Football Without Fans – Brother Walfrid East London CSC

Brother Walfrid East London CSC

Founded in August 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, when a few like-minded supporters used to gather in The Carpenter’s Arms to watch the games. Their crowd was made up of former members of the Bhoys of Ilford CSC, which was founded in 2003 but sadly folded around 2011/12.

Since the end of the Bhoys of Ilford, they often spoke about setting up a new club, but for now they were content to meet up and see each other for games in either the Queen’s Head or Carpenter’s Arms pubs in Stratford, East London.

When COVID hit, a lot of people were lonely, struggling mentally, and not getting any social interaction, so it became more apparent that they needed something to bring them together and focus on. Chandra Connaghan started to think more seriously about trying to set up a new CSC, and with James (Cally) McAllister (RIP), they decided to get the ball rolling.

Seamus and Pauline Clarke in The Carpenter’s Arms had always been very welcoming to them, even though the bar was primarily a West Ham bar. She spoke with Seamus, and he welcomed the idea of a CSC being run from his bar with open arms.

So Cally and Chandra arranged a meeting a few weeks later with all those who had already shown an interest in a new club to come along and discuss the idea. On August 6, 2020, 15 people turned up and declared a new club.

A few possible club names had been discussed over the following weeks, but it felt only right that they should be named Brother Walfrid, as not far from their Stratford HQ is St. Anne’s Church and primary school, where Brother Walfrid resided and was Principal from 1893. This is also where the Celtic Foundation holds their London sleepouts, which they also proudly take part in every year.

They immediately started the membership process and got their name out on social media, and membership started to increase. Sadly, Seamus passed away, but Pauline and their family have supported them fully to continue with their club.

They now have a solid team with a committee of six and 50+ members. They show every televised game unless West Ham are at home. Unfortunately, this is part of running a CSC in East London. They use these days as an opportunity to visit the other CSCs in London.

It is not widely known, but they are like a big family and support each other’s clubs, events, and fund-raising. Their charity work, amongst other things, includes the Celtic Foundation sleepout and 10k walk, the Jimmy Johnstone 6-a-side tournament for MND and prostate cancer, their weekly food drive at HQ for local foodbanks, as well as donations to other local homeless and mental health charities.

They have produced merchandise including pin badges, keyrings, flags, polo tops, t-shirts, and regatta jackets. If you look very closely at their club badge and flag, there is a subtle nod to the Bhoys of Ilford-03. The year they were formed appears in the window of St. Mary’s.

In January 2023, they were the first London club in almost 20 years to run a bus to Hampden, which was a great success, and there have been requests to run more, which they are looking into. In May 2022, Chandra, Paul Flynn of Hayes Bhoys CSC, and Jim McGarry of Ramsgate CSC set up the South CSCs events group and created a WhatsApp group for all willing CSCs in the South, which is currently 29 CSCs.

This is a forum to share ideas, promote their events, and support each other. As part of this, Paul, Jim, and Chandra then organised the ‘Brother Walfrid at Grove Ferry’ event, with profits going to the Celtic Foundation. It was a great success and something they hope to do again. They are the newbies in London, and they only hope to get bigger and better for their members.

An extract from Football Without Fans – The History of Celtic Supporters Clubs by David McIntyre (Celtic Bars). Football Without Fans – The History of Celtic Supporters Clubs is out now and available in print and kindle versions HERE.

More to follow from Football Without Fans on The Celtic Star, the Celtic supporters website. Will it be your CSC that’s featured?

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