Rounds of the Cup – Ground Hopping: Clapton FC v Stanway Rovers FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round 17th August 2013

 

Its only 3 months since Wigan won the FA Cup at Wembley last May, but today marks the start of the competition for 2013-2014 season.  There are a total of six rounds before the first round proper. Thus round 1 proper is really the 7th round.

For this season’s first tie, I chose to go to Clapton FC who play about 4 miles from my home in Forest Gate. They are one of the oldest clubs in England and won the FA Amateur Cup on 5 occassions, but their recent history is not one of success. They were however the first English club to play a game in mainland Europe.

The club were established in 1878 as Downs Football Club and were initially based in Downs Road in Hackney. They originally played in dark blue shirts and white shorts. The following year the club adopted its current name. They initially played on Hackney Downs, with its headquarters at the Downs Hotel. In 1880 they moved to a pitch adjacent to Lea Bridge Road in Leyton, but moved on again shortly afterwards to a ground at Elm Farm. In 1888 the club moved to the Old Spotted Dog after it was vacated by St Bartholomew's Hospital.

Their record attendance is said to be 12,000 in a game against Tottenham in 1989/99. It is amazing to think this many people were able to get into the Old Spotted Dog Ground which is surrounded by housing in an area very near West Ham’s Boleyn Ground.

The modern history of Clapton FC is one of mismanagement and “dodgy” financial dealings. I will refer you to the article below for details.

So winning might not be everything for this East London club, but it ongoing existence is under threat as a result of the mismanagement of its owner and this threat is, perhaps unsurprisingly, related to the club’s home ground, the Old Spotted Dog Ground. The club signed a 100 year lease on the ground in 1992 through a company called Clapton Trust Limited, which was subsequently renamed as the Newham Community Leisure Trust Limited in order to emphasise the difference between it and the football club, and in the same year it acquired charitable status. Vincent McBean was co-opted onto the board of NCLT on 8th January 2000, and he later also became the Chief Executive of the football club itself. NCLT was struck off by the registrar of companies for a failure to file accounts in 2003, but the company continued to trade and 2005 McBean wrote to the owners of the freehold of the ground asking if he could buy it. His offer was rejected.

Two years later the Charity Commissioner, having noted that NCLT had been struck off by Companies House, removed it from their register because, in their view, it had ‘ceased to exist’. In 2008, however, McBean successfully applied to the High Court to get NCLT re-instated at Companies House, but this reinstatement woulc come at a cost. McBean was made to sign an undertaking not to trade and to dispose of the lease, in 2009, McBean filed ‘small business accounts’ for NCLT, which meant that the company was re-instated, while McBean released from his earlier undertakings, even though this was a breach of the court order, which required McBean to file audited accounts in order to get this reinstatement. Since the, however, the company has filed no accounts and on the 8th January 2013 Companies House wrote to NCLT giving them three months to show a reasonable cause as to why the company should not be struck off the register. McBean and the chairman of the football club, John Murray-Smith, are understood to have no even responded to offers of help from supporters.

Why, then, is all of this so important? The answer to this is that if NCLT is struck off, the lease on the Old Spotted Dog Ground will be forfeited and if this happens it reverts to the freeholders who have no obligation legal obligation to offer a new lease to the club. It is with this in mind that the Friends of Clapton FC has formed, and has been in contact with Supporters Direct with the aim of getting the leasehold over the ground put into safe hands. If those accounts, however, aren’t produced in the next three weeks the club’s future will be put into jeopardy, and Clapton wouldn’t be the only club affected by any uncertainty over the future of the Old Spotted Dog Ground, either – another Essex Senior League side, London Bari, also use call this ground home having moved there in order to join from the Essex Corinthian Sunday Football League. This club would be at serious risk of being unable to complete it ESL fixtures were it and Clapton to be evicted from the Old Spotted Dog Ground.

From the excellent" 200 Per Cent" Blog

So, I made my way to Forest Gate, only some 7 or so minutes on the train from my home. Forest Gate is an urban area with a huge variety of nationalities living their and the walk from the train station to the ground was a cultural experience. Lots of independent traders of all nationalities. It was nice to see a high street not dominated by the same national chains.

Some shops however seem to be a strange fusion of different businesses.

Outside the ground was the Old Spotted Dog pub. Sadly it had closed down about a decade ago. Despite being a listed building and reputedly Henry VIII’s former hunting lodge, it has been allowed to fall into disrepair.

 

 

There is a campaign to save the building which can be found online at www.savetheoldspotteddog.org

The entrance to the ground is down an alley past a tyre garage. It is not the most imposing looking entrance to a ground. There is not even a turnstile at the ground. There is a red plastic portable kiosk to pay the admission price of £6 and £1 for the programme, which to be honest was not worth the money. It is 8 photocopied pages that have not a lot of information in them. Given that the tannoy system was not used to announce the teams, meant I did not know any of the players. I did however recognise the Clapton goalkeeper who I had seen play for Ilford in the past.

 

 

My initial impression of the ground was not too good. Just beyond the pay kiosk is a black portacabin which turned out to be the boardroom! I’ve never seen a board room like this. It was basically a tea hut and nothing more.

The ground seemed empty until just before kick off when I heard a rousing chorus of “We’re The Famous Clapton FC and We’re Going to Wembley”. Was this a last minute crowd arriving? No, it was coming from the players in the dressing room!

However, about 20 or so Clapton fans did arrive just before kick off, taking their places in the corrugated metal and scaffolding stand on the 1/2 way line opposite the main stand. These were I discovered the Clapton Ultras (@ClaptonUltras ). A fantastic bunch who drunk and sang for 90 minutes. They made the day for me, but more about them later.

The ground was seemingly in a poor state. There was no terracing down either side, and apart from a concrete path and the 2 stands there was no terracing visible (I couldn’t see the far end).  There were bikes parked next to the pay kiosk and cars parked on the far side by what used to be an entrance to the ground

 

There is nothing unusual with this. However, the other materials left in the ground include sand and piping. The pitch itself was not in the best of conditions. The grass looked parched and the pitch was very dry, causing it to be difficult for the teams to play the ball on the ground.

As the game started, it started to rain briefly, so I took shelter in the scaffold/ metal stand on the halfway line. This was home to the Clapton Ultras, a groups of around 20 or so under 30s who seemed ot model themsleves on the continental fans, with the use of drums, flags, banners etc. They sang for the whole 90 minutes, and even during half time. The game itself was not the most exciting, but the crowd did not mind. The Ultras are a mix of males and females and in between singing were drinking on the terraces.

The linesman on their side took lots of stick, from Are You Peter Crouch in Disguise” to “Watch the Ball, not the balls” and “You flag is Loverly”.
The Stanway left winger had his wrist bandaged, so had to endure regular taunts suggesting he had injured his hand pleasuring himself.

The sound of Clapton fans singing “We’re on the March we’re Clapton FC, and we’ll really shake them up when we win the FA Cup” was rather funny. As were the chants of Wembley. The Ultras had a number of banners, the most poignant of which was this one.

At half time, I took the opportunity to walk round the ground and watched the game from the other side of the ground. Whilst walking round, I discovered there were a couple of steps of terracing there with scaffolding to lean on, it most certainly was not a crush barrier.

 

The game itself ended 0-0 with Stanway probably having the best of the game. They did hit the bar in the second half. The Clapton keeper made a number of good saves and looked to be the best player on the pitch. none of this stopped the Clapton Ultras singing throughout the game.

View Full Album

 

 

So, my closing thoughts on today were, an average game made very enjoyable by the Clapton Ultras. The Old Spotted Dog Ground is on the way home from work for me, and given that they allow bikes to be brought into the ground, I think I may visit again during the season if I can.

It would be good if the Clapton Ultras can get their friends to come to games and boost the crowds. It is a good laugh with a good bunch of fans. They come to enjoy themselves irrespective of what their team do.

Non League football is definitely the futire. I paid £6 to get in today. I could have watched Orient away at Stevenage in League 1 but would have had to pay £21 to get in. Hmmm 3.5 times the cost, for no more enjoyment. I’ll stick with the £6 game.