Too Leyton For Goodbyes

Sunday 10th March 2024

The Hare and Hounds Ground, Leyton E10 7LD

I try to be upbeat and positive with my blog content but today it's a time for reflection.

With several non-league clubs seemingly on the brink of extinction in 2024, I took the opportunity to call in on a club in the capital city that is no longer with us.

Before attending the WFA Cup Quarter final between Spurs WFC and Man City WFC at Brisbane Road, I took a detour to erstwhile Isthmian League club Leyton FC.

Leyton FC (and their previous iterations of Wingate and Pennant) disappeared from the football map in 2011 after 143 years in their various guises.

Their 4,000 capacity Leyton Stadium/Hare & Hounds Ground remains in situ but these days is a rotting carcus of a once proud beast.

Stands and terraces might still be intact but are overgrown and unkempt, the pitch area a makeshift car park and dumping ground.

Fridges discarded where football dreams once flourished.

The modern club building is now an Indian restaurant currently closed for Ramadan.

Apposite that my visit was on a dank, drizzly afternoon making the ghosts of football past even more poignant.

I have no words to express how followers of Leyton FC must have felt losing their club in 2011 after nearly 150 years. Just hope that the clubs currently facing a similar fate in 2024 can pull through.

RIP Leyton FC.