets now.

E E Ryder's silver shield will be on display in the trophy cabinet in The Vale for the Oldham game for fans wanting to have a closer look.

Interested in learning more about the history of Wealdstone FC then go to Wealdstone FC History (wfchistory.com) whilst a number of books are available on the subject available from Stones Books (wfcmegastore.co.uk).