Cray Wanderers film portrays life of a struggling non-league footballer

CRAY WANDERERS manager Ian Jenkins says his players’ are relishing their London Senior Cup tie away to Bromley in front of the big screen, writes Stephen McCartney.


The Wands face their landlords in a Fifth Round tie, which will kick-off on Sunday, 11 December (3pm), just 24 hours both club’s face league games.

Bromley have acted swiftly to re-arrange their trip to Dover Athletic in Blue Square Bet South for 10 December, as both Kent clubs had a free date having been knocked out of The FA Carlsberg Trophy last weekend, whilst Cray Wanderers welcome Bury Town to Hayes Lane for a Ryman Premier League fixture.

But never has a London Senior Cup tie (which is sponsored by Coventry Scaffolding) ever attracted so much publicity, other than the odd game covered by myself on www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

Locally-born film director, David Anderson, will be filming extracts from the match, pre-match and post-match dressing room scenes for his latest short film called “Saturday”.

SAM is a non-league footballer for Cray Wanderers in his mid-30’s, is struggling to find a balance between his passion and financial security.  When his girlfriend suddenly needs some extra cash, SAM does everything in his power to stop the two words colliding.

“Saturday is a celebration of football and an exploration of the fundamental conflict between passion on the one hand and the reality of the need to earn money on the other,” explained Anderson.

Anderson explained the obviously differences between the Barclaycard Premier League and a club that average 171 – the third smallest supported club in the Ryman Premier League and play at a ground that’s almost five and a half miles away from their traditional base at Sidcup.

“Whilst multi-million pound transfer deals and mammoth wage structures dominate back pages (and often the front) of the national newspapers, the vast majority of football clubs survive on a fraction of these incomes,” said Anderson.

“Yet, non-league clubs harbor the exact same passions in the push for promotion or the fight to avoid relegation; the fans cheer just as loudly when their team scores and are equal vocal when the referee makes the (supposedly) wrong decision.

“I am appalled by the ever-accelerating trend of football clubs becoming indistinguishable from any number of multinational corporations, as concerned with profits as the game itself, with the pre-season tours in lucrative markets and pricing their fans out of tickets to make room for their corporate guests and sponsors.

“The game (at Premier League level) is now saturated with money, distorting competition, with clubs winning trophies on borrowed money that can never be repaid, trying players into celebrity millionaires who earn more money in a week than most fans earn in a year.”

Anderson added: “Non-league football is raw, passionate and connected to local communities.  It is the roots of the game and deserves far wider acknowledgment.

“Having grown up in the suburbs of south-east London and Kent, I’m keen to continue to make films here and Saturday will be made with the full support of Cray Wanderers Football Club.

“Cray Wanderers are the second-oldest football club in England and celebrated their 150^th anniversary last season.

“Despite their prestigious history Cray have no stadium and are currently playing their home games in Bromley whilst they await application approval for their new ground at Sandy Lane. 

“The club have fully supported the project since its conception and their experience of the game has ensured that the film will provide an accurate portrayal of the world of non-league football.”

Speaking about the film, Anderson added: “Previous films about football have, in many cases, taken an idealistic ‘rags-to-riches’ fairly-tale narrative whereas Saturday will take a more realistic approach to the world of non-league football.

“It will focus on the difficulty to combine the demands of working a full-time job with the commitment and desire to play non-league football.  The reality is that the money at the top of the game does not trickle down into the lower divisions.  The gulf between the rich and poor clubs continue to widen.

“It is a privilege to make films and I’m interested in telling stories which are not usually portrayed in cinema.  As a filmmaker I believe I have a responsibility to be critical and challenging, to ask difficult questions.  With Saturday I want to challenge the notion that personal wealth is the benchmark of success and suggest that people should be judged by their passion, loyalty and commitment, not solely by their market value.”

Long-serving manager, Ian Jenkins, who first played for the club when it played at Oxford Road, Sidcup back in 1993 in their Kent League days, before taking over as manager in 1999, and guiding the club to its highest ever level – the Ryman Premier League – is relishing the game against Bromley.

“There’s a film being made about the club so that’s the reason why we’re playing Bromley on the Sunday, which will be a competitive game.  It should be a good weekend,” said Jenkins.

The club will also submit their application to Bromley Council on 9 February 2012, for planning consent to build the new football stadium at Sandy Lane in St Pauls Cray.

Supporters and interested parties are invited to preview the plans at The Bull Inn, Sandy Lane, during the weekend of 9 and 10 December between 10am and 2pm.

It will be a busy weekend for Jenkins’ side, who will play Bury Town on the Saturday and then away to Bromley on the Sunday, both games at Hayes Lane, kicking off at 3pm.

The club will be running a special coach from The Bull Inn on both days to take supporters to Hayes Lane.

Jenkins cannot wait to lead out his side at Sandy Lane, but he paid tribute to Bromley owner Jerry Dolke for his support since the Wands started playing their home games at Hayes Lane in 1998.

He said: “I just hope the planning goes through and we get it and it will be brilliant (playing in our own stadium).

“Without Bromley we wouldn’t be anywhere would we, and without (our chairman) Gary Hillman we wouldn’t be anywhere, so it’s great that they let us share down here and Jerry Dolke has been different class for us.  He’s let us have the run of the place, he hasn’t stopped us doing much here.

“It’s nice to be here but it would be great to have our own ground.”

Before their busy two-match weekend, Cray Wanderers travel to basement side Horsham this coming Saturday (3pm).

Meanwhile, Bromley have confirmed that they have reduced their admission prices for the London Senior Cup tie against Cray Wanderers to just £5 for all supporters.

Visit Cray Wanderers’ website: www.craywands.co.uk  

For more details about the film, visit: http://dnfilms.co.uk/saturday/