THE CLUBS OF THE 2022/2023 MIDDLESEX COUNTY LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION

AVA FC were formed in 2016 as a youth football club by former footballer Adrian Avasâlcăi which is where the name AVA comes from being the first three letters of his surname. 

In 2019 the club signed a deal with the Gheorghe Hagi Football Academy which was the first ever International partnership with the organisation formed by the former Romanian International player.    

The AVA Academy has developed links with Premier and football league clubs with young players having trials at numerous clubs. 

An adult team was formed for the 2019/20 season and they joined the Middlesex County League Division One (West). They were top of the table when the season was curtailed due to the pandemic with an impressive record of twelve wins and one defeat in thirteen league games played scoring 52 goals and letting in just 11. In the 2020/21 season AVA won three and lost one game before the season was ended once again due to the pandemic. 

In their first season in the Premier Division they finished 9th of 14 teams winning nine of their twenty-six games. Many of their players are drawn from London's Romanian community. 

BRENTHAM FC have a rich history playing at The Brentham Club in Ealing since the football club was formed in 1919 by returning soldiers from the First World War. They did play in the Southern Amateur League until 2003 when they joined the Middlesex County League Division Three. 

The club finished 2nd in D3 in their first season and 8th in D2 in their second season. In 15/16 they were D1 West champions by goal difference to Greenford Celtic and were promoted to the Premier Division where they were runner's up in 17/18. 

They were top by 5 points with three games in hand over Cricklewood Wanderers in the 19/20 season when football was curtailed - they had a real chance of winning the title. Last season they finished as runner's up to NW London whom they lost to in the final of the Middlesex Intermediate Cup. They also made it to the semi-final of the Anagram Records Trophy. 

CB HOUNSLOW UNITED RESERVES have been members of the Premier Division since the 14/15 season. They won only one game in that campaign and finished bottom of the table. Since then they have finished 15th, 13th, 12th, 4th, 15th, 12th and 12th. 

The CB part of the club's name stands for 'CATER BANK' who were the club's sponsors when they were formed in 1989. 

Over the summer FC SOMA announced a merger with CAMDEN UNITED who are a club recently formed in 2019 "set up by the youth, for the youth, to use football as a means to tackle violence and knife crime" with the merged club taking the name of CAMDEN UNITED.

FC SOMA joined the league in the 19/20 season playing in D1 C&E. They had a fantastic first half of last season in the Premier Division losing just two of thirteen games - In the second half their form dropped off losing seven of thirteen.

CLAPTON COMMUNITY FOOTBALL CLUB were formed in 2018 by a group of fans who broke away from Essex Senior League club CLAPTON FC. Lots has been written about the formation of the club so we'll concentrate on what the new club have achieved on and off the pitch since 2018. 

The won the Division One C&E title in their first season in the league as well as the Division One Cup and making the Anagram Records Trophy final. 

Their first full season in the Premier Division was the 21/22 campaign where they finished in third place with only Brentham and NW London above them. 

CLAPTON COMMUNITY FOOTBALL CLUB were awarded the lease to The Old Spotted Dog ground in 2019 and purchased the freehold in July 2020. Many volunteers have put in hours of hard work in to bring the historic ground up to standard and league fixtures should be played in E7 this season at a ground where football was first played on in 1888. 

CRICKLEWOOD WANDERERS were formed in 2011 and currently groundshare at Wembley FC's Vale Farm home. In only their second season in the league they won the D1 C&E title by just 1 point from AFC Wembley. The Wanderers scored 76 goals in just 20 league games. They finished in fourth place last season winning thirteen of twenty-six games. 

They did enter the FA Vase between 2015 to 2020 reaching the Second Round on two occasions in 15/16 losing to Ipswich Wanderers after beating Welwyn GC in the first round. In 17/18 they lost 8-0 at Bracknell Town after winning at Cray Valley PM 1-3 in the first round.  

EAGLES LAND have entered the Premier Division after being formed in 2019. They finished in 6th (of 7 teams) in the Premier Division of the Harrow Sunday Challenge League. 

I don't have much knowledge about the club - they draw many of their squad from the Capital's Albanian community. 

It'll be very interesting to see their first few league results which may well indicate how well they will do in 22/23. Their home ground is listed as The Bannister Sports Centre in Hatch End.

The football section of INDIAN GYMKHANA was established in the early 1980s with the club initially playing Cricket since formation in 1916. It also has a Hockey section too. 

They joined the Middlesex County Premier Division in the 2007/08 season and were crowned champions at the first attempt with South Kilburn as runner's up and Sutton Common Rovers in third place. 

They have since finished 4th, 5th, 3rd, 6th, 8th, 8th, 8th, 5th, 4th, 5th, 6th, 11th*, 4th* and last season were 9th. 

The Indian Gymkhana Sports Club is located in Osterley just along and on the opposite side of the Great West Road to the Sky TV studios.

KENSINGTON DRAGONS were formed in 2001 when local children and parents met for a regular kick around in Kensington Memorial Park. The club has expanded since and has numerous boys and girls youth sides for along with the first and reserve team in the Middlesex County League. 

The first team play their games at The Linford Christie Stadium in W12. 

Last season despite finishing in 11th position The Dragons got through to the Alex Smith Premier Division Cup Final where they ran Clapton Community very close drawing 2-2 and losing on penalty kicks in front of a crowd of 360 people. 

KODAK FC (HARROW) were formed in 1935 initially for workers who were employed by the Kodak factory in Wealdstone playing in various leagues until 1973 when they joined the London Commercial League and in 2007 joining the Middlesex County League. 

As well as the first team the club have numerous youth teams in the Harrow Youth League. 

They are the current Division One North/West Champions which sees them return to the Premier Division they last played in the 2012/13 season. 

Here is a link to an interview with Danny Godfrey who played for the club at the time in 2018 - LINK HERE. 

LARKSPUR ROVERS were established in 1950 and now are a real community club having two senior teams, ladies, veteran and numerous youth teams for both boys and girls. 

Their home in the Lord Halsbury Memorial Playing Fields in Northolt where there is a 3g and grass pitches. 

Tariq Lamptey who has performed so well for Brighton & HA since his transfer from Chelsea in 2020 started his career in the academy teams at Larkspur Rovers from 2006 to 2008. 

Last season they finished in 7th place. 

OIR FOOTBALL CLUB (also known as Oasis Rovers FC) will play in the Premier Division for the first time in the 22/23 campaign. They joined the league when formed in 2020 and won the Division One Central & East title last season. 

They have played home games on the 3g pitch at Southbury Leisure Centre which is very close to where the old Southbury Road ground of Enfield FC was located. They have also played game on the 3G pitch across the playing fields at Donkey Lane. 

PFC VICTORIA LONDON return to the Premier Division for the 22/23 season. The club were formed in 2016 as a club for the Polish community in the Capital. 

They won D2 in 16/17 and were 2nd in D1W in 17/18 moving to the Premier Division for the 18/19 where they were runners up to St Panteleimon. 

There was talk of the club folding last summer but thankfully they didn't and dropped down to D1 SW for the 2021/22 season. 

PITSHANGER DYNAMO were formed in 1972 and take their name from the Pitshanger Park area in Ealing which is next to The Brentham Club were Brentham FC are based. There is only a short walk between the two club's homes although Pitshanger have been ground sharing at nearby Hanwell Town and North Greenford United in recent times. 

They were one of the founder member clubs of the Middlesex County League in 1984 finishing third from bottom of the first Premier Division with Harrow St Marys and Technicolour Sports finishing below them. 

Dynamo left the league in 1997 and were reformed in 2010 re-joining the league in Division Two.  

They finished 2nd from bottom last season after a 3rd place finish in the 18/19 campaign. 

Another club making their debut in the Premier Division are SHEPHERD'S BUSH. The club were founded in 2021 to be a Centre of Excellence for the best non-academy players. 

Founder Aaron Morgan states on their website "We are giving players who fall through the cracks of the academy system the chance to showcase their talents and to get back into the professional game.”

They won the Division One SW title last season losing just 2 league games of their 20 played. 

Much like OIR they are a bit of an unknown quantity having only recently been formed but won their respective divisions last season - Could they make the move upwards to Step 7 and be successful? 

STONEWALL FC were formed in 1991 when one of the club's founders placed an advert in a Gay publication asking if any like minded people were interested in playing football. Fast forward to 2022, after much hard work by many fantastic people both on and off the pitch, the club now have two Saturday teams in the Middlesex County League, a Unity Team in the London Unity League as well as a number of ladies teams.

Stonewall's website states "we are proud to have been a driving force in helping tackle discrimination within the game and will continue to challenge homophobia, transphobia and biphobia through the universal language of football." 

Their current home is The London Marathon Sports Track next door to West Ham United's ground in Stratford. 

The Middlesex County League Premier Division has to be one of the most diverse in World Football with teams very proudly representing the Polish, Romanian, Indian and Gay communities as well as players from many other backgrounds who live in the London and Middlesex area.  

It's certainly is something to celebrate that people have come together from all walks of life to form friendships and rivalries with one common interest being The Beautiful Game.