On Saturday 18th December 1982 Fisher Athletic welcomed Road Sea Southampton to their ground in Salter Road, SE16 which was then known as the Melish Sports Complex.
Road-Sea Southampton had been formed in 1973 as a Sunday League side and were named after their sponsors who were a local freight shipping company.
After purchasing land in the Marchwood area a ground was developed and they joined the Southern League for the 1982/83 season so this would of been their first trip to play Fisher Athletic. They were accepted into the Southern League with no history of playing Saturday football at any other level.
It was also Fisher's first season in the Southern League as they had won the London Spartan League to achieve promotion in 1981/82.
This game saw RS Southampton in 3rd place and the hosts in 8th with Crawley Town top of the Southern Section table which was then at Step Three of the non-league pyramid. The division also had Woodford Town, Canterbury City, Hounslow and Thanet United as members.
The final table saw Fisher Athletic crowned as Champions and RS Southampton finish in third place. The Fish's promotion saw them move up to Step Two and then ultimately be members of non-league's top division from 1987 to 1991.
Road Sea followed as Champions of the division in 1983/84 which also saw them get to the Fifth Round of the FA Vase where they were beaten at Leyton-Wingate. They finished 5th and 16th in the Premier Division before in 1986 withdrawing from the Southern League to join the Wessex League.
Sadly in 1987 Road-Sea withdrew their financial backing and the club folded. The club's ground is still used today by Southampton Football Club as a training base where is stages youth and some reserve team games.
The programme states that RS won 4-0 when The Fish visited them in September and also thanks their fans for 'marvellous support' that was given in their recent Vase Replay defeat at Windsor & Eton. It was felt that 'it should have been our year to go on to Wembley'.
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The Fish had Ossie Bayram on the wing who is most well known for his time with Dulwich Hamlet where he is considered a club legend by many of their loyal fans. Dave Sansom, brother of Kenny, is also listed who went on to play for Barnet and manage Aylesbury United for short spell in the early 90s.
The 'Focus on Fisher Player' section features Paul Shinners who had netted 19 goals for the team up to that point in the season. He joined Gillingham in 1984 and went on to play for both Colchester United and Leyton Orient in the football league. His Brother Bobby was centre half for Fisher Athletic and Ray was the Captain of Croydon FC at the time who went on to play for The Fish.
RS had central defender Paul Bennett in their ranks. He had played for both Southampton, Reading and Aldershot in the football league. He moved from Reading to The Shots for a then club record fee of £25,000 in 1979.
Striker Joe Blochell was also in their squad - He had made a handful of football league appearances for Wimbledon in 1982 on loan from Southampton. He had joined from Swedish club IFK Arvika and went to play for Bognor Regis Town, Wycombe Wanderers as well as clubs in Norway and Sweden.
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