Sporting Clubs

I was never that much into either but two places I remember members of my family going were the billiard club that stood on the corner of Beaconsfield Road and South Road and the Billiard and Snooker hall above the Burtons shop on the corner of the Broadway and Alexandra Road. These were basically retreats for men and the couple of times I was in the one above Burtons, reached up a straight high staircase, I recall the dimness, the over-lights, the score boards and the smoky atmosphere - an absolutely typical snooker club in other words. The club life for men I have alluded to before: the Legion, Labour Club, Conservative Club and so on, the sporting clubs were part of that. Southall Football Club, where my grandfather worked as groundsman for a couple of years, also had its club life for supporters, as did the greyhound track near Havelock Road. Railway workers had their sporting club and I think other workplaces did as well, AEC certainly had playing fields and a clubhouse. These were all alternatives to the pubs and provided venues for social functions as well.

There was also an overlap. Two pubs close to Norwood Green, the Wolf and the Lamb, both had cricket teams and played a match every year. The winner was awarded as trophy an enlarged cricket bat which was hung on a bracket outside of the winning pub. There were also many darts teams based in pubs; my father and cousins played in a pub league. Pubs could be taken over almost totally on competition nights. I have some memories of people keeping racing pigeons as well but I can't remember where they met.