East Thurrock United

East Thurrock United FC was a non-league club from the town of Corringham in Essex, which is approximately twenty-five miles of central London. The club was placed into liquidation by owner Alfie Best on the first day of September 2023.

The club had been formed in 1969 playing its matches at Corringham Recreation Ground in the Southern Essex Combination, in 1969–70, as it was felt a senior Saturday team was required to represent Corringham and its nearby neighbours of Stanford-le-Hope.

'The Rocks' played in local football before progressing to the Metropolitan-London League, where they won promotion to Division One at the first attempt. A move to The Spartan League followed, with promotion to the Premier Division being achieved in 1977-78.

A move to the Essex Senior League came in 1979, with home games being played at The Billett in Stanford-le-Hope, before moving in to share with Grays Athletic so that the club could achieve senior status.

Tilbury FC's Chadfield was also used for a spell before the club used the Thames Board Mill Ground prior to being assisted by Greene King Brewery and Thurrock Council to purchase some land on Rookery Hill to build their own home ground which opened in 1984.

The team ended as league runners-up in 1988-89 before gradual progression on and off the pitch led to a move to the Isthmian League where East Thurrock were placed in Division Three for the 1992-93 season under manager Roger Bond.

The Division Three title was won in 1999-00 with Tommy Lee in charge of the side, before local businessman Benny Bennett took over the club prior to the league being re-organised with the club being placed in Division One North for the 2002-03 campaign by which time Lee Patterson had been installed as manager.

The non-league pyramid was re-organised in 2004, with the Rocks being moved to the Southern League Eastern Division where the team finished runners-up in 2004-05. This sealed promotion to the Isthmian League Premier Division.

The club applied to the Essex FA and the Isthmian League to change their name to Thurrock United FC in the summer of 2007, but they were rejected with John Coventry being appointed as manager in the same year.

At the end of the 2007-08 season The Rocks were relegated, before missing out on a return to the leagues' top tier after losing in the semi-final of the playoffs against Concord Rangers. Concord again put pay to any hopes of promotion with another playoff win in 2009-10.

From 2010 United played landlords to their old friends from Grays Athletic, who had lost their own home stadium, which assisted the playing budget with East Thurrock winning the Division One North title in 2010-11.

Sam Higgins began a fine career with the club banging away the goals with the team reaching the first round of the FA Cup, going out 3-1 at home to Macclesfield Town, in the 2011-12 season. Playoff heartache was suffered once again, this time to Lowestoft Town in the semi-finals in 2012-13.

The same stage of the FA Cup was reached in 2014-15. This time the cup run was ended by a 2-0 defeat away to Hartlepool United. The following season East Thurrock defied all odds by defeating Tonbridge Angels and then Dulwich Hamlet in the playoffs to win promotion to National League South.

Relegation followed to the Isthmian League in 2019-20 after three seasons in the second tier of non-league football. It proved to be a terrible few months for the club as much-loved owner Benny Bennett passed away while manager Coventry resigned at the end of the season.

Alfie Best, the founder and chairman of the Thurrock based Wyldecrest Parks residential park homes empire took over the club when times were hard during the coronavirus pandemic as a new board was formed, with Paul Martin appointed as manager.

The management team of Marc Harrison and Liam Wallace took over team affairs in November 2021. The team was relegated to Division One North at the end of the 2021-22 campaign. Steve Butterworth arrived as manager in March 2023 with the Rocks ending the season in twelfth place.

East Thurrock United started the 2023-24 season but folded after six games. Owner Best claimed that it was because of debts accrued by previous owners. The current board denied this. Many accusations were passed to and fro, with many believing Best wanted the ground to expand his business interests.

The junior teams were kept in motion, and rumours began to circulate about the formation of a phoenix club. Fans of the Rocks were delivered a kick in the teeth when Romford FC had announced that they had signed a deal to make Rockery Lane their new home venue in November 2023.

My visits

East Thurrock United 2 Horsham 1 (Monday 24th September 2001) Isthmian League Division Two (att: approx 100)

I was working at Lord's Cricket Ground and the cricket season had just finished. My appetite for going to live football was in full flow, helped by England's 5-1 demolition of Germany in Munich earlier in the month. I was getting more adventurous, so I decided to set out to East Thurrock without really knowing exactly where the ground was.

I took a tube to West Ham and then the C2C service to Stanford-le-Hope. I set off walking through the village and then down Corringham Road. I didn't think the ground was as far as it turned out as I didn't attempt to catch a bus. On arriving at Corringham I set out to find the ground without really knowing exactly where I was going. A local put me right, but it was still quite a distance.

Eventually I arrived at Rookery Hill. The ground was neat and fine without being anything out of the ordinary. The changing rooms and offices etc were down one side with a clubhouse behind and a seated stand in front. There were two small, covered terraces behind the Corringham End goal, but the rest of the ground consisted of open flat grass and hard standing.

I was slightly surprised to see a few away fans at the game, which was quite unusual at the game I'd attended in that league up to now. The catering was good and the clubhouse busy with a darts match about to get underway.

Horsham defender Stuart Hardy miskicked in his own box a couple of minutes before half time as the ball trickled in by the post to give the Rocks the lead. Gary Charman levelled things up with a shot from the edge of the box seven minutes after the restart.

The winner came fifteen minutes from time when Keith Wison put in a perfect cross for loanee from Dagenham & Redbridge, Pescopides to head home. I walked back a bit quicker, using the main A13 to the Stanford border. I got back with a while to wait before the train back to London, which is where the fun and games really began.

I was nicely settled and thinking of getting a little sleep before arriving back at Liverpool Street, when we were asked to get off the train at Grays as it had broken down and a replacement was required. This took quite some time, much to the dismay of everyone. 

Eventually we were put on a bus to Barking that stopped at each station on route. This was most unsatisfactory. Sure enough when we got to Barking, the tubes had stopped working. The rail staff were doing their best to get away from the situation and tell us to catch night buses, but I was not having any of that. 

I knew the regulations from travelling often on the railways. I insisted we were put in free taxis. Eventually they relented and I got in with some other passengers also needing to go to Northwest London as the driver did an excellent job dropping us all off.

I got back to Willesden Green in the early hours tired, hungry, and not in the best of moods. At work the next morning my colleagues just shook their heads as most people who are not non-league football fans do when you give a tale of woe!

Friday 2nd September 2011

It was a stunning day in London, and I was off work. I had meant to head to East Thurrock once again, as well stopping off at Tilbury, to get some photos for this blog and to have a ride out. Originally, I intended to rest at home and travel to Essex on the Monday, but the weather was just too good to miss.

I had been to some cricket at Lord's which had finished early and then visited Tilbury FC before taking a train to Stanford-le-Hope. This time I'd prepared properly and found out the bus times in advance. Before too long the 100 service had dropped me off at Corringham Social Club and I walked down the pleasant lane to Rookery Hill.

The clubhouse was busy with local drinkers and two gentlemen were working at the ground. They gave me permission to go up the players tunnel and into the ground to take some photos.

The ground had changed little in the ten years since I last went, apart from the addition of a very smart new seated stand opposite the older version. A double decker Portakabin had also been put down the main side touchline to provide Grays Athletic with office space.

I thanked the gents and walked back up the hill to catch the bus back to the station. I'd spotted a couple of fine pubs near to the station, but I was ahead of schedule, with a London train due. I gave the beer a miss and got back to the metropolis when I had the opportunity. I didn't want the same complicated journey as last time!

I went home and cooked myself a meal and settled down to watch England give an excellent performance in the away European Qualifier against Bulgaria while cooling down. It really had been a wonderful day.