Corinthian-Casuals & Kingstonian Football Clubs are delighted to confirm that they have extended their ground share agreement for season 2019 - 2020, fully ratified by the Isthmian League.

The arrangements are a replication of this current season and once again, both clubs are happy to continue the season ticket offer which enables supporters of either club to enjoy the other’s home matches for half price.​

This past season has seen Casuals and K’s work together on a number of initiatives, not least the successful fundraising drive which benefited two local charities, KCAH and Kingston Carers Network. It’s hoped that more initiatives will follow into a second season.

In recognition of our first season together at King George’s, we’ll be hosting a Casuals vs Kingstonian supporters match; Representatives from both sides will take to the field on Sunday 28th April for bragging rights. Admission will be free and a buffet (tbc) and bar will be open for all to enjoy. More details to follow, including how you can get involved, however in the meantime please save the date as it promises to be a good day.

Kit and boot donations from Corinthian-Casuals have finally found their way to The Gambia thanks to the amazing work of Vic Doggart and her charity Team Playground.
 
A dear friend of ours, Vic Doggart is the daughter of great Corinthian Hubert Doggart. She founded Team Playground in 2012 to build playgrounds in West Africa alongside local people with and for children. Team Playground provide safe, exciting and educational play with and for children of all ages through both playgrounds and activities including football.
 
From an initial playground in Brufut in Gambia in 2012, the Team have built 5 further playgrounds within Gambia and Senegal and now organise inter-village football tournaments for all girls and boys of all ages.  They are currently raising funds to acquire the land to build a youth club in Brufut and the aim is to introduce cricket to the children.
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As Vic reports in her own words, from The Gambia after travelling for the past few months by road…

“We made it! I want to send all the thanks from myself, team playground and the Brufut dragons for the amazingly generous gift of kits. They look super fly in them and the games have been fantastic.

“We have played the local neighbouring village every Sunday. A young team and an older team as well. Our team is from the Brufut and the other team is Madiana which is across the bush. We are hoping to find a third.

“The journey was long and eventful. We have maintained three playgrounds and built a new one as well as distributing all the donations. Thank you again for the generous gifts - we are so grateful. Regards to CC.”

 As with all charities, they are looking for funding and currently their major concern is for equipment and more specifically football boots and trainers.
 
Should you wish to cast off all those old football boots that are no longer wanted or don’t fit any more, why not give them to a great cause? Likewise, any goal keeping gloves and sports socks.  Any sizes are welcome and ideally, they are not caked in mud!
 
Find out more about the charity here. ​

Corinthian-Casuals’ King George’s Arena will have a dramatic makeover during the close season as we set to start work on transforming the clubhouse into London’s premier trendy cocktail bar.

The venue will be re-named as ‘Jackson’s’ – in honour of Corinthian’s founder N.L. ‘Pa’ Jackson and will look to become South London’s premier venue for chocolate and pink drinks - matching our unique club colours.

The whole clubhouse will be gutted and re-glitzed in resplendent chocolate and pink with the focus on drinks such as Strawberry Daiquiris, Pink Lemonade Vodka Martinis and a range of chocolate liqueur-based beverages. Gone will be the traditional lagers, beers and wines.

Bar Manager Martin Foley will become Head Cocktail Waiter and has already been fitted with a new waistcoat and bow tie. Foley is fully qualified for the role as chief flair-man as in his own words, ‘he’s probably mixed every form of alcohol known to man.’
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The work is expected to be completed in time for the start of the new season.

We're saddened to hear of the death of John Balson who passed away today, (Sunday 10 March) in the Queen Alice Hospice in Esher where he'd been for the last few days after complications following  brain surgery.  He would have been 79 on Tuesday. 

John was just recently elected a member of the exclusive Corinthian club two weeks ago for his services to the club over 50 years.  He was much moved by the formal letter from the club but sadly never saw the tribute in this weekend's match programme. Vice President David Harrison had planned to pass him a copy when visiting the hospice today.

As a tribute to John the text from the article is written below.  Further news regarding funeral arrangements will be posted in due course.

From all at Corinthian-Casuals, we're deeply saddened at the loss of John - a true Corinthian in every aspect and we were delighted to bestow the club's ultimate honour in recognition of his services and generosity over the past half century.

John Balson  - A Corinthian Tribute
By David Harrison. As written in 9th March matchday programme.

The Committee have with great pleasure elected John Balson to the elite group of Corinthian members of the club for his services over many years. He joins club President Micky Stewart and Schools team stalwart Brian Wakefield, two of the current four, now five Corinthians. Micky summed up the award: "John was a fast strong running winger; but you should never leave out the word 'Corinthian' when referring to John Balson".
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John has served the club in many ways, starting with an early match in the "A" team in 1962 when he scored 5 goals. Born on 12 Mar 1940 he went to St Clement Danes G.S in West London - a school that has produced several outstanding C-C footballers, including Joe Bateson and Clive and Joe Banbury. He went on to Exeter University in 1958 where he spent 4 years reading Maths, Chemistry and Psychology. He finished with what he called "a football degree" and went on to teach for four years at St Nicholas GS in Northwood. He was very proud that a number of his school football team - some in the "D" stream - regularly did well in their Chemistry "O" levels thanks to his teaching.

John then moved to IBM, the International Business Machines Corporation, where he was an instructor over many years in the whole range of computer technology. This involved travel all over the world, including three years in Australia and - he calculates - some 160 countries, including most of the Middle East. No wonder, therefore, that his football career was pretty spasmodic. He was also an accomplished athlete, competing for Southall A.C in the triple jump in the national Amateur Athletic Association Championships.

During his early years be played some games for Wycombe Wanderers, his local team, before joining Corinthian-Casuals. He went on a First Team tour to Cornwall in 1975 when Micky Stewart was manager. Stuart Inger, also a teacher and friend, was on that tour; he described John as "very fast and fit....he created many chances for himself with his speed in and around the box and converted a lot of them with random parts of the body; sometimes head and feet were an irrelevance to this goal machine."

In the 70s John played most of his football in Corinthian-Casuals' "A" team, which also he ran for several years. In 73/74 he played 31 games and scored 56 goals; in 74/5 15 games and 20 goals. In 75/6, led by John, the team won the Surrey AFA Junior Cup, the Argonaut Trophy and the Argonaut Shield. The Argonaut competition includes Oxford, Cambridge and London University, also the Civil Service. In 76/7, scoring 24 goals in 14 games, John captained the "A" team to a further victory in the Argonaut Trophy. The same season he took over as Hon Sec to the Reserves, scoring 5 goals in 19 games.

He then went on to play irregularly for the Schools Team over a period of some ten years. Brian Wakefield remembers him as "very quick, playing wide on the right, scoring a lot of goals." He especially recalls a hat trick by John at Malvern in a 3 v-3 draw. Later John began a new job, which he enjoyed for 10 years, teaching bridge on liner cruises around the world, setting his passion for travel alongside his enthusiasm for bridge.

Throughout all these years John has been a regular and generous contributor to all the club's fund raising efforts - the Christmas Draw, End of Season Supper, Car Park development and foreign tours - often making a crucial difference between profit and loss. This February he wrote a cheque for
£6000 towards the First team's visit to Hungary, scheduled for the coming close season and costed at £8500. So at a stroke John has ensured that the tour will go ahead, a enormous boost for manager James Bracken and his players.

For all these mighty efforts for Corinthian-Casuals over so many years, on and off the pitch, we would like to offer John thanks from all of us at the club and are now delighted to welcome him as a member of the exclusive Corinthians, as a measure of our esteem.

​Corinthian-Casuals FC have been invited to play in a brand new international football tournament that has been 115 years in the making!  This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our players to compete in European football, but we need YOUR help to get there.  For more information, please visit our GoFundMe page

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