THE AMATEUR FOOTBALL ALLIANCE

On April 13th at the Bank of England Ground, the Old Carthusians FC appear in their fifth cup final, having taken on West Wickham FC from the Southern Amateur League on penalties after a 0-0 drawn semi-final. They meet the Old Meadonians who beat the Old Hamptonians (old boys of Hampton School, Surrey) 3-1. The Meadonians were originally old boys of the local Chiswick County Grammar School, now the Community School. The club's teams play on the Meadows on the banks of the River Thames (hence the club name), the first team competing in the Amateur Football Combination.

The Amateur Football Alliance formed in 1907, when true amateur clubs drifted away from the "modernising" Football Association, as professionalism gradually took hold of soccer in England. Many of these amateur clubs looked to form their own fixtures and eventually their own leagues, very different from the Football League which grew rapidly after its formation in 1888.
BELOW:The "little" GO Smith character, an Old Carthusian, England centre-forward and Corinthian is splitting from the bulky professional.

Once known as the Amateur Football Defence Foundation, clubs from old boys' societies, the services and various independent clubs gradually merged. They needed a governing body.
Originally some better known club members were Ipswich Town, Barnet, Cambridge City, the Casuals and the Corinthians. A few clubs that belong to the Foundation have appeared in the original FA Cup tournaments; the Old Etonians, Old Carthusians and Clapham Rovers. They have all won the FA Cup, albeit in its early stages, before the professionals took charge. It was around 1884 that these amateurs faded from the FA Cup scene and took refuge in the Amateur Cup and other competitions such as the AFA Cup.

The AFA is not regionalised, so clubs from any part of the country may come under its "banner". However the AFA is largely based on clubs in the London area and south-east, such as  The Civil Service,  Norseman and Icarus from Aylesbury. Further afield is Wake Green from Birmingham and whilst Nottsborough FC draws mainly on alumni from Nottingham and Loughborough Universities, the club  is London based and acts as a social hub for uni graduates.

2019 marks the cup's 100th year and the Old Carthusians (the Alumni from Charterhouse School in Godalming) played in the first final, losing to The Casuals 3-1 at Queen's Club, Kensington. Over 2,000 watched the game played between, at the time, two of the great amateur clubs in the country. The Casuals of course merged with The Corinthians, creating probably the world's finest amateur football club in history.

The Old Carthusians later lost to Oxford in the 1911-12 Final 2-1, played at Ipswich and after a huge gap, more recently appeared in the 2010-11 Final, when the OCs were beaten by old rivals, the Old Boys of Shrewsbury School (Old Salopians) 3-2 at Winchmore Hill. In 2016-17 once again the OCs were beaten by Polytechnic 4-1 at Northaw.
Many clubs play as an "open club" meaning that anyone can join  in. The OCs remain "closed" and only old boys who have attended the school play. It is a remarkable achievement that the club competes favourably at this level of non-pyramid amateur football and it is a reflection on the quality of soccer played at the school.