Sporting Bengal United 2-1 Frenford- 2022/23 Matchday Blog #46
Joe Marshall- @AllSportJoe
The London non-league scene is to me what the Andromeda galaxy is to NASA; an unimaginably vast collection of fascinating places waiting to be discovered, but yet so far untapped and unexplored, despite being so close (in relative terms, at least) to my doorstep.
After taking in some League Two action in the form of West London’s AFC Wimbledon the night before, I headed to the east side of the galaxy, to London’s Mile End; an area of London that, to a country boy like myself, feels ever so London. It is like every capital cliche has gathered together to form some sort of cockney comet, and has landed on this particular patch. Present, were the stereotypical accents of the locals which were taken straight out of an EastEnders episode, a brilliant boozer just a short walk from Mile End station, chicken shops lining the roads at frequent intervals, and incredible views of the skyscrapers, straight from an aerial shot in The Apprentice, demonstrating the vast levels of wealth that lie in wait, just a stones throw from poverty. All of these little facets perfectly encapsulating what I believed London to be all about.
Mile End Stadium
To borrow a phrase that has become popular among those who seek to gentrify many parts of traditional London, I sampled an “authentic flavour” of London’s non-league scene, by watching an Eastern Counties League Division One South game between Sporting Bengal United and Frenford.
The match took place at the Mile End Stadium, situated roughly half a mile from the Mile End Underground station. It was a pleasant enough walk down from the station to the ground, stopping off at the Wentworth Arms for a pint along the way. Like the three wise men following the star to find Jesus, I used the skyline of Canary Wharf to guide me. Despite not undertaking quite such a holy pilgrimage as those wise men, the birth of my non-league knowledge of London excited me.
The Mile End Stadium is located at the Mile End Leisure Centre, so if we’re to deal with the negatives first, it means that the ground has a running track circulating the pitch. However, they aren’t the only East London side to play football at an athletics venue, and the other one got to a European semi-final last season!
The complex opened in 2006, and serves as a fantastic sporting and fitness asset for the residents of the area. Inside the main part of the facility, there is a gym and a swimming pool, and just next door is an outdoor karting track. Ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games, the stadium was used as a training camp for the United States athletics squad, giving real Park Road, Cheadle energy. As well as tonight’s hosts; Sporting Bengal United, the ground also serves as the home of league rivals Tower Hamlets Football Club.
The groundshare aspect, as well as its primary function as a fitness centre and athletics facility means that it lacks any distinct characteristics that demonstrate that it is the home of either club. It feels rather like a placeholder instead of a ground that either club can call home. As I shall write about shortly, Sporting Bengal United are a fascinating football club, and in my opinion they deserve a home on which they can truly make their mark. They should be able to redecorate, hang up pictures and rearrange the furniture as and when they want. Instead, they feel like a frustrated tenant, scared to impose themselves on the place they live, living instead at the mercy of a joyless, overprotective landlord.
Upon arrival for the game, I found myself caught up in watching simultaneously, the latter stages of an athletics training session and the football sides’ warm ups. There is only one stand to sit in, with everywhere else uncovered, but this stand is fairly impressive in size, if not beginning to look slightly worse for wear. It occupies approximately the width of the centre circle and is tall enough to provide excellent views of the pitch and surrounding skyline. The only slight drawback is that spectators in this stand are at risk of having their view slightly impeded by floodlight towers. The bench-like seating arrangement is typical of an athletics arena, but meant that ‘manspreading’ was much more acceptable here than on the tube!
Without doubt, the most distinctive feature of the ground is the incredible view that comes with the location, particularly during a night game. The bright lights of Canary Wharf dominate the backdrop, and for someone like me, who grew up in the countryside, with London often feeling like a land of mystique and wonder, it was remarkable to see the skyscrapers dazzling in the distance.
Mile End Stadium Experience
Rather than entering through a traditional turnstile, fans enter the ground through the reception of the gym. I paid a combined £6.50 for my entrance fee and programme, before being buzzed through the electronic gate-style turnstile ready to enter the stadium itself through the automatic doors.
Not being a purpose-built football ground, and spending 99% of the time being used as a leisure centre, the food and drink facilities are limited to just a couple of vending machines, so a half-time KitKat had to be enough to satisfy my appetite.
The programme itself consisted of only eight pages, however, with its noticable lack of adverts, it probably works out as better value for money in terms of actual features than many programmes that I’ve had this season. It is a perfectly acceptable effort, extremely well designed and put together.
The Teams
Sporting Bengal United
Sporting Bengal United were founded with a mission; to increase the Asian representation in football in London, and give those already playing, an opportunity to progress as far as possible in the game. As somebody born in 1996 (incidentally the same year that Sporting Bengal United were founded), I noticed there was a significant lack of Asian players involved in football. In fact, my first memory of there being an South Asian player in the professional game was when Michael Chopra, the English-born striker with Indian descent was racially abused. Not the best means for me to discover Chopra’s heritage.
They initially brought together a group of talented Bangladeshi players in London, and won the UK Asian League three years in a row, between 1996 and 1998, as well as the Asian League Cup on two occasions.
Sporting Bengal United were founded in 1996
The team has also toured Bangladesh on a couple of occasions, and played friendly matches against the national team, both at under 16 annd under 19 level, as well as the Bangladesh senior national team.
Back in the UK, they made steady progress up the leagues, and in 2003/04, they were elected to move into the Kent Senior League (now known as the Southern Counties East Football League), which consist of divisions at step 5 and 6 of the non-league structure. With this move, they also began to enter the FA Vase and FA Cup, with their joint best ever Vase performance coming this season, reaching the Third Round, losing out on penalties.
They moved to the Essex Senior League in 2011-12, where they remained until last season, at which point they were relegated to the league they find themselves in, the Eastern Counties League Division One South. During their time in the Essex Senior League, they went on their best FA Cup run, beating Clapton and Ipswich Wanderers to reach the First Qualifying Round in the 2016-17 season. In the league, they peaked in the 2018-19 season, when they finished eighth with a respectable 53 points. Their status in the Essex Senior League, however, came to a calamitous end last season, when they were relegated in a crushing manner, with just 13 points. (I’m not even going to mention the goal difference, if you’re morbidly curious, I’ll let you seek it out yourself).
Now under the leadership of Steve Clark, they are looking to make an immediate return to the level above, as prior to the evening’s game, they sat fifth, firmly in the playoff spots. However, three points would not be an easy ask, as they took on the league leaders…
Frenford
League leaders Frenford have so far made the Eastern Counties Leauge Division One South look as simple as the Eastern Counties League Division One South can look. Top of the league going into this game, they had only lost three games all season, so they looked like a strong outfit.
Frenford Football Club was established as part of Frenford clubs, a boys club that grew into a sporting and social organisation. During the war, the football team was founded, playing in local leagues around Ilford under the name of Frenford Senior. Over the years, the number of teams playing under the Frenford banner has grown, from youth teams to men’s and reserve teams, the club has a whole host of teams, that on the whole, have been rather successful.
The senior team’s first title came in 1976, as they were crowned champions of the Ilford & District Senior League. They had to wait a while though before their next honours, as it was only in 1995 that they joined the Essex Intermediate League Division Two. They took no time to climb out of that division however, winning it at the first attempt, thus gaining promotion to Divison One.
Frenford celebrate lifting the Essex Senior Cup, 2016
Credit: Frenford FC, Facebook.
They remained in Division One of the Essex Intermediate League for over a decade, and despite finishing runners up on several occasions, including their very first campaign at this level, they didn’t win the title until 2011-12 season, retaining it the following year.
During Frenford’s stint in the Intermediate League, it was renamed the Essex Olympia League, and when they eventually left it behind in 2018-19 to join the Eastern Counties League, they had achieved tremendous success, particularly in the cup competitions, with no less than twelve cup titles across various competitions between 1999 and 2018.
As mentioned above, ahead of their trip to Mile End, they sat pretty at the top of the table on 67 points, 9 ahead of second-placed Wormley Rovers, who had played an equal amount of games.
The Match
It was a bitterly cold night in East London, the kind of night where even the buildings look like they are shivering. The game started slowly, with few chances in the opening 20 minutes. The cold temperatures seemed to permeate into the players’ touch, with first touches as firm as a pitch heavy with frost.
The game’s opening goal came after around 30 minutes. Despite being runaway leaders, Frenford had shown little to convince anyone that they would run away with this particular game during the early exchanges. However, they took the lead after a long throw was turned in by Sam Cross following a flick on.
The rest of the first half remained relatively uneventful, and the visitors went into the break with a lead that you could argue was undeserved, however Sporting Bengal United hardly deserved to be ahead either. In all honesty, the first half was lucky to see a goal, given the scrappy nature of the play.
Sporting Bengal United started the second half strongly, and came out of the break with intent, playing very much on the front foot. It wasn’t long before they had their equaliser. When a speculative long range shot was drilled towards goal, the wind had ideas for the ball’s trajectory that no one else, especially the Frenford goalkeeper had in mind. The ball moved dramatically, and the quickest player to react after the shot was spilled was the eager Sam Edwards. His rebound levelled the game at 1-1, and with this, the match came to life.
Sporting Bengal moved the ball around with much more confidence, with more assured touches than in the first half. They earned themselves a number of corners, which although fruitless, proved that they could take the game to a strong Frenford side.
With around 20 minutes left on the clock, the home side grabbed what was to be the winning goal. The ball was hoisted into the box from a free kick around 40 yards out, and Murad Kutateladze got to the ball before the goalkeeper to head into the unguarded net.
For the remainder of the match, Sporting Bengal United looked assured winners. They even looked like they could add to their tally. On the occasions when Frenford pushed forward, they lacked the creative spark required to find an equaliser, I’m sure they would have left disappointed by their second half showing.
The match finished without incident, save for a little bit of pushing and shoving that occurred between the dugouts, with really amounted to very little. There is clearly a lot of passion at this level of football, and it was refreshing to see that that determination to get three points exists all over the country.
The final whistle sounded and the game was won by Sporting Bengal by two goals to one. It was somewhat of a surprising result based the league table going into the game, but no one could really argue with the result given the performances over the 90 minutes, particularly the energised second half showing from the hosts.
There really is a lot to be admired about a club which sets out to give opportunities to any group of under-represented people. For that reason, Sporting Bengal United will forever have my respect. Projects like this are seemingly impossible to get off the ground, but the hard working people involved took an idea, created it, and got it playing in the English league system in less than a decade. They took an idea, and gave the best Asian players in London the opportunity to represent a team and fulfil their potential, and play at the highest level possible, including in the oldest cup competition in the world.
All of this should be praised and championed, but I wish more people came out to witness it. It might be that attitudes towards non-league football are different in London, a city that I have always associated with a lust for style, elegance and the creme de la creme. Does this mean that locals are not particularly interested in watching tenth tier football? Maybe it was the weather? Maybe it was that the ground lacks the facilities to make going to Mile End a worthwhile use of time in a city that is constantly in a rush? Whatever the reasons, I’m sure they will be valid, but I truly believe that Sporting Bengal United has the potential to be one of the best supported tenth tier clubs, if not in the country, but certainly in the London area. For all the hard work that has gone into the project, and the reasons behind it, they definitely deserve it.
For me, it was now time to leave, and there’s only so much that a KitKat can do to fill me up, so a quick pit stop at a chicken shop for a burger and chips kept me sustained for my journey back to the B&B. It was goodbye to London football for now, but I will certainly be back.
Final score: Sporting Bengal United 2-1 Frenford
Attendance: 30 (approximate headcount)
Admission: £5
Programme: £1.50