Athletic Newham - Bobby Moore Sports Hub

Athletic Newham FC

Parsloes Park

333 Ivyhouse Road

Dagenham 

RM9 5SA

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Ground Number: 1321

Saturday 6th July 2024

Athletic Newham 3-0 FC Romania

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ATHLETIC NEWHAM FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was founded in 2015 as a youth team, then known as Lopes Tavares London, before moving into adult football the following season, joining the Premier Division of the Essex Alliance Football League. They played at the Memorial Recreation Ground in West Ham and following 8th and 5th-placed finishes, they were accepted into the Eastern Counties D1 South for the 2018/19 season. It was a tricky first season playing at Basildon Sports Village but they survived comfortably. Their performance over the two curtailed seasons was good enough for promotion to the Essex Senior League. They remain there to this day, their best finish out of three seasons coming in 2023 when they finished 6th.

They've reached the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup twice, a decent victory in a replay over Tooting & Mitcham last season was aided very much by Wycombe-bound Richard Kone. The 2021/22 season saw a good run in the FA Vase as they beat Holmesdale, Pagham and Abbey Rangers before thumping Littlehampton Town 5-0 in the 4th Round. However, due to the FA's refusal to enter the 21st century and have a fit and proper system for selecting teams pre-kickoff, an administrative error saw them thrown out of the competition due to an intelligible player. Currently, their home is the Terrence McMillan Stadium in Plaistow. The 'Terry Mac' is far from perfect and if pre-season is anything to go by, a move to the Bobby Moore Sports hub in Dagenham could be on the cards.

The most famous player and direct connection to my own club is Richard Kone. In 2019, after arriving in the United Kingdom to play in the Homeless World Cup, the Ivorian began playing for the club, scoring 20 goals in 31 appearances in all competitions for the club in his first season at the club. During the club's first season in the Essex Senior League, Kone scored 42 goals in 48 games in all competitions, finishing as the league's top scorer with 31 league goals. That season, he had trials with Colchester United as well as with a Premier League club. The following season, Kone scored 40 goals in all competitions. Despite the interest from teams in higher tiers, Kone's visa status prevented him from playing professional football due to our mental government. 21 goals later, Kone joined Wycombe Wanderers in January 2024 on a permanent contract, after an extended trial. That was following 88 goals in 109 games for Athletic Newham. He had started his trial with Wycombe in the summer of 2023 and scored in friendly matches against Aldershot Town and Barnet. He made a goalscoring debut for Wycombe in the EFL Trophy quarter-finals against West Ham United U21 and continues to thrive at the club.

MY VISIT

Originally on this day, I had a nice little double lined up with Reigate Priory at 11 and Moneyfields at 3. However, with England's late comeback against Slovakia, that went by the wayside. For better or for worse, England had been lumbered with the worst and most disruptive Quarter Final time of the lot - Saturday at 5 PM. Understandably, clubs were concerned about losing fans who would rather stay at home and watch TV and also a lot of players would have wanted to be showered and changed for kickoff. A sensible option for the latter would have been a 2.30 kickoff and it would also allow clubs to make money in their clubhouse. However many, including Moneyfields, took the more extreme option of pushing the game back to 1 PM. That killed our chances of a double and with it being a 3G pitch, the sensible option was to save it for bad weather, which could be any time in this country. Matlock Town was one of the brave clubs to keep their game against Chesterfield at 3 PM and I really hope it works for them. Dan was partially driving for the original pair of games and he pulled a good suggestion out of the hat with Ledbury Town v Westfields. With the ground being due for demolition soon and the town having a few decent pubs, it was a no-brainer.

It was a tired week following Tuesday night's game. I never get the greatest amount of sleep, but waking at 4 am has made it worse. I added in a Friday night revisit to Sandhurst Town on Wednesday and it would be exactly ten years to the day of my first visit. I did all my research for this game on Thursday and was really looking forward to it. It was another tiring day on Friday but at least I had a game in the evening to look forward to. I could have done with a drink after a hard week but decided to wait until later. The FA Cup draw was out and there were no standout choices of 26 possibles for the 3rd of August. A spanner was thrown into the works on Friday night when Richard's car got some damage. Daniel was unwilling to put the miles on his car and I didn't fancy driving., That threw the whole plan out of the window and I was back to square one. Wakering Sports was my first thought, with a blog already done following a failed visit last season. However, the 3 PM kick-off had me concerned that the away side wouldn't bother and the rain had been pretty torrential too. So with that in mind, and Wakering scheduled for next week, I opted to go for Athletic Newham v FC Romania, two interesting clubs to write about.

It was a late night, 2 am before I got to bed due to the hassle of the late change. I awoke around 7.30 to the ever-familiar sound of rain against the window. I had a bath, got ready and had breakfast before leaving at 8.45. Last-minute planning had been assisted by my Google Map of Wetherspoons that I needed to visit. That part of London is a bit of a desert for decent pubs, but the Great Spoon of Ilford was decent to get to from my side of London, it was also a single bus from the game. I popped into Tesco Express before the game for a meal deal. One game, Hornchurch v Bishops Stortford, had already been pulled, The official reason, a waterlogged pitch. The rain certainly had been torrential and the last thing you want to do is ruin the groundsman's work for a friendly. I was glad I was on a 3G, between two ethnically diverse teams as there was less chance of anything going wrong. I had originally intended to go to Athletic Newham on 20th July and it was a last-minute job in terms of research. It got me in the mood for a game and I discovered that I had seen the club previously under the guise of Lopes Tavares. That was in 2018 at Basildon Sports Village. The Elizabeth Line was my last leg of the trip was excellent, nice and quiet and you could get a mobile signal down there unlike a lot of the archaic system.

I was at Ilford at 11.10. It took me ten minutes to get out of the station and walk to the local Wetherspoons. On the way, I noted several interesting takeaways plus a few pound shops but I wasn't in the mood. The Great Spoon of Ilford was not the most attractive of pubs but Strongbow was £2.25 a pint and service was excellent. It was named after the famous Elizabethan actor Will Kemp, who danced his way from Norwich to London in 1600. Kemp successfully completed the 80-mile route in nine days. He stopped in Ilford for refreshment, where the measure of ale was known as a ‘spoon’ (about two pints). Next up was a Korean Strip Burger, chips and a Kopparberg Sweet Vintage Pear for £6.44. This was nice and put me in a good mood. I left at 12.45 and had five minutes wait for the bus to Dagenham. It was a longer than expected journey, so I was glad I allowed time. I was there at 1.35, seeing many hoppers. After confirming what pitch the game was on, we had to wait for a kids game to be played first. It was a good facility though, much better than the likes of Noak Hill.

Athletic Newham were in blue shirts and green shorts. FC Romania featuring plenty of trialists were in red shirts and blue shorts. The game kicked off at 14:07 and Newham had a goal disallowed on 3 minutes for offside. Indeed, it was the hosts who dominated and they took the lead with a great shot from the edge of the area on 7 minutes. That was it until half time although Romania barely got a look in. The visitors improved in the second half and were awarded a penalty on 60 minutes. However, the tame effort was well saved. On 68 minutes, it was 2-0, a lovely strike into the top right corner from the edge of the area. On 76 minutes, it was 3-0, a well-worked move down the right and a tidy finish.

That was it as far as scoring was concerned. It was a deserved win for Athletic Newham with FC Romania having the briefest spell of play, unsurprisingly for a team of trialists. It was around 3.55 by the time I left, with it taking 15 minutes to walk to Becontree station. I put the England game on my headphones and considered watching it somewhere. The plan was to head into London and use the voucher I had for a free pint at one of my favourite pubs in London. The Harp in Trafalgar Square was a classic old pub and had a great selection of cider. Maybe another Wetherspoons or something else after as long as I was back in Amersham in time for the bus. For once, I didn't have to be up early for work as I was covering an alternate shift and didn't start until 10. Though England had been terrible to watch so far, I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised and have a game to watch with a few cans on Wednesday evening.

THE GROUND

THE TREVOR BROOKING PITCH at the BOBBY MOORE HUB is a decent setup. It has four metal stands, two standing (around 50 capacity) and two seated (around 100 in total). Three sides of the pitch are accessible to fans. It has several pitches with the hub having a cafe but no booze. There is plenty of parking, bus routes and Becontree station are nearby.