Fire United Christian

Fire United Christian FC was a non-league football club based in London who represent the Yehoshua Ministries Ltd, a Brazilian church cult based in the UK. The club was eventually dissolved in 2021.

The club was formed in 2012 to enter the Middlesex County League as members of Division One Central & East. The leader of the church is the FA qualified Apostle Gustavo Ferreira who became the team coach, with home games being played at the Westway Sports Centre close to Latimer Road tube station. 

The divisional runners-up position was achieved in 2013-14, before finishing bottom the following season. This was after whispers had circulated that the club was looking to move to Crystal Palace Stadium for the 2014-15 campaign. Most of the team played full time for the club, with several previously appearing at an elevated level of Brazilian football.

However, they instead headed to the New River Stadium in Wood Green which was also used by London Skolars RLFC. The club sat out the 2015-16 campaign before returning to their previous league and division in 2016-17, finishing second from bottom of the table. 

The 2017-18 season saw the club move east to the Terence McMillan Stadium in Plaistow. The change of location appeared to pay dividends as the side ended in fourth place. Fire United Christian applied and were surprisingly admitted to the Eastern Counties League.

That competition was enlarging and seeking new clubs, as the Samba Boys were placed in Division One South where they finished bottom of the table. The following season was abandoned owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The club resigned from the Eastern Counties League shortly before the start of the 2020–21 season and was dissolved the following year.

My visit

Fire United Christian 2 Pearscroft United 0 (Saturday 8th March 2014) Middlesex County League Division One Central & East (att: c35) 

My early shifts at work were proving to be a pain in my quest to visit a new club. I didn’t finish until 2.30 pm but the glorious early spring weather had me yearning for some fresh air and live football action.

Help was at hand through the ever-reliable suggestions on the Non League Matters forum where I had remembered reading about fellow groundhoppers visiting FUC offering some decent reviews, not that they really mattered to me. It was football at a new venue. 

Kick off was listed as 3.30pm on the league website, but 3pm on the FUC site. I emailed them early in the morning and had a reply within an hour that they were aiming for 3.15. The speedy service was the decisive factor for me.

To add to the intrigue, two games were to take place. The double header would consist of two games, each consisting of thirty minutes each way. This was the ingenious solution to solving the fixture backlog caused by the extremely wet weather. 

I headed down to Latimer Road station and then the couple of hundred yards walk to the Westway Sports Centre. A match was already going on with the visiting Pearscroft players waiting in the small, neat stand and the Brazilians outside the cage.

Apostle Gustavo Ferreira the boss of FUC obviously spotted a stranger and came across to shake my hand and then give me a programme, which was appreciated. Eventually the ref, Mr Matthews, crow barred the earlier game off the pitch, so we were ready for the first of the two games. 

The raised two row grandstand offered a decent view of the 3G pitch, which wasn't the longest and was extremely narrow. High caged fences surrounded the arena, with a car park under the pitch a la Monaco! The ref seemed fine with occasional spectators dotted around the ground against but inside the fencing, with Grenfell Tower in the background across the elevated road.

Both clubs had to provide a linesman. Before kickoff I became the temporary club photographer to take a snap of the whole FUC gang. I was glad to see that it made the club website on the match report page that same evening! 

The match was frenetic, and action packed. The narrowness of the pitch meant little room for players in a fast-paced encounter. Pearscroft had a manager of gargantuan size, and at times I thought he was about to pop.

The young referee wasn't too bad, but he didn't exude a presence that would have been of benefit. After plentiful visitor’s pressure including a long throw that went to the back post, FUC went ahead through a Fernando Maraba goal midway through the first half. 

Pearscroft contrived to miss an easy chance before Maraba doubled the lead after a shot came back off the post. The woodwork would continue to be tested throughout the game as the visitors struck the bar twice in the second period.

The second half started after just a couple of minutes for the interval, and remained blank although again there was plenty of fast paced action. The ref only played twenty-five minutes in the second period, as the hire of the pitch only lasted for two hours. During the break I was given a small Milky Way like chocolate from one of the Brazilians. 

Sadly, during the second half tensions were becoming fraught. There were badly timed challenges from both sides without any real intent. I simply felt that it was a case of a lack of space on the pitch.

Some of the visitors took up more space than their opponents shall we say! There was one long handbag incident, which was extremely un-Christian, nearly all the players losing their cool for a couple of minutes.

Both sets of coaches and the Pearscroft senior players calmed their players down, while the ref stood back and let it evolve before booking the perpetrators. I thought that was excellent man management, rather than panicking and increasing the tension.

The visiting United team was unfortunate not to score, but man of the match Thiago Panzin marshalled the home defence well. In a tactical move Maraba was withdrawn for a rest before the second game. 

After a short interval, it was onto the second of the double header, which turned out to be an unfortunate title.

Pearscroft United 0 Fire United Christian 0 Abandoned after 20 minutes.

The game was nearing the end of the first half, when a terrible ariel collision brought proceedings to a halt. As mentioned, there was underlying tension on occasions. While it didn't lead to the accident, there was always a possibility that something could go badly wrong. 

The game was beginning to get strung out, as the teams realised route one football immediately put their opponents under pressure, as well as the lack of fitness of plenty of the players was beginning to tell.

Two opposing players went up in the Pearscroft box and fell straight to the floor. Immediately there were shouts from nearby players to get urgent assistance. Now this is where the earlier handbags had seemed silly, as every player and assistant did their bit to help the situation. 

First aid was given to the stricken players. The visitor had a terrible deep cut, while the FUC landed horribly. An ambulance had been called while comfort was offered. The ref had no option but to abandon the match. The first game counted, but the second one would have to be replayed later in the season.

I noticed that the home player also received a cut and was taken away in a neck brace judging by photos on the website the following morning. By then I was heading off back to the station, listening to The Clash to try and lighten the mood, which seemed appropriate as l was under the Westway! 

It was encouraging to see the other smaller pitches fully occupied by youngsters of all races in replica kits. All in all, it was a slightly surreal experience. It certainly wasn't for the purists, some of whom would have been disgruntled at the length of the games.

However, the hosts were very friendly, the football crazy at times, it was free to get in and I got a chocolate and a programme. I left with thoughts to give it another whirl in the future! I hoped both players recovered fully. They would have been very sore the following morning.