Today sees us take our look back ‘on this day’ to 22nd February and things begin in 1913 with a Middlesex League Premier Division match against Page Old Boys which was won 4-1.

The match report from the Hendon Times & Guardian states that Page Old Boys, playing at home, were ahead at the break after a half of ‘very poor football’ in which Hampstead Town were ‘playing much below their usual form’. Henry Pennifer equalised and Herbert Pike gave Town the lead before two more from Pennifer ‘brought his total for the afternoon to three as the result of some brilliant individual work.’ There was, however, a rebuke for the visiting side as the report ends by saying that ‘the game was somewhat marred by some unpleasant incidents which occurred towards the close, in which the visitors were the chief offenders.’

Moving on to 1919 and a London United Senior League match at Barnet & Alston ended with six-goals evenly shared as the two sides drew 3-3. Dennis Bullough, T Poltock and Charlie Allwright grabbed the Hampstead Town goals before a 1930 Athenian League match against Enfield at Claremont Road ended 1-0 to the visitors.

An Amateur Cup 3rd round tie in 1936 against ICI Alkali ended in a 4-2 defeat, Bert Broadis and Tommy Evans with the Golders Green goals and in 1941, on the day that the Gestapo raided Amsterdam and rounded up 429 young Jews for deportation to Buchenwald and Mauthausen Concentration Camps, a Herts & Middlesex County League match at Finchley saw a 4-0 win for Golders Green with the three J’s on target – Jacks Higgs & Birkbeck with one each and John Griggs grabbing two.

In 1958 as Egypt and Syria forms the United Arab Republic, the Indonesian air-force bombs Padang, Sumatra and Menado and ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ wins a Golden Globe – along with its star Alec Guinness – Southall were beaten 5-2 in the Athenian League. Miles Spector led the way with two goals added to by Tommy Lawrence, Roy Thomas and an own goal. Six-years later in 1964 Hendon moved to within a point of leaders Wimbledon in the Isthmian League with a 5-1 win over Woking. Peter Slade, another own goal, Laurie Churchill, David Hyde and Tony Knox grabbed the goals.

1969 brought another five-goal haul against Hayes in the Middlesex Senior Cup, the Missioners going down 5-1 with Rod Haider and Bobby Wilson both grabbing 2 goals-apiece and Peter Anderson the other. Woking again provided the opposition in 1975 at Kingfield where the Greens won 3-0. Bobby Childs, John Field and Eggie James grabbed the goals.

Robbie Garvey was the goalscorer in a 1992 1-1 Isthmian League draw against Carshalton Athletic before a penalty shoot-out defeat a year later against Boreham Wood in the Full Members Cup. A further year on and a Full Members Cup quarter-final was settled by a Steve Heffer strike to set-up a tie with Dulwich Hamlet in the last-four.

Speaking of Dulwich, an Isthmian League match in 1997 at Claremont Road extended Andy O’Brien’s unbeaten run as caretaker boss to a second match as goals from Simon Clarke and Junior Lewis secured a 2-2 draw – this on the day that Dolly the cloned sheep was announced – before four-years later DJ Campbell netted twice for Chesham United in an Isthmian League Cup tie at Claremont Road to secure their progressions 3-2, Dale Binns grabbing the two Hendon goals.

A 2003 Isthmian League match with Heybridge Swifts ended goalless on the day that Pakistani bowler Shoaib Akhtar beat the 100mph mark and in 2011 as an earthquake strikes Christchurch in New Zealand that measured 6.3 on the Richter Scale, killing 181 people, a visit to Billericay Town ended in a 2-0 defeat.

In 2014 a visit to eventual champions Wealdstone saw the Greens grab a well-deserved 1-1 draw, Tony Taggart’s second half goal being cancelled out by a late Johnny Wright equaliser and we finish last season as the Greens’ six-match winning run in the Southern League came to a halt as Salisbury won 2-0 at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium.

18 matches to date have been played on 22nd February resulting in 7 wins, 6 draws and five defeats. 38 goals have been scored and 24 conceded.