Frenford FC is a non-league football club based in the London borough of Ilford. The football club was formed in 1942 as a section to Frenford Clubs, originally founded in 1928 by Jack Carter, as boys met at the Friends Meeting House on Albert Road, Ilford.
Carter introduced the boys to chess and draughts as Frenford progressed to become a sports and social club by 1930 with several sections for different activities. In 1940 activities moved to the basement of Cleveland School as girls were also welcomed.
The football club began life as Frenford Senior competing in the local league playing matches at various grounds in Ilford and other nearby venues. The team became members of the Ilford & District League, becoming Premier Division champions in 1975-76.
This came soon after a move to Cricklefields in Seven Kings. In 1995 Jack Carter signed a deal with the London Borough of Redbridge to lease a 19-acre sports ground close to Fairlop underground station.
The move enabled Frenford to join Division Two of the Essex Intermediate League for the 1995-96 season, lifting the divisional title in their debut campaign to win promotion to Division One. The Barkingside site opened in 1998 under the title of The Jack Carter Pavilion.
Frenford picked up a couple of cup wins prior to ending as Division One runners-up in 1997-98 and 2004-05 at which point the competition changed its title to the Essex Olympian League, with the team ending as runners up once again in 2005-06.
Promotion was awarded at the end of the 2006-07 campaign despite an eleventh place league finish before Frenford ended as Premier Division runners-up in 2008-09 before the sports club purchased another new ground.
The Jack Carter Centre on The Drive located between Redbridge and Gants Hill tube stations offered numerous indoor and outdoor sports facilities and a clubhouse. The previous facility at Cricklefields was demolished while Fairlop was kept on.
The Premier Division championship was won in 2011-12, with the title being retained twelve months later. Further cups were lifted before ‘Senior’ was dropped from the club title in 2017 as Frenford finished as Essex Olympian League Premier Division runners-up in 2017-18.
Reconstruction of non-league football saw the addition of extra step 6 divisions being created. Frenford were awarded a place in Division One South of the Eastern Counties Football League, finishing ninth in their first season under manager David Forbes.
The club entered a groundshare arrangement with Bowers & Pitsea to use the Len Salmon Stadium for home matches. The side were in thirteenth when the 2019-20 season ended early owing to the outbreak of COVID-19.
Frenford carried out extensive work at the Jack Carter Centre with an enclosed 3G pitch and spectator accommodation so they could return for league action. A fine start to the 2020-21 campaign saw Frenford finish in fifth place.
The divisional title was claimed in 2022-23 which was rewarded with promotion and a switch to the Essex Senior League where relegation was avoided twelve months later.
It was the start of my couple of weeks of annual leave and I was determined to grab whatever adventure I could as it was strongly humoured that further stringent Coronavirus regulations were to be introduced.
The further attraction of visiting somewhere new was enough to clinch it, even though the weather forecast was pretty poor. My pal Steve Barnes gave me a shout and was also keen to come along. On route we found out that pubs would be shutting in London on the Tuesday evening.
With Steve being an expert on pubs, I told him I was good with wherever he decided. The daft rule that you also had to have a substantial meal if you had a beer was in force, so Wetherspoons offered the best beer and affordable food combination.
We headed out on the Central line from Liverpool Street to Wanstead where The George was just over the road. What a magnificent pub it was. The beer selection was sparse as nobody wanted to be stuck with stock that would go out of date, but it was in good condition.
My mushroom and chicken risotto proved just the job along with four pints before we went over the road to catch the 145 bus to the Wanstead Lane stop, just a couple of minutes walk to the Jack Carter Centre.
The toilet and refreshment facilities were across the car park from the ground in the impressive indoor sports centre where plentiful activities were going on. Admission was just a fiver which included a twelve page programme.
The ground was relatively basic inside the large site. We were told that the pitch had been turned ninety degrees and was now fully fenced in with spectator accommodation on just three sides.
The artificial pitch had markings for multiple sports with a couple of covered seating areas, the Sir Jack Petchey and Eddie Fowles Stands on the car park side which seemed popular with a crowd which looked to include many groundhoppers from far and wide.
It was quickly apparent that the kick-off was going to be after the 7.45pm scheduled start and that was before both teams ambled out wearing different combinations of the same shade of blue and white. I honestly thought we were seeing things.
Steve and I immediately said that there was no way that the officials would be able to tell the difference when looking up at first glance. Goodness knows what the referee, Dele Sotimirin was thinking of to even let the sides come out in such kits.
Eventually, a set of Frenford’s traditional red and white striped shirts were found. Linesman Abu Taher told us there was a problem with a colour clash. You don’t say! The match finally kicked off nearer eight o’clock.
The match began at a frenetic pace, mainly from the hosts sat in eighth place against the second placed side, formerly known as Lopes Tavares. The hosts took an earl lead through Charlie Heatley with an angled shot past keeper Wilkinson Boateng after a cross had been nodded down to him by Nick Pegg.
Athletic were soon level with a well worked goal. Quadri Olenmoh was put clear down the right before he laid square to Jeff Idemudia who slotted home. Both goals were of decent quality, but that was as good as it got.
The game became scrappy with the fastidious whistle happy ref and several niggling injuries not helping proceedings. Frenford had an opportunity to regain the lead before the break but Heatley squandered the chance when through allowing Boateng to make the save.
Idemudia was correctly shown a yellow card for a poor challenge when the Frenford players implored red. We had a wander at the interval before taking up a place behind the goal and then near the entrance corner.
We were in a good position to see the correct award of a penalty to the home side as Carl O’Malley was upended. Heatley’s kick was aimed to the bottom corner but Boateng managed to divert the ball onto the post and away with his fingertips.
Both sides tried to attack but quality was often lacking despite lots of effort. It required someone of guile and to slow the pace down at times, especially as the consistent rain added slickness to the surface.
It was cold and we honestly couldn’t see where another goal was going to come from. We had a choice of a return bus in eight or twenty-five minutes, so we took the earlier option. We could even see the action for part of the walk back down the lane to the main road.
We decided to remain on the bus to Leytonstone as traffic was light and we were too late to go anywhere for a beer with a food order also a necessity. I checked the final score on my phone before we went downstairs and couldn’t believe my eyes. We’d missed two goals.
In our absence Charlie Fairhead had broken clear and lobbed Boateng before Idemudia was sandwiched between two Frenford defenders in the area. Richard Kone scored from the spot. The decision from Mr Sotimirin was said to be most unpopular.
I think the trip would be best summed up as a new ground tick and a good social night out with a match that will linger too much in the memory despite being full of endeavour .
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