Clapton Community Football Club is a supporters fan owned members football club based in

Forest Gate Forest Gate is a district of West Ham in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England. It is located northeast of Charing Cross. The area's name relates to its position adjacent to Wanstead Flats, the southernmost part of Epping Forest. ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. Their men's team are currently members of the . Their women's team compete in the

London and South East Women's Regional Football League The London and South East Women's Regional Football League is at the fifth level of the English women's football pyramid, with the seven other Regional Leagues – Eastern, Southern, South West, West Mids, East Mids, North East and North Wes ...

Division One North. Both teams play at The Old Spotted Dog in

History

Clapton Community was formed on 27 January 2018 by disillusioned supporters of Clapton F.C. after what they deemed as mismanagement of the club by chairman Vince McBean. During the club's debut season, they sold 11,500 away shirts, with 5,500 to Spain, after the kit was based on the

International Brigades The International Brigades () were soldiers recruited and organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front (Spain), Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Bri ...

and the

Flag of the Second Spanish Republic The flag of the Second Spanish Republic, known in Spanish as ' (the tricolour), was the official flag of Spain between 1931 and 1939 and the flag of the Spanish Republican government in exile until 1977. Its present-day use in Spain is associa ...

. In April 2019,

CE Júpiter Club Esportiu Júpiter is a Spanish football team based in Barcelona in the district of Sant Martí, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it plays in the , holding home games at ''Camp Municipal La Verneda'', with a capaci ...

hosted Clapton in a friendly match which celebrated the Spanish Republican spirit, with Clapton wearing kits inspired by the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of democratic government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931 after the deposition of Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII. ...

and

. The match was touted as symbolising both clubs' commitment to

anti-fascism Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

and

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

identity. On 11 May 2019, Clapton won the

Middlesex County League The Middlesex County Football League is a football competition based in England loosely drawing teams from the central, northern and western parts of Greater London. The league was founded in 1984 and initially had only one division, although it ...

Division One (Central and East), gaining promotion to the Premier Division, after a 3–0 win against FC Roast. The club entered the

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...

for the first time in 2019–20. In June 2019, the club announced the formation of a women's team with the former AFC Stoke Newington first team coming under the Clapton Community banner. The women's team competed in Division One of the

Greater London Women's Football League The Greater London Women's Football League is an amateur competitive women's association football competition based in Greater London, England. The league is affiliated with the Amateur Football Alliance, Middlesex County Football Association, a ...

in the 2019–20 season but were promoted to the

Division One North in the 2021–22 season. While the

October 2020 Polish protests October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus , October retained its name (from Latin and Greek ''ôctō'' meaning "eight") after January ...

were taking place, the women's team expressed solidarity with the protesters by posing next to a banner dedicated to the women's rights protest, which has been noticed by Polish media. On 12 March 2021, the club won the Football Supporter Association's 'Lockdown Heroes' award for their Community Fund initiative, 'Clapton against Corona', fundraising and providing financial assistance to local people whose livelihood was affected by coronavirus. The original club withdrew from competition in advance of the 2024–25 season, leaving Clapton CFC as the district's primary football club. In May 2025, they defeated Forest Hill Park in the final of the SCEFL Division One Cup. Having been unsuccessful in their appeal the previous year, the club were successfully transferred back to the Eastern Counties League ahead of the 2025–26 season.

Ground

Both the women's and men's first teams play at The Old Spotted Dog in

. On 17 September 2019, it was confirmed that Clapton Community had been awarded the lease at The Old Spotted Dog, following Clapton FC's eviction. On 24 July 2020, Clapton Community announced that they had purchased the freehold for The Old Spotted Dog and become the new owners. From 2022 the women's first team play at The Old Spotted Dog, using changing rooms at the nearby Stratford School. After completion of the purchase of adjacent warehouse and renovation of the old changing rooms, the men's first team were able to join the women's first team in using The Old Spotted Dog as their home ground. Clapton Community youth teams train at the ground. The men's development team, the women's development team and the women's open access team all usually play at

Hackney Marshes Hackney Marshes is an area of open space in London's Lower Lea Valley, lying on the western bank of the River Lea. It takes its name from its position on the eastern boundary of Hackney, the principal part of the London Borough of Hackney, an ...

. Clapton

five-a-side ''Five-A-Side'' is the debut album by the pop rock band Ace, released by Anchor Records in 1974. The album landed on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, reaching No. 11 in 1974. The single " How Long" reached No. 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in t ...

teams
Clapton CFC Belters and Clapton CFC Massive
play at Mabley Green in Hackney.

Supporters

Supporters of the club are known to be

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

and are self-proclaimed

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

. The club have a number of ultras groups such as the Clapton Punks, the Gravy Ultras, and the UmarellOldtras.

Honours and awards

*Southern Counties East Football League **Division One Cup: 2024–25 *Middlesex County League **Premier Division champions: 2022–23 **Division One (Central and East) champions: 2018–19 *Hackney & Leyton Sunday Football League (Men's Development Team) **Division 3 champions: 2021–22 **Division 2 promotion: 2022–23 **Division 1 promotion: 2023–24 *Jim Rogers President's Cup **Winners: 2018–19 *Alec Smith Premier Division Cup **Winners: 2021–22 *John Greenacre Memorial Trophy **Winners: 2021–22 *The FSA Memorial Supporters' Shield **Winners: 2023–24, 2024-25 (Women) **Runners-up: 2023–24 (Men) *Anagram Records Trophy **Runners-up: 2018–19 *Brian Lomax SD Cup **Runners-up: 2018–19 *Capital Women's Cup **Runners-up: 2021–22 *London & South East Regional Women's League Trophy **Runners-up: 2022–23 *Super 5 League (Women's 5s Team) **Winners: 2020–21 *Super 5s Beginners League (Women's 5s Team) **Winners: 2021 *Super 5s Legacy Tournament (Women's 5s Team) **Winners: 2022 *Super 5s Beginners League (Women's 5s Team) **Winners 2022 *Amsterdam friendly tournament (Women's 5s Team) **Winners: 2022 *Super 5 League Intermediate B (Women's 5s Team) **Runners-up: 2022 *East London Ladies FC Anniversary Beginners Tournament (Clapton Cageys) **Winners: 2024 *FSA Award Lockdown Heroes (Non-League) **Winners: 2020–21 *Non-League Paper Community Club of the Year Award **Winners: 2022–23 London Womens Saturday League Division 2 winners 2023/24

Records

*Best

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup, and now Women's FA Cup (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...

performance: Third round, 2021–22 *Best

performance: Second round, 2024–25 *Record attendance: 1,432 vs Forest Hill park FC, 26th April 2025

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clapton Community F.C. Clapton F.C. Association football clubs established in 2018 2018 establishments in England Football clubs in England Football clubs in London Sport in the London Borough of Waltham Forest Eastern Counties Football League Middlesex County Football League Fan-owned football clubs in England Phoenix clubs (association football) Left-wing politics in sports