Thames A.F.C. were an English football club from Custom House, east London, which played in the Football League between 1930 and 1932. Name Unlike other AFCs such as Sunderland A.F.C., the word Association was initially presented as part of the club name – i.e. Thames Association or Thames Association FC. The "Association" was abbreviated upon joining the Football League, giving the team the more regular name of Thames AFC. History They were founded in 1928, in a similar manner to Sheffield United, Liverpool, New Brighton Tower and nearby Chelsea: to play on a ground which had no football club in residence. In Thames' case, they were formed by a group of businessmen who had built the West Ham Stadium, with a capacity of 120,000, in the Custom House area of Essex (now part of the London Borough of Newham in Greater London); the stadium was primarily used for greyhound and speedway racing which took place during the week, leaving Saturdays free. The directors of the stadium decided to form a professional football club to play on Saturdays, to bring in additional revenue to the stadium. The club began playing in the Southern League Eastern Division, and finished 14th in their first season and third in the season after that (1929–30). This was enough for them to gain election to the Football League Third Division South in the middle of 1930, in place of Merthyr Town. Their request to join the league was considered alongside applications from Aldershot, Llanelli and Argonauts. The success of their application required them to suddenly upgrade the quality of the team. To achieve this objective, the newly promoted club placed an advert for "First Class Players Wanted. All Positions" in the June edition of the Athletic News. Thames continued to field a reserve side in the Southern League for a single further season, before withdrawing entirely in 1931. Thames' spell in the Football League was a short and unhappy one. The club struggled to attract spectators. It established a supporters' group, which at one point had over 1,000 members. However, this effort did not translate into a reliable supporter base that would regularly attend matches. Despite the stadium's capacity of 120,000 (making it the largest ground in England to regularly host League football), the club holds the record for the lowest known attendance for a Saturday Football League match; just 469 fans paid to watch Thames