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| About us |
The club was formed back in 1964 by a group of Loughton schoolboys
who, although very keen footballers, were not quite up to the standard
required by the team representing the school which was an extraordinarily
good standard.
In order to get themselves playing some organised football, they joined the
South West Essex Junior Football League, a league for boys of
school age, and affiliated to the Essex County Minor FA, the
old equivalent of the Essex County FA.
The first two seasons were particularly difficult and they had some indifferent results but where other sides would have
hung up their boots and given up, this only made the boys more
determined to succeed and knew that by having faith in their
own ability, plus understanding the need for teamwork, they
could in time match the performances of the other rival Clubs in the
Loughton area.
From the start of the 1965/6 season, the club ran two sides,
namely the Senior and Junior sides. Both sides enjoyed periods
of domination in their respective competitions. The Junior side
played in the South West Essex Youth League, before moving into
the adult section a few years later.
In 1978 the club decided to move its one remaining side into
the Ilford & District Football League, where we still compete
today. The high point being our five seasons in the Premier
Division in the late eighties and early nineties. Today, we are one of most established clubs in the league having participated in the league for 30 years with many more to come. The club also has three members on the League's Committee, namely Howard Parker, Rob Parker and Onur Gokdemir.
Our most recent success came with the Division Three league title in 2006/7 which we achieved having lost just a single game in all league games. The season also saw us go up against the odds against sides from a much higher level, and reach two semi finals. The run including a historical victory on penalties over Galatasaray (UK) who won the Premier Division, and East Barking United, another Premier Division club. This backed up an excellent season the year previous which provided us with an appearance in the Spartak Cup Final where we sadly lost on penalties to Baronsmere.
From the day the club was formed, Loughton Playing Fields in Avondale Drive, Loughton
had been home for the club. The club's name became well know throughout the
area through its success and good reputation but in 2002, the club was forced to find new
facilities away from it's spiritual home due to rising costs and became residents
at beautiful surroundings of Clayhall Park in Ilford where we continue to
play today.
We continue to have exclusive use of the faciliites there on a Saturday afternoon and the ground easily ranks in the top few pitches in the whole league with an excellent surface and superb facilities. After our games, you'll most likely find us in the Doctor Johnson pub, which is literally a stones throw from the ground. It was also the venue for our 40th anniversary celebration.
For the past few seasons we have had a close tie up with Esprit FC and other Sunday clubs with players moving in both directions and we hope that this
link-up continues to be successful for all these clubs.
The aim? To take a club with a big history back to the top where it belongs... |
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