Clapton CFC is the subject of a new documentary called ‘This Club Belongs To You And Me’ which is out now. The Voices. Media documentary covers the political and community ethos of the club and how ‘it has become a beacon of hope for football fans’. Director Barry James explains more…

“You probably want to cut that”. Ellie looked at us slightly anxiously as she removed her lapel mic. “I’m OK for you to use it but it’s quite upsetting”. It was our first interview with anyone at Clapton Community Football Club (CCFC) and unbeknown to her she had completely hit all reasons why I wanted to make a documentary on them in the first place. Ellie Guedalla, as the female coach, encapsulated a love of the game, the poisoning of it and a triumphant return with Clapton. We didn’t cut it, we loved it.

Football, while still the world’s most well attended  sport, is in crisis. Capitalist and imperialist ideology has its claws deeply embedded in the beautiful game. Billionaire owners and despotic regimes are moving it further and further away from working class supporters who have been its lifeblood since its inception.

The threat of the breakaway super league highlighted how much power the most elite clubs wield and how little regard they have for fans who attend regularly. But why would they? Last season’s Premier League broadcast and commercial revenues brought in five times more income than matchday revenue. When money is the main motivator, of course more lucrative TV markets and shirt sales in far off lands will take precedence over the match day goer. Loyalty doesn’t pay as much as a Middle Eastern TV deal or an exploitative gambling kit sponsor.

Standard capitalist free market ideals just don’t apply to football.  If you don’t like your supermarket then you can just find a different one. For reasons most supporters know, you can’t do that with your football club.

So what’s to be done? How do we put football back in the hands of those who cherish it most and the communities that built it? As we found out, Clapton Community Football Club has the answer. While I’ve been a member for some time, attracted initially by the flags and politics of the football club, I wasn’t often able to get to games because of attendance at my first football love (and often my tormentor) Queens Park Rangers.

So I was curious about how it all came about, how it operates in a football environment so hostile to grassroots football and in a society so embedded in consumerist thinking. It turns out that solidarity, inclusivity, and community work is the solution.

CCFC has been around since 2018. Since then they have gone from strength to strength most notably purchasing the Old Spotted Dog ground, in large part funded by shirt sales from its striking ‘No pasarán’ anti fascist international brigade shirt which pays homage to the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War.

So me and Pete, the other half of Voices Media, started filming our documentary This Club Belongs To You And Me, titled after the slogan written across a banner often seen at home games that epitomises the club’s philosophy. 

Fan and activist Matthew Cunningham sat down with Asad Rehman (another long term member and the Director of War On Want) and explained the democratic committee structures and the club’s affiliations and community work with organisations such as the children’s advocacy group The Magpie Project. 

Jane Williams, Magpie Project’s founder, talks passionately about children’s issues locally and how the club has helped the project materially in a long-term way because of what CCFC see as their community obligation.

And inclusivity? Ellie Guedalla, herself a former victim to the worst of football’s problems. It has allowed so many who are marginalised by society and patriarchal football hegemonies to discover or even return to the game through training sessions and matches. It should be noted that thanks to this work and the club’s culture of equality, that the women’s football side is so much larger and more active than the men’s.

“So we’ve made a football documentary without much football in it. Is that a problem?” Pete asked in the edit after shooting two games and largely dropping most of the footage in favour of these interviews. 

No. The act of kicking a ball itself doesn’t bring a community together, but we hope that This Club Belongs To Me And You truthfully captures the very special template that Clapton Community has developed and offers a unashamed left wing solution to the worst aspects of modern football in a way that brings joy to the club and community. As Ellie puts it in the film, the club is ‘righting wrongs’ in football.

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