A CHAIRMAN of a football club who wants to set up a new youth team has called for more public football pitches in the north of the borough.
Egbertians Football Club is more than 80 years old and was founded as a Chingford-based club.
It played for many years at Ridgeway Park, where a young David Beckham used to train.
But in recent times its players have been forced to trek all the way down to Peter May Sports Ground, in Wadham Road, Walthamstow, to train as there are no suitable facilities in the north of the borough.
David Cross, the club's chairman, who wants to set up a youth team, is calling for something to be done about the situation.
He said: “We have been without a home for a number of years now, and although Peter May is not a million miles away, all our players live in Chingford and it does not help us to create a good club atmosphere.”
Although the council website shows a number of pitches for hire in the Chingford area, none of them have the capacity to host Egbertian's, which has five teams, says Mr Cross.
Mr Cross said: “When I first came to Chingford, in the early 1970s, Chingford Plains had a number of football pitches for use by the local community.
“This was changed towards the early 1980s when the football pitches were taken away and have ever since, remain unused.”
Mr Cross has written to councillors, the National Lottery, the Football Foundation and Sport England asking what can be done to restore football facilities to the north of the borough.
Mr Cross wants to set up a youth section of Egbertians, but believes it will be difficult without a club house of its own in Chingford.
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