FLEETS GO SOUTH
Below : OS maps showing Ship Lane . In 1967 ( left ) the site was still a secondary school but by 1989 ( right ) had been transformed into a football ground and hotel . Note also the new road cutting across the eastern edge , the approach road to the Dartford Crossing
Up until this point Tommy had been involved with running football teams in East London including pub side British Flag and Rainham Working Men ' s Club . At the time of the Ship Lane purchase he had just founded a Sunday team called Essex Sports and he facilitated a merger of this side with Rainham WMC and a works ' team , Fondue Marble , to form a new club with much greater ambition , Purfleet FC .
Once the Ship Lane site had been acquired Harry set about building and opening the sports centre while Tommy concentrated on getting the site ready for football to be played . Being close to the nearby Mar Dyke waterway the pitch needed to be on the upper part of the site , close to the sports centre , because of the potential for flooding . The land was levelled with an 18ft drop being eliminated and initially two pitches were laid running at 90 ° to the sports centre . After Purfleet FC were formally established in April 1985 the two pitches made way for a single pitch rotated to run parallel to the sports centre . It was enclosed with a wooden fence
Photo : Tommy South and a metal post and rail was erected around the playing area . Purfleet played their first season in the Reserve Division of the Essex Senior L e a g u e i n 1985 / 86 .
Right : Work in pro- gress to level the area for the pitch to be laid next to the old school building
4 Groundtastic - The Football Grounds Magazine