EM (Taffy) Lloyd (1905-1956) was one of the Wimbledon contingent which was recruited by Mortimer Miller in Hayes’ first season in the Athenian League in .1930-1. This was also the season in which Hayes reached the final of the Amateur Cup and Taffy, an outside-left, played a large part in it, scoring one of the goals against Northern Nomads at Stalybridge in the quarter-final, and the only goal in the semi-final against Bishop Auckland at York.  In fact, although he joined Hayes in September 1930, he did not play his first match until January 1931, and his second game was the 3rd round Amateur Cup tie against his former club, Wimbledon. On the day, Hayes fielded five players with a Wimbledon background. In the remainder of the season he played 15 games for Hayes and scored six goals, and he did not reappear next season. In 1934-5 he was reported as playing for Leyton.

Adam Logie arrived in the summer of 2006 and stayed just a single season. Normally a midfield player, he was to be used to fill the troublesome right-back slot in his time with the club. Adam made 38+1 appearances scoring a solitary goal before joining Ashford Town (Middlesex) at the end of the season.

Just as with the two Ron Gadsdens and the two J Gregorys, Hayes had two players by the name of Fred Long in 1931.  The younger, FH (Fred) Long, was an outside-left who made his debut in a friendly for Hayes against Tufnell Park reserves in December 1929, but then went to play for Leyton in 1930-1. He rejoined Hayes at the start of the 1931-2 season, lodging with former Hayes stalwart, Chris Ramsay, and was immediately selected for the Athenian League team against the previous season’s champions, Barnet. At Hayes, he played regularly for the first team at first, but played more for the reserves as time wore on. Across six seasons, until his last appearance in November 1936, he made only 30 appearances, scoring four goals. During World War II he served in the Royal Navy, so this may account for his irregularity in earlier years.

His namesake, FJ (Fred) Long (1895-1981), better known as ‘Sonny’, was one of Hayes’ greatest sons.  He certainly was the Football Club’s longest-serving player, spanning a period of 22 years from 1909 to 1931.  Born next to The Hut public house in West Drayton Lane, he attended the Hayes Council School in Clayton Road and represented Middlesex Schools against Sussex at Eastbourne. He was so highly rated that he kept Freddy Knight out of the centre-forward spot and took over the captaincy from Albert Knight at the start of 1910-11 (photo on left). After a flirtation with Hayes Athletic at the start of  1911-12, he spent the rest of his career with Botwell Mission. During World War I he served on the Somme and won a Military Medal after being machine-gunned in the summer of 1916. With the resumption of football, he led the Mission to its successes in the 1920s (pictured in 1920, below right). The records show that he made at least 289 appearances and scored 170 goals, but estimates of the time were that he played over 600 matches, at a time when there were only around 20 league matches per season. He was the first Missioner to be selected for Middlesex, and was capped on 27 occasions. As time went on, he moved to inside-forward and to the wings, and let Freddy Knight lead the line. He was small in stature, but with immaculate ball control. It is said that he was so skilful that opponents would kick him, but he never retaliated – his team-mates, especially the burly Freddy Knight, would gain vicarious revenge for him. He toured abroad with Middlesex Wanderers and was elected a life-member of Hayes FC. After playing his last game in 1931, he served as a committee member (1933-40 and 1957-61), 1st team manager (1933-4), and 1st team coach (1944-5). In later years, he regularly attended Hayes matches with his next-door neighbour in Orchard Road, Alf Sceeny. He died on 19 November 1981.

Sonny’s son, Robin Long, born in 1933, played for Uxbridge for two seasons before joining Hayes as an outside-left with the ‘A’ team in 1950-1, but developed into a wing-half during his National Service, where he gained Army and FA representative  honours. He established a place in the Hayes first team in the 1954-5 season and was a regular in the championship-winning side of 1956-57. As the years passed, he moved back to left-back. His ten seasons with Hayes were punctuated by National Service and injury, and his career was ended in 1961 by a knee injury. During this time he made only 191 appearances and scored 10 goals. He subsequently played briefly for Hounslow Town, Ruislip Manor and Chalfont. Robin’s son, Stephen, was a third generation of the family to play for Hayes, in the 1980s, but only in the reserves as a goalkeeper.

The last player with the name, Paddy Long, was not related. He was a Yorkshireman, and a relative of Bobby Smith, the Spurs and England outside centre-forward. He joined Hayes from Walton & Hersham in September 1969, having previously played for Maidstone, Barking, Carshalton Athletic, Fulham and Wimbledon. He had been selected for the Great Britain Olympic Squad for Mexico in 1968, but did not go. He was with Hayes for two seasons, in which he made 98+1 appearances and scored 14 goals from wing-half and inside-forward. He was known for drinking a pint of milk at the end of every game. He joined Dulwich Hamlet in summer 1971.

The last entry this week is Eric Lovell, a right winger or inside-forward, who had a trial with Southampton, while doing his National Service at Winchester, and was recommended to Hayes by former player Ted Ballard. An Old Southallian, after establishing a regular place in the team, he joined the exodus to Bromley in August 1952, but rejoined the following year. He played several games for Chelsea reserves and was offered professional terms, but preferred to keep his amateur status, as he was also a keen cricketer and athlete. After a feud with another player, he left for Yiewsley in 1954 and then Wealdstone a year later, rejoining again in 1957. In a total of five seasons, he amassed 130 appearances and scored 31 goals. He retired from senior amateur football in 1958, but played thereafter for BEA and his Old Boys team.