Corinthian-Casuals vs Haringey Borough
Pitching In Isthmian League Premier Division
Saturday 19th September - 3pm kickoff
King George's Arena, Tolworth KT6 7NA
£11 adults/£6 Conc, Students/ U18 Free

Saturday, we welcome Haringey Borough to King George’s for the season opener in the Pitching In Isthmian League Premier Division.

Early season indicators of form are hard to gauge. Pre-season results never really tell us anything substantial. If results are anything to go by, then Haringey Borough are in for a tough time. But friendlies are a different beast.
Results include a 2-0 loss to Sutton, a 3-1 defeat to Hanwell Town, a 2-1 loss to Kings Langley and a 2-0 loss to QPR Under 23s. They did however draw with Aldershot and beat New Salamis 1-0, though their opposition are somewhat lower than Isthmian Premier standard.

The majority of Tom Loizou’s squad have re-signed for another season at Coles Park and that’s an indicator of how well they might perform. They’re never to be underestimated. Although they didn’t hit the heady heights of the playoff places as per the season before last, they were in fifteenth position when the league campaign was voided in March. Casuals will take heart in the fact that they struggled away – picking up just three wins in fifteen attempts.

James Bracken’s pre-season has been ‘mixed’ in his own words. They rounded off their preparations with a convincing 3-0 win over Staines Town this week and only lost to FA Vase semi finalists Corinthian and League One AFC Wimbledon, who in fairness, fielded an almost full strength side.

Last season, we also opened up against Haringey, losing 1-0 at a blustery Coles Park in August. The last time the two sides met at King George’s saw Casuals take a 3-1 win. This is also Corinth’s first opening day home fixture since 2016, in which we won 2-1 against Whyteleafe, which bodes well considering that we’d lost all opening day fixtures on the road ever since.

Kick-off is 3pm. Admission prices are £11 adults, £6 concessions and students (with ID) and under 18s go free with an accompanying adult. Please adhere to our social distancing measures and all other Covid-related policies. 

Corinthian-Casuals Schools XI vs Lancing Old Boys
King George’s Arena, Hook Rise South, Tolworth, Surrey KT6 7NA
Saturday 29th August 2020 – 11am kickoff.
​FREE Entry - Programmes Printed

Saturday 29th August sees the return of spectators to King George’s Arena as our historic Schools XI takes on Lancing Old Boys in a fixture steeped in history and tradition.

From the club’s outset in 1882, both The Corinthian & The Casuals had played schools across the country (such as Charterhouse pictured above) and continue these fixtures today - some of the longest running fixtures in the game. The side maintains this ‘missionary’ tradition and promotes the values of ‘Corinthian Spirit’.

Doors are open to the public and entry is FREE. We will ask spectators to follow all our Covid-related guidelines including track-and-trace and social distancing. Kick-off is at 11am, so there is every chance to get more than one game in your Saturday football fix.

​There will also be a small run of commemorative matchday programmes made available for this fixture.

All attendees are to scan into the ground using the EvePASS QR codes at the main gate. There will be stewards to help make this an easy process. Anyone that does not have access to their phone on that day will be asked for their details on the gate prior to entering (name, email, phone number) so we can retain records for 21 days in the event of them being needed for Track & Trace. You can download EvePASS here.
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EvePASS download for Apple
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/evepass/id1516609361  

EvePASS download for Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eveio.pass  
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Come and join us and be part of footballing tradition.

Normality is slowly returning. It was the first training session for Corinthian-Casuals this past Thursday, approximately a month later than normal and with social distancing guidelines in place.

The encouraging news for the return of grassroots football was met with optimism by many in the non-league circles. Preparations for playing were off and running and life has slowly been returning to the club. We chatted with Club Captain Danny Bracken about the voided season, getting through lockdown and his thoughts going into the new league campaign, whenever that may be.
 
“It’s great to be back training with the team as it’s been an isolated few months being on your own, cut off from others. Thankfully, I’ve been busy with working from home. My teaching has taken up most of my time in the lockdown period. Now, getting to meet up with the squad again is refreshing. We’ve all kept in contact together by doing online quizzes, WhatsApp chats, etc, - there’s a few Liverpool fans in the squad, so they’ve been a little more vocal than usual. All joking aside, it’s great to see them all again as we’ve got a good bunch of lads here.
 
“As for many clubs, it was frustrating how the season finished. From our point of view, we were on good form. We’d pulled away from the relegation places and after two or three more matches, we’d have definitely made ourselves safe from the drop anyway. In my eyes, there were a few sides that were struggling, so they got a little lucky with how it all turned out. Conversely, those at the top of the league would be equally disappointed. But we must accept the situation as there’s much bigger issues going on in the world at the moment.

"From the outside looking in, we look like we’ve overachieved in the last few years, competing at this level and staying in the division. For me personally, I think we’ve underachieved."
 
“We’re hoping to get back to football as soon as possible. It depends on what happens with the pandemic in the coming weeks and months. Some have mooted an October start, but we would certainly like to be playing sooner rather than later. Watching West Ham on the TV has been killing me inside – I want to be getting out and playing myself.
 
Looking ahead to how the new season might look, post-Covid-19, Dan conveyed his optimism despite the usual obstacles in place.
 
“Undoubtedly, there’ll still be teams that will have massive budgets and throw money at winning the league. From the outside looking in, we look like we’ve overachieved in the last few years, competing at this level and staying in the division. For me personally, I think we’ve underachieved. Every week, we play these sides and never come off the pitch thinking they were better than us. Naturally, with optimism of the new season ahead, our aim is promotion – everyone in the league should always be looking to try and win it. We’ll see where that philosophy takes us.
 
“In terms of name value and careers, we’ve got some big players here. When my brother, James first came to the club, his squad was built upon a lot of young, unproven players making their first steps into senior football. As we’ve matured as a team, we’ve appealed to the more established players. They no longer see us as the ‘lowly’ Corinthian-Casuals but as an established non-league side that we absolutely are at this level. I really think that attracts players. It’s widely recognised now that we’re as professionally run as can be in non-league. Naturally, money has held us back, but players now look upon us, seeing that we’re able to continually compete at this level, so we must be doing something right. That’s appealing to a lot of players.”