Clapton Community Football Club is a football club based in

Forest Gate Forest Gate is a district in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England. It is located northeast of Charing Cross. The area's name relates to its position adjacent to Wanstead Flats, the southernmost part of Epping Forest. The town ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. Their men's team are currently members of the . Their women's team compete in the

London and South East Women's Regional Football League {{{Use dmy dates, date=January 2021 {{Infobox football league , name = London and South East Women's Regional Football League , logo = , pixels = , country = {{ENG , founded = 2005 , folded = , divisions = 3 , teams ...

Division One North. Both teams now play at The Old Spotted Dog in

History

Clapton Community was formed on 27 January 2018 by disillusioned supporters of

Clapton F.C. Clapton Football Club is a football club based in Plaistow, East London. The club are currently members of the and play at the Terence McMillan Stadium in Plaistow following their 2019 eviction from their long-term home, the Old Spotted Do ...

after what they deemed as mismanagement of the club by chairman Vince McBean. During the club's debut season, Clapton Community sold 11,500 away shirts, with 5,500 to Spain, after the kit was based on the

International Brigades The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed f ...

and the

Flag of the Second Spanish Republic The flag of the Second Spanish Republic, known in Spanish as ', was the official flag of Spain between 1931 and 1939 and the flag of the Spanish Republican government in exile until 1977. Its present-day use in Spain is associated with the moder ...

. On 11 May 2019, Clapton Community won the

Middlesex County League The Middlesex County Football League is a football competition based in England loosely drawing teams from the central, northern and western parts of Greater London. The league was founded in 1984 and initially had only one division, although ...

Division One (Central and East), gaining promotion to the Premier Division, after a 3–0 win against FC Roast. Clapton Community entered the

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

for the first time in 2019–20. In June 2019, the club announced the formation of a women's team with the former AFC Stoke Newington first team coming under the Clapton Community banner. The women's team competed in Division One of the

Greater London Women's Football League The Greater London Women's Football League is an amateur competitive women's association football competition based in Greater London, England. The league is affiliated with the Amateur Football Alliance, Middlesex County Football Association, and ...

in the 2019–20 season but were promoted to the

Division One North in the 2021–22 season. In Women FA Cup, they realised the biggest achievement in the history of the club, by eliminating Hounslow WFC (3rd division). While the

October 2020 Polish protests October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and the sixth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus , October retained its name (from Latin and Greek ''ôct ...

were taking place, the women's team expressed solidarity with the protesters by posing next to a banner dedicated to the women's rights protest, which has been noticed by Polish media. On 12 March 2021, Clapton Community FC won the Football Supporter Association's 'Lockdown Heroes' award for their Community Fund initiative, 'Clapton against Corona', fundraising and providing financial assistance to local people whose livelihood was affected by coronavirus.

Ground

Currently both the women's and mens first teams play at The Old Spotted Dog in

. On 17 September 2019, it was confirmed that Clapton Community had been awarded the lease at The Old Spotted Dog, following Clapton FC's eviction. On 24 July 2020, Clapton Community announced that they had purchased the freehold for The Old Spotted Dog and become the new owners. From 2022 the women's first team play at The Old Spotted Dog, using changing rooms at the nearby Stratford School. After completion of the purchase of adjacent warehouse and renovation of the old changing rooms, the men's first team were able to join the women's first team in using The Old Spotted Dog as their home ground. Clapton Community youth teams train at the ground. The men's development team play at

Hackney Marshes Hackney Marshes is an area of open space in London's Lower Lea Valley, lying on the western bank of the River Lea. It takes its name from its position on the eastern boundary of Hackney, the principal part of the London Borough of Hackney, and ...

. The women's development team play at

Tooting Common The Tooting Commons consist of two adjacent areas of common land lying between Balham, Streatham and Tooting, in south west London: Tooting Bec Common and Tooting Graveney Common. Since 1996, they have been wholly within the London Borough of W ...

. Women's open access teams usually play a
Jack Carter Centre

Gants Hill Gants Hill is an area of Ilford in East London, England, within the borough of Redbridge. It is a suburb east northeast of Charing Cross. It lends its name to a central roundabout where five roads meet. History The name likely originated f ...

. Clapton

five-a-side ''Five-A-Side'' is the debut album by the pop rock band Ace, released by Anchor Records in 1974. The album landed on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, reaching #11 in 1974. The single " How Long" reached #3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the sp ...

teams
Clapton CFC Belters and Clapton CFC Massive
play at Mabley Green in Hackney.

Supporters

Supporters of the club are known to be

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

and are self-proclaimed

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

. The club have a number of ultras groups such as the Clapton Punks, the Gravy Ultras, Brigata Ultra Clapton, the SimpleTons and the UmarellOldtras.

Honours and awards

*Middlesex County League **Premier Division champions: 2022–23 **Division One (Central and East) champions: 2018–19 *Hackney & Leyton Sunday Football League (Men's Development Team) **Division 3 champions: 2021–22 **Division 2 promotion: 2022–23 *Jim Rogers President's Cup **Winners: 2018–19 *Alec Smith Premier Division Cup **Winners: 2021–22 *John Greenacre Memorial Trophy **Winners: 2021–22 *The FSA Memorial Supporters' Shield **Winners: 2023–24 (Women) **Runners-up: 2023–24 (Men) *Anagram Records Trophy **Runners-up: 2018–19 *Brian Lomax SD Cup **Runners-up: 2018–19 *Capitol Women's Cup **Runners-up: 2021–22 *London & South East Regional Women's League Trophy **Runners-up: 2022–23 *Super 5 League (Women's 5s Team) **Winners: 2020–21 *Super 5s Beginners League (Women's 5s Team) **Winners: 2021 *Super 5s Legacy Tournament (Women's 5s Team) **Winners: 2022 *Super 5s Beginners League (Women's 5s Team) **Winners 2022 *Amsterdam friendly tournament (Women's 5s Team) **Winners: 2022 *Super 5 League Intermediate B (Women's 5s Team) **Runners-up: 2022 *FSA Award Lockdown Heroes (Non-League) **Winners: 2020–21 *Non-League Paper Community Club of the Year Award **Winners: 2022–23

Records

*Best

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship reas ...

performance: Third round, 2021–22 *Best

performance: First qualifying round, 2019–20 *Record attendance: 1,266 vs FC Roast, 11 May 2019

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clapton Community F.C. Clapton F.C. Association football clubs established in 2018 2018 establishments in England Football clubs in England Football clubs in London Sport in the London Borough of Waltham Forest Eastern Counties Football League Middlesex County Football League Fan-owned football clubs in England Phoenix clubs (association football)