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Kentish Town players Sarfraz Pavino, Jonathan Donoghue, Chris Zanre and Thomas Looney |
It’s a real feat for FA Cup new boys
Kentish Town football stars set to play in world’s most famous competition for first time
OK, so it’s not Arsenal versus Manchester United, and the players who take to a football field in Barnet on Sunday afternoon don’t earn six-figure salaries every week or have pop stars for wives.
But don’t sneer.
For 11 footballers in a blue strip it will be a dream come true. Switch off the Olympic Games for a couple of hours, forget about the start of the new Premier League football season, a little bit of local sporting history is due to be made this weekend: Kentish Town FC are in the FA Cup!
And just you try telling a couple of postmen, a handful of council sports development workers and the rest of the lads that it’s just a forgettable rough and tumble match against Wellingborough Town.
Never mind the fact there are still nine months and umpteen knockout rounds before the road to Wembley finally winds up at the famous stadium’s front door – because for the first time ever, the trail begins with Kentish Town.
Excited? In truth, traditional FA Cup fever was a little slow to take hold in Kentish Town this week.
There are no shops in the High Street draped in bunting, the baker’s hasn’t made a special cake in the shape of the trophy for the occasion and the majority of punters in the pubs and betting offices didn’t even realise Kentish Town versus Wellingborough was the glamour football match of the weekend.
A couple of wins on a cup run and that will all change. Think open-top buses and the freedom of the borough. The home page of the club’s website is subtitled “Miracles Do Happen”.
“It is a milestone for the club,” said general secretary Kevin Young. “It has always been the dream of the founders from day one to one day play in the FA Cup – and so Sunday is that dream turning into a reality.”
Town’s first appearance in the FA Cup, albeit in the qualifying stages, comes after the club’s promotion from Spartan Division One last season and their improved status in the world of semi-professional football. Kentish Town FC were only founded in 1994 when, according to Mr Young, teenagers from across Camden and Islington who played at the Market Road pitches but couldn’t find a regular game with a team were brought together.
When the first players grew too old for youth football, founder Frank Zanre decided to create a fully functioning team which has worked itself up through the divisions.
Mr Young said: “There was a feeling that all the hard work ran out after the youth teams got too old and the managers wanted to do more for them.”
A couple of the players have been in it from the beginning, loyalty which will be rewarded with the chance to play in the same competition as Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs. But two years ago, things looked grim for the club which was short of a home until it found a place to play in Barnet.
Mr Young said: “It has been a bit nomadic over the years, but last season we showed we can compete and we are now on the fringes of moving up again.”
Wellingborough, nicknamed The Doughboys in their native Northamptonshire, reformed four years after their previous team went bust.
But Kentish Town have a pedigree of their own. Coach Clement Temile is considered a national sporting hero in Nigeria, where he played professionally in the 1980s; and one of the youth team coaches, Alan Sefton, is employed by Arsenal running their community training schemes.
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