MATCH DAY PROGRAMME - 3.00PM KICKOFF TICKETS: £7.50 ADULTS | £4.00 CONCESSIONS UNDER 18s FREE - Clapton Football Club

3.00PM KICKOFF
            TERENCE MCMILLAN STADIUM
      281 PRINCE REGENT LANE, PLAISTOW E13 8SD

TICKETS: £7.50 ADULTS | £4.00 CONCESSIONS
              UNDER 18s FREE

  MATCH DAY PROGRAMME

This season marks the 150th anniversary of the FA Cup and Clapton Football Club’s 126th appearance,
having first taken part 6 years after Wanders FC won the first ever title way back in 1872.

The Tons kick off the 2021-22 challenge with a 1-0 win against ESL club challengers, Hoddesdon Town FC,
in the Extra Preliminary Round. Today we play AFC Dunstable

CO

WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL

 CLAPTON FOOTBALL CLUB
              OFFICIAL HOME OF THE “TONS”

Good afternoon and welcome to The Terence McMillan Stadium for our FA Cup
Preliminary Qualifying Round match against AFC Dunstable.

We extend a warm welcome to their players, officials and supporters and we hope you
enjoy their time with us.

AFC Dunstable plays in the Southern League Central Division, which is a step above us -
so we need to be on our game today. I quickly realised that we were playing a bigger
club when they contacted us and said they were bringing 10 committee members and will
there be room to park their coach.

That's the great thing about the FA Cup - smaller clubs getting home draws against
bigger ones.

I'm writing these notes after a late night in Harwich, where we beat Little Oakley 5-3,
giving us 3 valuable league points, oh, what mood swings I'm having already this season!

After our home defeat on Saturday against St Margaretsbury, we were all so low. How
did we lose a game that we dominated for so long? Yours truly went home and was close
to ringing the Samaritans.

Then on Tuesday night, the boys went out and played out of their skins against Little
Oakley - so the feel-good factor is back, and this result should settle us all down. Let’s
hope the boys can take the form from the last match into today's game.

The club house is now serving hot and cold drinks and a selection of snacks. We really
need to be serving hot food (I do like a burger) and we need a bar, for that cheeky beer
on a Saturday afternoon. Please bear with us as we try to get this in place.

Today, both clubs will be hoping to progress further in this great competition. Let’s hope
we do ourselves proud.

Enjoy the game and a safe journey home.

Chris Ottaway
Chairman

            CLAPTON FOOTBALL CLUB IS AN UNINCORPORATED ASSOCIATION.
                    AFFILIATED TO THE ESSEX SENIOR FOOTBALL LEAGUE
                           AND LONDON FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION.

AFC DUNSTABLE

HISTORY & BACKGROUND
AFC Dunstable started life as Old Dunstablians Football Club in 1981. The name
Old Dunstablians originated from an organisation formed in 1888 for old boys
from Dunstable Grammar School. The most famous member of the club is
Hollywood actor Gary Cooper, who attended the school in the early 1900’s.

When the Grammar School closed and Manshead School opened they took over the
mantle but the old boys club was in decline. In 1981 the head teacher was asked if he
could re-launch the name, hence the football club was born. By 1988 after its centenary,
the Old Dunstablians Club ceased to exist, but the football club carried on in
commemoration and to this day still bears the club crest on its badge.

The club started in the Dunstable Alliance Football League for a couple of seasons then moved
onto the Luton District and South Bedfordshire League in 1983. Still playing at Manshead School
with the 1st team and reserves, success was limited with the 1st team runners up twice in Division
One and runners up in the William Pease Cup. While in the Luton League though the 1st team did
land the Bedfordshire Junior Cup beating Leighton Athletic on penalties in 1989/90 season.

With the club using Dunstable Town Cricket Club as their social base in Bull Pond Lane, the cricket
club was looking to move to a larger site in Totternhoe and when the new club was opened in 1994,
a football pitch was accommodated, so the football club moved there from Manshead School.

An improvement in facilities gave the club a chance to apply to join the South Midlands League in 1995.
Accepted into the then Division One (Premier and Senior Divisions were the higher divisions) the club
struggled, as they flirted with being relegated straight back to the Luton League in the first 2 seasons. Going
through new managers every season, they finally started to gain some consolidation and in season 2001/02
the 1st team finished 4th in the league and won the Division One Cup. The following season they just missed
out of the title, which was now named Division Two. Looking to go one better they finally clinched the title the
next season and was runners up in the Division Two Cup. Ground Grading issues were now starting to stop the
team from getting promoted, as 2 ground sharing agreements were turned down by the league.

This was now the start of a trophy laden period, as the Division Two title again was secured and back-to-back
Bedfordshire Senior Trophy’s. Added to that, the Division Two Cup was won again.

In 2003/04 the club decided to launch its youth policy and when the Under 15’s were runners up in the Chiltern
Youth league, it started on the path to work its way through the FA Charter Standard. They achieved Adult status
in 2003/04. The club then made the decision to change its name to AFC Dunstable (when the prefix AFC was
not as prevalent as it is nowadays), so not to get confused with the local rugby club, as the club started to grow
and the name was more associated to a football club. The club kept the name The OD’s, as their nickname. The
youth setup was awarded the Charter Standard in 2005/06. The next big step was to become a Development
Club and a great deal of work saw the club achieve this in 2007. Next up was a goal to become a FA Charter
Standard Community Club and 2008 saw the club achieve this. In that time the club has been awarded the
Development Club Of The Year in 2008 and the Community Club Of The Year in 2009. The club now runs over
30 teams.

The Bedfordshire Football Association approached the club to become partners in the new Creasey Park
Community Football Centre in 2008 and this gave them the chance to move the 1st team to Creasey Park and

apply for promotion to Division One for the start of the 2009/10 season, which was accepted. The team finished
a very creditable 5th in its first season at the higher level.

History was made in the 2010/11 season, as the team was accepted to participate in the FA Vase. A fine run
through to the 2nd Round Proper was achieved. Looking to improve on the league position the previous season,
the team went all out for promotion and finished runners up in the league and gained promotion to the Premier
Division at their 2nd attempt. The SSMFL Division One Cup was won too

Now with the team in the SSMFL Premier Division and entered the FA Cup for the 2011/12 season, they finished
a fine 3rd in the league. In the 2012/13 season the team consolidated in the Premier Division and finished a
respectable 8th. Their run in the FA Cup saw them get through 3 rounds eventually going out to Northwood
after a replay.

The team were being managed by the most successful pair in the club’s history; Alex Butler and Dermot Butler,
but they decided to step down after 9 years at the helm halfway through 2013/14 season. This left the team in
disarray, which saw many stalwarts of the team leave. The club decided to appoint current manager Steve Heath
and the club went on a re-building exercise.

2014/15 saw the team secure 3rd place in the SSMFL Premier Division as they challenged for the title all season.
They also equalled their best run in the FA Vase getting to the 3rd Round proper.

2015/16 was the season that the team broke all club records. Before clinching the SSMFL Premier Division title,
they progressed through 2 rounds of the FA Cup before finally going out to Ryman Premier leaders at the time
Leiston 1-0 in the 1st Qualifying Round.
The FA Vase was a great ride as the team made it to the 4th Round proper. Unfortunately, we drew phoenix
club Salisbury who had competed in the Conference Premier only two seasons previous but had been demoted
to step 5. Going out 3-0, Salisbury made it all the way to the semi-final.

The league campaign was an unbelievable roller coaster ride. As the season got underway, it was becoming
apparent that quite a few teams were vying for the title. As the season reached October, only 5 points separated
the top 6. By Christmas it looked like London Colney were starting to break away going 5 points clear. The
chasing pack were bunching up behind as only 6 points was the difference between 2nd and 7th. When the
team lost to a last-minute penalty to Biggleswade United on January 2nd, they went 8 points behind London
Colney and it looked like the title ambitions had faded. That would be the last time AFC tasted defeat in the
league. Hoddesdon Town were now becoming a title contender and it was a 3-horse race. With 7 games left,
the team went top of the league and never looked back and won the league by 13 points.

The 2016/17 season saw them compete in the Southern League Central Division, a position they never ever
thought they would see the club at. They competed nearly all season in a playoff place but just missed out by 3
points. The team though did pick up some silverware winning the prestigious Bedfordshire Senior Cup 2-0
against Dunstable Town at Kenilworth Road. The beginning of this season, the Bedfordshire Premier Cup was
also won.

After only their 2nd season at step 4, 2017/18 saw them top the table at the start of the season. They occupied a
play-off place all season, which in the end saw them finish 5th. So, a semi-final play-off berth was achieved and
they came up against Hartley Wintney. A 2-0 loss in North Hampshire ended their season but what a great
experience it was. 2018/19 season saw them make it 3 years in succession to play at step 4. It was probably their
most challenging as they stuttered at the start of the season. At Christmas they were flirting with relegation but
turned the corner and went on a decent run that saw them looking at an outside chance of a play-off spot, but
they fell away and finished 10th.

With the club firmly established at step 4 everyone is looking forward to the 2021/22 season and the challenges

that it will bring

AFC DUNSTABLE

SQUAD

CLAPTON FOOTBALL CLUB
The history of Clapton is very much that of a club which has a history and reputation unparalleled in
nonleague football. Founded in 1878 as Downs FC in Downs Rd Hackney, the club moved to its
present site in 1888 and changed its name to Clapton Football Club in the same year.

Clapton in 1894 became founder members of the Southern League (Dr Martins) along with Luton
Town, Millwall, Reading, Southampton, and Swindon. Arsenal were prime movers but left to join the
football league whilst Tottenham Hotspurs application was rejected!! The club was one of the original
founder members of the Isthmian League in 1905 which was then and up until the early 70s one of the
most important semi-professional leagues in the county.

Clapton’s reputation and history are tied to the early days of this league and the prestigious FA
Amateur Cup and were twice winners of the league and five times winners of the Cup.

In 1956 Clapton played in the first floodlit game for an amateur side against Barking at Upton Park in
front of 5,000 people. Their best ever FA Cup run was during this time with a 1-1 draw against QPR in
1957 before losing the reply away
1-3 in front of 14,000.

With the introduction of the Premier Division, Clapton had a brief change of fortune and won the
Division Two title in 1982-83 as well as the Essex Senior Cup in 1983-84 beating Southend Utd. The
Essex Thameside Trophy was won in 1983-84 and retained the following year. Relegation to the newly
formed Division 2 North followed in 1984-85. Still the club rallied to win the Essex Senior Trophy in
1988 and lost in the final of the London Senior Cup the same year 0-1 to then conference
side Fisher Athletic.

However, a 7th place finish in 1988-1989 saw a mass exodus of players at the end of the season and
two seasons later Clapton were in Division 3 (now Div 2) upon reorganisation of the league. The club
now plays in the Essex Senior League.

Today with Chairman, Christ Ottaway and Chief Executive, Vince McBean at the helm, the club is
continuing to develop the foundations for the future based on a long-term structure. Since 2012,
through the continued drive of management and the development team, the club again starting to
make strides again up the league table. Clapton finished in 7th place in 2015-16 and were winners of
the Gordon Braested Memorial Trophy in the same year. The 2016-17 season saw the Tons maintain a
strong position in the standings of the Essex Senior League, eventually finishing in 2nd place overall.

After a short spell ground sharing with Southend Manor FC in 2019, the Tons have made a new home
at the Terence McMillan Stadium in Plaistow, E13 8SD, since 2020-21.

CLAPTON FOOTBALL CLUB
 KIT COLORS

 Home Kit: Red & white shirts, red shorts, red socks
 Away Kit: Blue & yellow shirts, blue & yellow shorts,
 blue & yellow socks
 Goal Keeper: Royal Blue / Light Grey
                                                         OFFICIALS
                                                         Alphie Ibrahim
 FOOTBALL MANAGEMENT TEAM                                Francis Rabbles
                                                         Dwayne Uylett
 Head of Football: Qayum Shakoor
 Manager: Mustafa Bashkal
 Head coach: Leslie Thompson
 Assistant coaches: Jetmir Brija and Marc Nicklin
 Physio: Devon Ming

BIG SHOUT OUT TO
        AZ SPORTS IMAGES
 The work of this young talented photographer
can be seen on our website, social media account
  and throughout our match day programmes.
 He has a great eye and expertise, capturing the
          #TONS in action every time.

LEN CORDELL MEMORIAL CUP
                               FIXTURES

                    PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS

   SPONSORSHP OPPORTUNITIES
    With football back on the agenda, we are looking forward to hosting matches
               throughout 2021 (subject to any imposed restrictions).

We have a number of advertising and sponsorship options to promote your business
            and at the same time provide valuable support to the club.

For further details or to discuss one of our packages, visit the commercial page at
            www.claptonfc.com or call Chris Ottaway on 07973307549

WITH EVERY DAY THERE ARE MORE
   RESTRICTIONS COMING INTO FORCE.
HELP US TO KEEP FOOTBALL BEING PLAYED.

         PLEASE WEAR MASKS

        PLEASE USE SANITISERS

        STAY 1-2 METRES APART

           ENJOY THE MATCH

              STAY SAFE

Clapton Football Club
      Established 1878

WWW.CLAPTONFC.COM