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Midfield star Thomas Looney - one of two players with Town since 1994 |
FA Cup heralds biggest year in club’s history
PLAYERS from Kentish Town Football Club are gearing up for the biggest year in the club’s history as they prepare to make their debut in the prestigious FA Cup and look to continue their growing relationship with Premier League leaders Arsenal.
The semi-professional club were shocked when the Gunners gave them £1,500 to cover the cost of building portable dugouts. The north London giants also donated a set of full size goals, which would have otherwise cost Kentish Town around £3,000.
Manager Frank Zanre told the New Journal: “We thought we’d be cheeky and ask our neighbours for help as most of our boys come from either Camden or Islington. Surprisingly Arsenal jumped at the chance and invited us down to choose the goals we wanted.
“Then they gave us money on top of that, which really helps ease the financial pressure that we’re under.”
Town will be teaming up with Arsenal in the new year when they will be working with school’s across Islington to help find the next generation of talented footballers.
It promises to be a titanic year for Town, who will also be eligible to play in the early preliminary rounds of the FA Cup in August.
Zanre, who lives in Camden Park Road, is still finding it all a little hard to believe: “Sometimes I have to pinch myself.
“What started out as two young boys who simply wanted to play football is now a semi-professional team that is just six levels away from the Football Conference. It’s an incredible achievement.”
Nobody could have imagined what lay ahead when two parents joined forces 13 year ago to unite a team of youngsters desperate to play football.
What started out as a spirited under-10s side battling it out for honours in their local youth league is now one of the biggest clubs in the borough.
It all started back in 1994 when Frank Zanre and Frank O’Hare put a squad of just 11 players together and joined the Camden and Islington Youth League at Market Road under the banner of Kentish Town Boys.
Zanre revealed: “We were originally just looking for a club where both our boys could play football, but every team we approached was already full so we decided to get a few more players together and start our own team.
“Unfortunately by the time we had finally put a side together we found out it was too late to enter the league so we kept the boys ticking over for a year with a few friendly matches and training, and then entered them the following season.”
Kentish Town continued to grow, adding a new team every year until the club had a side in every age group in the youth league.
In a fitting tribute Kentish Town’s first-ever side bowed out of the Camden and Islington Youth League in a blaze of glory when they won the Under-16s League title and the League Cup.
But with the league only catering for players under the age of 16, the double-winning side was forced to look for a new challenge and joined the Harrow Under-17s League before going on to become Town’s first-ever senior side.
In 2001 Zanre, who is also the director of football at Kentish Town, teamed up with current chairman Gregg Hazelgrove, and the duo became the driving force behind the club.
“Obviously there is a huge jump from playing youth football to becoming a semi-professional side.
“But we had put a team together that we knew was talented enough to compete at a higher level, and we wanted to give the players the opportunity to prove just how good they were.” Zanre said.
Kentish Town’s success and growing ambition was more than enough to convince officials in the Spartan South Midlands League that they were a worthy addition to the league, providing they could secure a home ground in time for the start of the season.
Town managed to find a ground share, but were forced to leave Camden and play their home games at King George’s playing fields in Barnet.
“We couldn’t find anywhere in Camden to call home so we had to play outside the borough.
“But we are never going to forget our roots. We dropped the boys tag from our name and became Kentish Town because they were all men now.” Zanre added.
But the ground share only lasted a season and the club’s success became hampered by events off the field as they struggled to find a permanent place to call home.
In five seasons, Town have effectively been playing all their fixtures as away games having changed stadiums no fewer than five times.
Zanre is confident the club’s fortunes have changed, however, after agreeing a deal at the start of season to share the Barnet Copthall Stadium with the Shaftesbury Harriers.
“We have a great relationship with the management committee at the stadium, they help us, and we help them.
“We’re hoping that together we can improve the stadium, and in doing so secure a place we can finally call home.” |
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