To return football to the Old Spotted Dog – London’s oldest football ground – we are required to build changing facilities. We have funded approximately 80% of the cost but still need £25k to get across the line.
Claim your perk – give a gift of £25 to receive a limited edition “Spotted Dog For Life” thank you card. Simply select ‘perk’ on the gift page.
This Christmas you can make Clapton girls and boys’ dreams come true by donating to the Old Spotted Dog Ground Changing Rooms Appeal.
Your name will be included on the new “Spotted Dog for Life ” page on the OSD website.
We are aiming to raise £25,000 over the coming months. Please help us reach our target.
Providing a quality pitch and changing facilities for Clapton teams is obviously central to the club’s existence.
However, we also want to make the ground accessible for the local community to use for football training, health and exercise projects.
There is a significant lack of available pitch space in Newham – the Old Spotted Dog Ground is just one of three football grounds in our borough.
Currently the OSD has no changing facilities, a requirement for league football. Though other improvements to the OSD also need to be made, constructing new changing facilities is by far the biggest hurdle we face.
So much progress has been made at the ground since CCFC acquired the freehold. We have already held one successful crowdfunder to replace the clubhouse roof and we have had hundreds of fans donate their time, skills and expertise to the project,
The overall construction cost is estimated at £150,000. In addition to construction, there are urgent infrastructural works that need to be carried out, such as new electrical and gas supply.
We have part-funded the project through our own funds and a Football Stadia Improvement Fund award of up to £50,000 from the Football Foundation.
Planning permission for new changing facilities was approved in November 2021 following a lengthy application process that began in February. During those months, material and labour costs increased significantly. This has led to a funding shortfall and we now require approximately £25k-£30k to complete the project.
Next Steps
Construction will commence in spring 2022. Studio Bates Rai Ltd will be our lead design consultant and architects.
They will be providing all the design information required to construct the facilities, alongside our structural engineer.
Once the builder is appointed, they will monitor site progress against the construction programme, inspect construction quality and resolve site queries as required.
We are asking for donations of any amount, from anyone who can afford to give.
Why are changing facilities so important?
After the club secured the freehold on the ground, the main goal was to restore the ground to a condition in which football can be played once again.
By reaching such a milestone we are faced with untold opportunities for both the club and the wider community including:
- Two of our women’s teams and our men’s first team will use the OSD as their home ground in the first season. This will give us enough experience of the playing surface to see what usage it can cope with and if we can invite in other local sports groups
- Our Young Tons sessions will be able to expand and bring in more young footballers from the borough
- The ground can be made available for local school sports days and other sporting events
What happens if we fail to build changing facilities?
The club would not meet the grading requirements set by the Football Association and therefore would not be able to host matches for the club’s three teams.
In turn, this would mean the ground would continue to go unused, leaving a wasted space that the community would be unable to use.
What work remains to be done?
For the club to be able to use the ground, we must first meet the grading requirements set by the Football Association.
The essential work is the construction of the changing facilities. The floodlight bulbs will need replacing shortly and we also need a new pitch perimeter fence.
Receive a limited-edition card
Gifts of any size are important to reach the £25k target. With gifts of £25 or more, we will send a limited-edition thank you card to the first 300 supporters, designed by a Year 12 pupil at St Bonaventure’s school, a neighbouring school to the ground, with whom we have a close and long standing relationship.
The card is signed by the club’s Women’s and Men’s 1st Teams and coaches.