When thinking of the matches Wembley Stadium has staged thoughts immediately go to the Cup Finals and internationals rather than Clapton Orient in the Third Division (South)! But it happened.

Clapton Orient - now Leyton Orient - moved to their Millfields Road ground in 1900.All was well at the ground - which had a record attendance of 31,400 against Newcastle in 1926 - until 1927 when a greyhound racing syndicate bought the ground from the local council. Relations between the greyhound and football fraternities were soon strained with the O's being banned from using the ground for training or the boardroom on match days. A new ground was needed and this they found just half a mile away at Lea Bridge Road.

The oval-shaped ground had been used for speedway and had a wooden fence around the perimeter. The first League match at the ground was on the afternoon of Thursday September 4th 1930 (no floodlights in those days) with 5505 specators witnessing them defeat Newport County in Division 3 (South). A couple of months later when the O's had beaten Torquay United 4-0 the visitors complained that the wooden fencing was too close to the pitch and affected their play. As a result the Football League closed the ground for alterations to be made.

While those alterations were being made Clapton Orient played their two home League matches at Wembley Stadium. On Saturday November 22nd 1930 the Third Division South match against Brentford was staged at the famous Stadium and 8319 fans witnessed a 3-0 'home' win. Two weeks later on Saturday December 6th the O's defeated Southend United 3-1 at their temporary home although terrible weather cut the attendance to 1916.

Between those two matches - on Saturday November 29th - a 'home' FA Cup First Round replay against Luton Town was staged at Arsenal's Highbury stadium. An attendance of 8021 witnessed a 4-2 victory for Luton.

With the works at Lea Bridge Road completed Clapton Orient played at that ground until their move to their present Brisbane Road ground. Their last match at Lea Bridge Road was in April 1937 with the O's taking over Brisbane Road from Leyton Amateurs at the start of the following season.