Clapton Community

 

Clapton Community FC is a non-league football club whose formation in January 2018 came about through disenfranchised supporters of Clapton FC deciding to form their own club after a huge fall out with owner of the Clapton, Vince McBean.

Those who formed Community had been regular attendees who created a huge rise in attendance at the Old Spotted Dog Ground. You can read here all about the shenanigans and some of my personal views at the time after a visit to a Clapton game.

Immediately the new club set up a women’s team as well as men’s. The men entered the Middlesex County League for the 2018-19 season where they were placed in Division One (Central and East). They won the league title at the first time of asking.

Home games were played on an outside pitch at Wadham Lodge in Walthamstow, which was adapted and added to and given the name of the Stray Dog. Large crowds congregated to watch both teams in action, with some fixtures being moved to the main stadium on the site. 

The club’s ethos is of being open and democratic with transparency and youth as part of the community. Anyone can become an equal member with a pay what you want admission fee. Solidarity, open access, and education all play a part.

The supporter’s campaign for human rights, and often polarize opinion from more traditional supporters elsewhere. They are known to be left-wing and anti-fascist which led to the sale in 2019 of 11,500 away shirts, 5,500 of which went to Spain, after the kit was based on the International Brigades and the Flag of the Second Spanish Republic.

 

In September 2019 the club signed a lease for the Old Spotted Dog after Clapton FC and Hackney Wick had been evicted for non-payment of rent. They took on the freehold of the site in July 2020, with the huge task of getting back in working order and meeting health and safety standards.

The following two seasons were abandoned owing to the coronavirus pandemic. Clapton Community resumed and finished third in the table in 2021-22. Work on the Old Spotted Dog Ground had been carried out so that the club could return to what many would describe as their spiritual home.

The league title was secured for player-manager Geoff Ocran and his team in 2022-23 as they gained promotion to the Eastern Counties League as members of Division One South. The thriving club by now had several sides of all ages as well as a cricket team. They reached the playoffs in 2023-24 but lost to Wormley Rovers in the semi-finals.

Clapton Community FC will play in the Eastern Counties League Division One South in the 2024-25 season.

My visits

Old Spotted Dog

Several visits were made to the home of Clapton Community in its former condition when occupied by former tenants which can be viewed here and here.

The Stray

Thursday 6^th May 2021

Covid restrictions were about done, and I was keen to head out and get some exercise which was far healthier than straying indoors alone. Amazingly, the authorities never minded me heading to work in crowds, but that’s another story. 

It was time to have a long walk around Walthamstow. I took a couple of trains and alighted at Blackhorse Road and headed off in a northerly direction, ending up going past the Crooked Billet roundabout and visiting a former legendary venue in that neck of the woods.

Walthamstow Stadium, former home of the Greyhound Derby and Blur album covers was now a smart housing development in its own little village, but the façade thankfully remained. Heading off while listening to Tottenham fans moaning about their owner on TalkSport I headed towards Wadham Lodge.

There were decent enough views for me to take photos of the Stray Dog, the name given to the ground by CCC, from outside and through the railings so that I didn’t set anyone into panic mode on the main gate. Clapton had done a decent job with the railed pitch and erected a shelter and personalized the place.

Onward I wandered listening to this time to the woes of Derby County and their ownership problems. It was rather fitting to have visited a fan’s owned club. Walthamstow Market was vibrant enough, but I’d done enough walking for one day.

A bus delivered me near Hackney Central station where a couple of pints and pork scratchings in The Cock while listening to good tunes put the world to right before I headed home by train. An enjoyable rest bite and few hours fresh air completed.