From February 12, 1964

 

“Cut out this hooliganism in future or be thrown out of Richmond Road.” That was the warning Kingstonian chairman Major Bob Copeland gave Wimbledon supporters after incidents among sections of the crowd in a London Senior Cup tie.

Wimbledon fans – and most of them were youngsters – did their reputation little good by their behaviour when centre forward Eddie Reynolds was sent off eight minutes from time for a foul on Basil James.

Mud and stones were thrown on the pitch and play was halted – with police then posted behind the Kingstonian goal.

After the match, as players and officials made their way to the dressing room through a protective cordon of police officers, a stone was thrown and hit linesman Mr G Cunningham on the leg.

He collapsed and was treated by St John Ambulance.

An ambulance worker said: “It wasn’t as bad as it seemed. The stone caught Mr Cunningham on a nerve and this caused him to collapse.”

Mr Cunningham said: “It was a bit of a shock. This type of hooliganism, by a minority group, is unfair to the majority of us who follow football for the sheer joy of it.”

Such an incident had never been seen before at the Richmond Road ground.

Major Copeland branded the Wimbledon fans’ behaviour “disgusting”.

He said: “We at Kingstonian take a very poor view of this sort of behaviour, and I promise we will take every means possible to see that it doesn’t happen again.

“The referee and the linesman are in control of the game, and their decisions should be final.”

Wimbledon press secretary Alec Fuce said: “It’s a bad business.”

Other Wimbledon officials would not comment, but rumours that the Dons left the ground without eating a meal that had been prepared for them were not true.

50 YEARS AGO: February 12, 1964

60 plates of cakes, 40 pots of hyacinths and more were on display at the seventh annual Brownie Bulb competition in New Malden’s Congregational Halls. They were the work of 200 girls from 11 Brownie packs from across the Malden district. About £20 was raised from various stalls for the movement’s administration.

25 YEARS AGO: February 10, 1989

Kingston’s Options cinema complex was sold in a £4.4m deal 25 years ago this week. The three luxury cinemas, which opened a year earlier in Clarence Street as part of redevelopment plan by Granada Television, were sold to the Cannon Cinemas company. A nightclub and bar within the complex were not part of the deal.

10 YEARS AGO: February 6, 2004

Consultancy figures unearthed by Kingston Conservatives showed the council spent almost £750,000 on the services in one year. The Liberal Democrat administration said it only used consultants when they needed specialist expertise. Much of the work was paid for by
Government grants, rather than the local taxpayer.

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