Now…let me take you back 4 years, to the year 2020. COVID. It feels like a complete blur and looking back was the most surreal time of not only my life but everyone elses, a once in a generation type event the like or which has not been seen for a very very long time.

It was a time of major unknown, where the only constants were staying at home, Netflix series binges, 6pm press conferences and the claps for the NHS. In truth for alot of people it was also a time of opportunity, spending time either working at home or furloughed, it allowed business ideas to take off.

However, the HUGE impact aside from the obvious threat of severe illness was the invisble impact that these lockdowns and the social isolation which was caused by them was affecting people. In many respects looking back over the whole period, the damage done to so many peoples mental health was just as damaging as COVID itself. People were left isolated, alone, out of jobs, no access to their families and no certainity on when it was all going to end and normal life would resume.

People needed help and luckily there are some amazing hardworking people out in the world with an incredible passion to help. One of those we will be speaking to today. James Farrell will speak to us on how he came to be the owner of Charcoal FC a team setup to help those in need and who are now looking to make the move into the non-league pyramid.

Enough from me, lets hear from the man himself!

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Name – James Farrell
Age – 40
Favourite Team – Millwall FC
Occupation – Concrete Contractor
One thing I love about football is – Old School Standing Terraces
Football pet hate – Players cutting the socks
Best player you have ever seen play in real life – Cristiano Ronaldo when Millwall played Man Utd in fa cup final in Cardiff 2004

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Q) Can you tell me when, how and why Charcoal FC came to be founded?

So, the initial idea behind The Charcoal was in 2020, if you remember, this was when COVID
started. And a lot of people were feeling really down and many were suffering with depression. I was like 36, 35 at the time and a lot of my ex-pro semi-professional players were obviously sort of coming to the end of their careers, being released by pro clubs, semi-pro clubs.

Now we all used to drink in a pub called The Charcoal in Sidcup, which unfortunately burnt down in 2020, before that it was somewhere we all went and so quickly became obvious it would have to be the name of the team.

I wanted to help and so the idea was to start a football team, a Vets football team, to help middle-aged men with mental health and issues that they face day-to-day. While also getting Vets football on the map and bring a smile back to these guys’ faces again.

I think a lot of men at that age, once they start to get released from their pro clubs, semi-
pro clubs, they feel a bit worthless, they feel a bit lost.

They feel like they haven’t got anything to give. And you find that a lot of them turn to
gambling, drugs, they have financial problems, they break up from their wives because
they’re a bit lost. So by starting that Vets football team for The Charcoal pub, it was a
way of keeping people together.

Obviously, getting through COVID was difficult as we actually started thinking of forming a team to help men in January 2020 alongside the pub, hence the name, with the season due to start later that year in the September, but with the March lockdown and then another lockdown
when the season started that year, it was tough and made the whole project even more important.

Q) Now from the 2020 creation to now, can you outline the success you have had in helping members of the team with their mental health and also with the overall success of the team in winning trophies?

So watching when I actually eventually got some of these guys who had been struggling all back on the pitch playing, watching the change in them as people, enjoying the game again, smiling, being around a group, that was really what, gave me great pride and satisfaction.

And I mean, if, if I had a pound for every message I’ve had off all the players over that time that have said to me, thank you for what you’ve done for me, I’d be very rich!

I’ve even had their wives message me privately and say, Gaffer, I know you know this anyway, but I just want to thank you for what you’ve done for my husband. He was in a rut. He was not really talking a lot, not, not going out. But now he’s coming home on a Saturday, he’s bursting with joy, win or lose. He feels a part of something again. Overall he is more productive, he’s getting up early again, gym, just so much better and these are messages that come from their wives.

Yes, we still want to win games of football, but if you’re getting messages like that and it’s benefiting people’s personal lives that have maybe been gone for a bit of a rough time or relationship together, then you can’t really ask for any more greater satisfaction than that.

We’re a very strong knit group. People can always come to us in terms of in the group and talk about their problems or issues. We help each other off the field massively. The women associated to the team also use it as their social network as well, the ‘Charcoal wags’ as they are called, it really just showcases how important and strong those bonds that have been built are.

But yeah, everyone wants to win trophies. Now I am a big believer on togetherness. I think togetherness will beat ability all day long. If you’ve got 11 men on that pitch that want to win for each other, I’d prefer that than 11 players with untold ability that don’t socialise together, don’t speak to each other outside of the game. A team that is together will win for me all day long, and that has shown in the trophies and success we’ve had.

We’ve had different teams over the last three, four seasons, but the foundations are always that same togetherness. And I truly believe that. I believe that that’s why we’ve been so successful. We have won alot of silverware in a very short space of time and for that I am really proud, i look forward to winning more in the future!

Q) So then after the initial idea took off and the team starting playing and was successful in both achieving its goal in helping people but also attracting a decent following, the decision to then start to look at entering the pyramid – explain how all of that came about and how it is looking now?

I always intended to enter semi-professional football and progress to the non-league pyramid. When people heard I planned to start with veterans and then move on to the pyramid, they questioned how it would work. They thought the players would be too old.

However, I believed the players who were 35-36 when I started in the veterans league would be crucial. These high-profile players helped build the platform for the Charcoal over the three seasons, by taking this approach we managed to attract top veterans from across England and gained a substantial profile as a result of it. And I would say that we have become the most successful veterans team in England.

Now, as we enter open age football, younger players at even higher levels want to join Charcoal. This is due to our personnel, platform, and previous trophies in veterans football. Plus, our Instagram following and support base has attracted them. If we had done it the opposite way, I wouldn’t have attracted such talented young players and we wouldnt be in the strong position we now find ourselves.

What does a Charcoal matchday look like and what does your day look like?

So… a typical match day for the charcoal would normally consist of the following:

Most Saturdays I have to work myself. So what I tend to do is collect the kit, the waters and the the sweets, basically all of the refreshments for the changing room. I collect the kit from the laundry, which I try and get done on a Friday. And then I head to the ground nice and early, around 6-7am.

When I arrive I put all of the kits, the waters, the medical equipment and training tops out, i then head off to work. I usually finish up around midday and head back to the ground (we usually kick-off at 2.30pm) so when i get back I have a quick shower and get back to work!

Now most of the boys start to arrive at the ground around 11am, we like to try and get an interview with one of them before the game, which we then use online.

Once that is done, I write the team sheets out, meet the refs, speak to the other team on the day and answer any questions they have (like what changing room they are in) and then let them know that there will be some refreshments after the game which they are welcome to join us for.

Once all of that is done I head out to the pitch and lead the warm up, then its gametime! Nine out of 10 times we come away victorious which is always nice!

Post-match we try and do another interview with one of the players or maybe a spectator and then we all going to club and have a drink together, our team, the opposition and all of the fans – how it should be.

Now can you take us back to when those first few matches took place, how did it feel seeing it all in action and what was the attendance like?

So our first ever game, we had a friendly with VCD vets. Now obviously VCD being an established non-league club for many, many years, it was it was a big, big ask for us. We’d never, ever kicked a ball. We’d only just started training. I knew their manager at the time, Jason Powell. They had alot of former semi-professional players because being VCD vets, they had a lot of players that had come out of the semi-pro scene. We had a lot too, but we’d never kicked a ball together. The game ended 3-3, which was amazing for our first ever friendly. After this game we then entered the league in the September, 2020.

The first league game that really sticks in my memory was against Stansfeld. Now Stansfeld is a team from Bermondsey with a long history and being that we’re sort of a south London team, a lot of the players are from Peckham, Dulwich, Forest Hill, Bermondsey, Walworth Road, that sort of way. There was a bit of rivalry, um, because obviously we’d done a lot of talking. Stansfeld had a long history, like I said, and it was kind of like bragging rights, really. Stansfeld v charcoal. Um. And it and it was whilst Covid was on so people couldn’t attend football grounds and I kid you not, there was probably three, 400 people there. Um, we roped off both the sides of the pitches, which the rope just basically got knocked over. Um, we won the game four two. And when we scored to make it three two, the roar you would not believe.

Bearing in mind this was a veteran’s football game. This is when I think vets football really took off when we went into it. Um, the crowds we were getting, um, and the people was, was really like interacting with the team and took us like, in their sort of hearts. That was the year that we went to the Cup final and there was like 700 people there. It was madness. Um, but to watch it unfolded in front of your eyes, which obviously I always knew was going to happen, um, was something quite special, really.

All the players had their kids in kits at the games and mums and dads that hadn’t even watched their sons play football for many years until when they were at pro level, were coming to the games. It was just a really amazing thing that everyone who was there was on the same page. Everyone was enjoying it. It was special, really really special.

Durrant Jemmott with the deft chip to make it 3-2 and Chrisy Piper scored the 4th goal, the commanding header to make it 4-2.

Q) Funding in football is notoriously very hard to come by in non-league football and even more so in recent years – how have you managed to raise the funds so far to sustain the club?

Basically it was self-funded by myself from 2020. I sponsored the kits for that season, and then I had a couple of boys sign for me that wanted to buy a kit, so they started sponsoring the kit. Danny Steels being one of them. He’s an Ex-millwall and Colchester player. He owns a big cleaning company, S&M cleaning. We’ve now got my mate Nicky Green, who was at Bromley and played in Cyprus. He’s got a clothing brand ‘Fail forward’, he sponsors our tracksuits, so I’ve had a little bit of support there, but if I’m totally honest with you, it’s been self-funded by myself for four years, which I’m not worried about.

I felt that this season, for us to go to the next level where I want to take it. As in my mind we had hit the pinnacle of Vet football. We are working on and in a much bigger platform, much bigger task, much bigger challenge. I can’t self-fund it. And that’s not through not wanting to I just haven’t got the finances to take it to that level, and I know that it’s going to need an awful lot of investment.

Now, for the first time this season we’ve started doing sponsorship packages and I’m not lying when I say the interest has been incredible. We’ve probably had over a hundred £100 sponsorship packages, which at the moment are not paying dividends because the money that comes in is paying for the fitting of that ad board around the pitch, but once they’re all up and there’s say 250 boards around our pitch next season, all I will have to do is send the email out to say, would you like to go again for £150 a season?

The hope is that the majority of them will all say yes and then you’re looking at like £20,000+. Some other investment we have seen is from renting our pitch out for cup finals, as it’s such a nice pitch. We also have a lovely bar area at our ground which can also be hired out.

But all in all, this is the first season that we’ve really gone to the next level with the website, merchandise, sponsorship packages around the pitc, kits and the tracksuits. We’re now running it like a business, It was just a hobby but to go to where I need it to go, it’s got to be run as a business. So yeah, this is the first year we’ve actually got external investment.

We’ve got the players, we’ve got the social media, the interest, the vision, the community. Everyone’s bought into the idea. So I’m really pleased so far with with the backing we’ve had.

So the growth of the club is incredible – what is your 5 year goal?

When we started in 2020 we obviously had an ambition of making it to semi-pro, SCEFL Prem, within 10 years. Obviously we’ve got to work our way up the ladder, but ultimately its where we can see ourselves being.

The next step for us is the Kent County League and there’s division 2, 1 and the Prem, I mean we’ve already played friendlies this season against Kent County Premier League teams, because I know a lot of their managers, they asked when they need a runabout, some players have been injured and they are looking to get players back to fitness, they always contact me to say can we have a game and they say look we’re covering the cost of the pitch and the ref, we just want charcoal to come in because obviously it’d be a good test, we played Kent United, we only had half a team and we drew 1 -1 and they’re in the Kent County Prem and that’s one league below the SCEFL 1.

So really and truly if all goes according to plan in the 5 years we can make the SCEFL Prem which is like Glebe, Punjab, Fisher Athletic, Stansfield, them sort of teams, that’s ultimately where you have to pay your players and people pay to come in and watch you.

So what we’re doing now is we’re putting all the ground improvements in so that as we go up the divisions we’re not having to run around doing these things then, we’re getting things done now. I envisage putting a fence all around the ground, not the crowd barrier an actual fence around the the ground so that then we can have a turnstile and people pay to come in and that will be for next season when we’re in the Kent County League.

Now the installation of the Lenny Piper stand is not only an amazing tribute but also an extremely forward thinking move by yourself, future proofing the club for the growth you envisage. What other plans do you have in the pipeline?

The Lenny Piper stand – so Lenny was quite close to my heart. Chrissie Piper, Lennys brother, is like a brother to me. We’ve grown up together, and he’s been with me since day one. He has set a football team up in his brother’s name. Sadly, they also lost their dad last summer (2023) as well.

This probably hindered Lenny because he’s fought cancer for ten years, so maybe losing his dad suddenly tipped him over the edge a little bit. I am a firm believer that the family deserve every bit of help they can get. So this stand, if it can give his family somewhere, they can go to remember then why not? They deserve it. They really do.

Now in terms of forward planning, yes, of course, I’ve got the ground requirements. I mean, The Oaks (SE9) , which has been the home of The Charcoal since our inception in 2020 is good enough for Kent County football anyway, you just need hard standing, which owning a concrete firm myself makes life a lot easier because I can do all the hard graft myself. That is why I decided to build the stand myself and keep costs down.

I’m the kind of person I want things yesterday. This isn’t a movement that’s going to sit still. Everything’s going to be progressing weekly, monthly, yearly and it’s only good for the team. It will attract better players and more supporters. Ultimately players want to play on the best surfaces in front of decent crowds, so why not start putting it in place now? I’m a firm believer in this old saying: You’ve got to believe you’re the champion before you’re the champion. So i like to think like we are in the SCEFL already, there’s no point in us getting all the way to the Kent County Prem and then running around like blue arse flies in the summer, getting the ground ready for the league, when we could do it now.

I could have left it, I could have waited until the end of the year and maybe put rails on one side. Then the year after that do the other three sides, then the year after that a stand. But why not? I know where this club is going and I know full well this club will make the SCEFL League within the next five years. We will compete in the FA vase within the next three years, and we will be in the FA Cup preliminary rounds within five years. And when I know that in my heart of heart, with the obsession I’ve got and the drive and the ambition, there’s nothing that’s going to stop it. Nothing at all. So yeah, there was always a forward thinking approach with the ground improvements, and I will definitely continue to keep that mantra as we progress.

Do you have your eye on any players in particular to recruit for when you make the move to the Kent County league?

I’ve already had messages of players that are dropping down from the Kent County Prem to play for us. You’ve got to remember a lot of these teams in the Kent County Prem, with all due respect to them, they’re clubs that have got like a hundred year history but probably get one man and a dog watching them. They barely stay afloat because they’ve got volunteers helping out and that’s fantastic for us.

We’ve got a lot of people behind us, a lot of people on board with a vision and alot of the local community support us in everything we do. Players want to be a part of that. Players want to turn up at grounds holding their little Louis Vuitton bag under their arm in their motor.

Players want to have their photo taken for the local paper and the Instagram. Whether it’s right or wrong, that’s not for me to decide, but unfortunately that is the way the world is now. So players will always be attracted to Charcoal because of the the publicity and the social media attention we attract that goes hand in hand with playing for the charcoal.

I won’t disclose the certain players that have already asked to come, but I can tell you now, we signed a player last week that’s come from the SCEFL one because he already wants to be a part of this movement, he said:

“I can see from the outside in, the way this is going, and I’ve probably got 2 or 3 years left in me. Do I stay at scefl one and just be a player, or do I be a part of history and join a club that is going to produce something that’s never, ever been done before and have my name go down in history books as being a part of that movement.”

And that is what is attracting people to us, mate. Like the vets players, they desperately want their names on the record books to say they was a part of the history of the club, going from a pub that burned down in 2020 to making it to the FA Cup and even saying it, my hair stand up on my arm, but I can tell you now, the FA Cup first round is a big ask. Big, big ask, obviously, but it’s just luck of the draw. But we will be playing in the FA Cup preliminary rounds, that’s for sure, and that you only have to get to the SCEFL to be involved in. So yeah.

Why should people start to come down and watch a game and can you briefly explain what a matchday experience is like for a fan, the food/drink and other elements that makes non-league football so special?

Right. So if somebody asked me that, the way I’d put it is, as a supporter, to come down and watch your local team, the charcoal, you’re gonna get the best of both worlds. Because what you get, you get an opportunity to see some really good ex pros that have played in the Premier League and for their countries, the likes of Danny Murphy, Nathan Elder, Ricky Shakes. You’re gonna get the opportunity to see them guys who have been there, done it, got the t shirt, and then you also get an opportunity to see some young, fresh talent bursting with energy trying to make their foot in the football world. You know?

If you was to go and watch some of them players I just mentioned there in the Premier League, you’d probably set you back, I don’t know, 50, 60 quid for a ticket, and that’s a cheap ticket. So to to have them players playing on your doorstep and you get the opportunity or you have got the opportunity to pop down and watch them kind of players play on your doorstep, it’s something it’s something that can’t happen at every other club. You know? So and then also while you’re there, you get to if you are a football man, it would be it’d be really good to be able to see some ex pros that have played at the top level also blended with some youngsters that are trying to put their foot in the football world, like I just said. So that blend there, and it’s on your doorstep, and you and you’re going and watching it for free, it’s an opportunity in it.

Why wouldn’t you do that? You also get the opportunity to meet other like minded local people that are enthusiastic about the vision, the charcoal we’ve got, the journey they’re on, supporting it and and in any way you can. Obviously, a lot of the local people have, sponsored us with advertising boards around our pitch. So they come to the games. They meet other sponsors that have done the same thing.

They talk. They they I mean, the other day, I had a butcher guy that I know who sponsored us for a board. He was at a game, and he actually said, oh, I need some fence in done. I’ll ring that guy because he knows it’s the fencing board around our pitch. So already they’re networking, you know, because they’re also supporting the local team and the vision we’re on and the journey, it it is sort of it’s a good network.

At the same time as well, a lot of these local businesses and they shut up shop on Saturdays at 12 o’clock. So it’s only natural that they think, you know what? I’ll pop down there my local team. I’ll go and have a beer. I’ll meet meet some other local

Yeah. So, look, obviously, local people that have bought into our vision and our idea of what we wanna achieve, they’re coming down to the games. They’re meeting other sponsors and other people within the community that are on board with division.

And it’s just a good day all round. They bring like I just went back to, they they come to our games, right, and they bring their kids in that, and the kids meet the other kids. I I kid you not, whether whether it sounds like people laugh or not, even down to some of these kids asked to have photos done with a couple of our players because they see it all over social media. If you’re a 5, 6, 7 year old kid and you’re constantly seeing the charcoal all over your social media and you’re seeing players. Like, like, they in their head, they don’t really understand whether they’re top elite athletes from the Premier League or if they’re charcoal players playing non league.

They don’t really know. All they know is they see them all over social media. So they actually wanna come to the games and meet them and have photos done with them, which I think is fantastic, really. And, obviously, it gets the dads out. Yes.

The dads come and have a beer with other men. It’s a family club. It’s a family orientated community football team. And we’re lucky because everyone’s sort of bought into the vision and idea of what we wanna achieve, and we need the support of the community behind us because, ultimately, this is what it’s about. It’s about getting everyone together and enjoying the game we love, in our local local area.

Q) Anybody reading this that is excited by the story and wants to get involved in either playing for the team or working with the team (sponsorships) whats the best way to get in touch with the club?

So we currently have 3 main sponsors who are all long-term partners, but we are always looking to partner with new businesses and people. We are very much a community based club and the more people we can help bring together whilst sustaining the team as we move forward is something we are always keen to do.

You can either drop an email to myself and the team here: admin@thecharcoalfc.co.uk

or alternatively you can always reach out via our instagram page (below)

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Well that brings to a close an amazing story of how football can be a healer in so many ways, the club has already healed so many men who before were lost and could have taken very different paths had it not been for the club forming.

The vision and leadership from James is beyond admirable.

In the time I have spent speaking back and forth with James in the creation of this feature, it is so abundantly clear how Charcoal has been so successful, the inner drive and overall enthusiasim from the Gaffer is palpable and you cant help but think that everything which he says is in his future plans will 100% definitely happen.

I am wholeheartedly looking forward to following the Charcoal journey, one that is clear to come with not only more trophies but also mended heads and hearts which at the end of the day is a bigger victory in itself.

Until next time!