West ham whos who in america biography

Association football club in England

This article is about the men's football club. For the women's team, see West Ham United F.C. Women.

Football club

West Ham United Football Club is a professional football club based in Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, having moved from their former home, the Boleyn Ground, in 2016.

West Ham United was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. It moved to the Boleyn Ground, which remained its home ground for more than a century, in 1904. The team initially competed in the Southern League and Western League before joining the Football League in 1919. It was promoted to the top flight in 1923, when it was also losing finalist in the first FA Cup final held at Wembley. In 1940, the club won the inaugural Football League War Cup.

West Ham United has won five major honours in its history. Domestically, it has been winner of the FA Cup three times (1964, 1975 and 1980) and runner-up twice (1923 and 2006). In European competitions, the club has reached three major European finals winning the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1965, finishing runner-up in the same competitions in 1976, and winning the second edition of the Conference League in 2023. The club has also won one minor European trophy by winning the Intertoto Cup in 1999. West Ham United is one of eight clubs never to have fallen below the second tier of English football, spending 66 of 98 league seasons in the top flight, up to and including the 2023–24 season. The club's highest league position to date came in 1985–86, when it achieved third place in the then First Division.

Three West Ham players were members of the 1966 World Cup finals-winning England team: captain Bobby Moore and goalscorers Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters. The club has a long-standing rivalry with Millwall, and the fixture has

Herbert Ashton was born in Blackburn in 1887. He played football for Accrington Stanley before joining Preston North End. He only played in four games in the 1905-06 season before returning to Accrington.

Ashton joined West Ham United and made his debut against Queen's Park Rangers on 1st September 1908. He was extremely small and was therefore nicknamed "Tiddler" by the fans.

Ashton joined a team that included Jack Foster, William Yenson, Tommy Allison, Fred Blackburn, George Chalkley, Billy Grassam, Alfred Harwood, Len Jarvis, George Kitchen, Frank Piercy, Tommy Randall, Danny Shea, George Webb and Robert Young. Ashton played in 27 games that season.

Ashton played in every West Ham United league game in the 1909-10 season. He became a great favourite with the Upton Park fans. Tony Hogg wrote in Who's Who of West Ham United: "As his nickname would indicate, Herbert was small in stature, but the diminutive winger had plenty of fans ready to help him out when the going got rough, a section of whom took their protective instincts too far when they invaded the pitch to do battle on their hero's behalf in a particularly tough Upton Park encounter with Syd King's old team, New Brompton."

The outside-right kept his place for the next few seasons. However, he was never a prolific goalscorer. His record was 1909-10 (4 in 42), 1910-11 (6 in 37), 1911-12 (3 in 23), 1912-13 (6 in 36) and 1913-14 (3 in 35). In all, he played in 229 league and cup games for West Ham United.

Attendances at league games fell dramatically during the second-half of the 1914-15 season because of the impact of the First World War. It was decided that the Southern League would not operate in the 1915-16 season. As football players only had contracts to play for one season at a time, they were now out of work. It has been estimated that around 2,000 of Britain's 5,000 professional footballers now joined the armed forces. This included

Arranged by an Irish immigrant to Peru named Reginald Gubbins, the tour had kicked-off in Curaçao and visited Panama, the Irish Free State, Northern Ireland and Scotland before arriving in east London.

The visit of the Combinado, whose players were drawn in the main from Peruvian club Universitario, with reinforcements from compatriots Alianza Lima and Atlético Chalaco and Chilean club Colo-Colo, was a source of pride and excitement for the Hammers.

In a short article entitled ‘MONDAY’S ATTRACTIVE GAME’ printed in the official programme for the London Combination visit of Southend United Reserves two days before the big game.

“We understand that our South American visitors intend fielding their strongest side against us next Monday. It is their intention, they say, to make London remember their visit. It seems as if they have saved all their energy for a super-exhibition in the Hub of the World – London.

“For our part, we are taking no chances. British soccer has suffered quite enough shocks (England had lost to Scotland and drawn with Wales in the 1932/33 Home Championship) and our full League side will be turned out to meet them.

“Apart from the competitive and novelty sides of this meeting, there should be much to watch in the methods of this Chile-Peruvian XI and, who knows, perhaps much to learn?”

The article also helpfully revealed that the K Div Met Police Band would be playing the Chilean and Peruvian national anthems before kick-off, while tickets would be priced at five shillings.

The official programme for the friendly match itself featured an image of the visiting squad arriving by boat at Liverpool and a welcome in Spanish to ‘our friends’ from South America.

With seven members of Peru’s 1930 FIFA World Cup squad, including legendary forward Alejandro Villanueva and captain Guillermo Subiabre, the Combinado would present quite a challenge for the Hammers.

The result was a keenly contested game that ended i