The 2025-26 West London Vets’ season is now officially up and running. More or less every team in the over 40s’ competition has been in action and already one or two potential trends are developing.
ACTONIANS EARLY PACE-SETTERS
In terms of the Prem there’s already an early leader. Are Actonians going to do a Nottingham Forest (of the Brian Clough era) and win the league immediately after being promoted? It’s clearly way too soon to tell, but they couldn’t have started in more positive fashion; wins against Kew Park Rangers (5-1) and Croxley Green (4-3) see them top of the nascent table.
Elsewhere, Croxley picked themselves up from that opening day defeat and gained three points against the other promoted side, Latimer Road. The game was close at half time, with Croxley 3-2 up. The second half was a bit more one-sided, the men in green racing to a 7-3 win.
Latimer Road subsequently sit bottom of the pile, but they’ll know there’s a long way to go. Neither Claygate (a 3-1 defeat at Chelsea) not Ascot United (a similar 3-1 loss at the Whippets) have a point on the board yet either, but they meet on Saturday at the Racecourse Ground. At least one of them will up and running points-wise after that.
WANDSWORTH BOUNCING BACK NICELY IN DIV 1
Two sides are played two, won two in Division 1;Wandsworth Borough and Ascot United IIs.
The Borough seem to have re-grouped impressively following their relegation in May. They despatched West Kensington Kings 5-3 on day one and then cruised past Polytechnic (5-0) on 13 September.
Ascot United’s second string are also on six points but their wins have been much tighter. A Jon Bennett hat-trick saw the Yellas come from 2-0 down to beat Jamrock on 6 September, whilst a brace from Stuart Birkett helped them beat Nottsborough 5-4 in Week 2. With 15 minutes to go there it looked like Ascot were going to coast home; 5-2 up and Nottsborough only having nine men on the pitch. By the time the final whistle blew it was 5-4 and Ascot were hanging on for grim death.
Army Crusaders are the only other side with points on the board. They squeaked home (1-0) in a tight one against Bank of England. A well-organised BoE side kept the Crusaders at bay and were arguably on top when Steve King swung in a late Crusaders’ corner that Dan Walton hooked home for an 85th minute winner.
The Bank of England don’t have long to lick their respective wounds; they are back in action this coming Saturday when they entertain Polytechnic in the only Div 1 game of the weekend.
CLAYGATE HOUNDS AND XAVS LEAD THE WAY IN DIV TWO
Two sides in Division Two are played two won two; Claygate Royals Hounds and Clapham Old Xaverians.
The Hounds have won both their opening encounters convincingly. In Week One they defeated Laleham 3-0 and on 13 September they travelled to Thames Ditton and won 4-1. A decent start.
Xaverians have begun with two away games but that’s not prevented them from hitting the ground running. They came out 3-2 winners against new boys Woking Welcome before then winning 2-0 at Croxley Green’s 2nd XI. A solid start for the Clapham boys and indeed a fair few miles covered in the process.
Woking Welcome, meanwhile, bounced back from their Day 1 defeat, putting seven goals past a struggling Laleham. Wokingsit third. Old Tiffs are fourth having drawn both of their first two games. Justin Smith and the ever-reliable Paul Banoub were on target in their 2-2 draw with Civil Service, Rob Wilkinson and Al Bull hit the mark in their game against Thames Ditton.
LARGET THAN NORMAL DIV 3 UP AND RUNNING
Over the summer Div 3 mutated into an old man’s version of the Champions League; 15 sides in one division with everyone playing everyone once. The top two go up, sides in places 3-7 will remain in Div 3 next year, those in 8-15th will be in Div 4. Got all that? Good!
Old Thorntonians and the newly re-branded Southall Athletic have got off to the quickest starts. Both have played two and have 100 per cent records.
Thorntonians got out of the blocks by beating Bank of England’s IIs 6-2. A decent effort given they were one down at half-time. They followed that up by squeezing past Putney Vale Rangers, 3-2.
Southall Athletic (the newly minted version of Ealing Acton Whistlers) have also started impressively. They beat another of the new sides, Merton, 4-2 on 6 September before beating AFC Hampton 2-0 a week later.
Old Lyonians also look to have hit the ground running. They’ve only played the one game, but they did win it 5-0. Merton, their opponents, have had a tough start to league life; they currently sit 15th in the ladder. This is, as they say, nonetheless a marathon and not a sprint.
Elsewhere Old Salvatorians put down a marker. They beat another new side, Claygate Royals Tertia 5-0. Double H started slowly, losing 4-0 to MMB, but they bounced back impressively in Week 2, defeating Meadonians 2-1.
There are two games on 20 September in this division, too. Two new sides, Hersham Vets and Old Wimbledonians, lock horns whilst MMB host Bank of England IIs. If MMB can win by two goals or more then they’ll be top of the table by 17h on Saturday.
SUPERVETS INCOMING
Looking ahead, the 19/20 September is the first weekend of the 2025-26 Supervets’ season.
Ascot United and Claygate, the two sides that met in the 2025 Supervets’ cup final, fittingly lock horns in a game that has something of a Super Cup feel to it. Jamrock Windrush enter the world of SVs by hosting old stagers, Lyonians.
Elsewhere, Hampton Rangers make the short journey to Stonehouse, and Croxley Green – second in the ladder in 2024-25 – travel to Whippet Wanderers. Chelsea and Cheam both have bye weeks.
Go well everyone.