How East Thurrock are being put back on the football map

Just six months after the Rocks were liquidated, Jack Duffin has helped to form a new look club which will be run by the fans.

And Duffin, the club’s chairman, has been blown away by the level of support coming his way.

“It has been insane,” said Duffin.

“We sat down and said if we could get to 100 fan owners by our first game we would be doing well.

“But we got that in 22 days.

“We’ve got owners in eight different countries now and it’s incredible.”

Owners are required to pay £5 per month or £50 a year to come on board and play their part in how the club will be run.

Hopes are high the club can kick off at the start of next season.

But such excitement is in stark contrast to the emotions felt by all East Thurrock fans towards the start of the current campaign when the club was wound up.

“It was bizarre,” said Duffin.

“There was suddenly no more football and it was just such a weird feeling.

“It was something we spent every weekend doing and then it just wasn’t there anymore.

“Sure you can go to other games and I love groundhopping but it’s not the same because it’s not your team.

“You don’t care who wins and it was gut-wrenching.”

But Duffin soon started to set the wheels in motion to start what will be known as East Thurrock Community Club.

“It was about a month before we sat down and started to create something because it was almost like grieving,” said Duffin, who first became a fan after finding the original club on Football Manager!

“Firstly it was about finding a group of people who wanted to help out and get it going.

“If it was only two or three showing an interest we wouldn’t have bothered but we got a good group of eight or nine of us together.”

And from there the hard work started.

“After that it was just researching,” said Duffin.

“We wanted to be a fan run club to give us peace of mind and we went through all of the other clubs run by fans in the country.

“There’s about 60 so we went through all of the websites to see what we could take from them all.

“The Football Supporters Association were a huge asset in helping us too and we wanted to cover as many areas of possible before we had a public meeting.”

Working hard - Jack Duffin (Image: East Thurrock)

That included sorting out a place to play and Duffin is delighted East Thurrock will be lining up at the Wyldecrest Sports Country Club, which was formerly known as the Peg.

“We looked at every single grass pitch in the Stanford and Corringham area,” said Duffin.

“We reached out to these places and we put it to our owners.

“The benefit of where we’ve ended up is we can stay here long term and 91 per cent of the owners voted for it too.

“We can progress here and we’re excited.

“We want a community club that’s in the area not ground-sharing elsewhere and we’ve got somewhere we can grow it.”

But East Thurrock have yet to have it confirmed what level they will be starting their first ever season.

“We’ve got until the end of March to apply and we’re going for the Essex Olympian League,” said Duffin.

“That’s the most natural geographical area but it’s going to be down to them.

“We’d like to go in to the First Division which is the 12th tier of English football but we’ll have and see.”

However, Duffin already has the football side of things sorted with club legend and previous manager John Coventry offering his services where that is concerned.

“About a month ago, John Coventry sent an email asking to come to the meeting,” said Duffin.

“He said he wanted to help and we asked if he would do the football side of things.

“That’s been brilliant because I’ve run voluntary organisations before and I can run a club but I’m not there to run a football team.

“You see it up and down the country where people who have played Fifa want to get involved but we’ve got that separation.

“But it’s a real marriage made in heaven that he’s got involved.”

Coventry’s son, John, will run the team alongside Kevin Scott, a partnership which pleases Duffin.

“It’s a dream pair and all three of them have worked together before too,” said Duffin.

“It allows us to hit the ground running and we can’t wait.

“We don’t know how far this can go but we just want to watch football on a Saturday again and we’re nearly there.”