Club ravaged by fire

By Andy Mitchell

DESTROYED: Hampton FC’s clubhouse after the fire

STEP 7 Hampton say they will bounce back and become “bigger and stronger” despite seeing their facilities destroyed in an arson attack.

The alarm was raised in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the clubhouse at The Boggery, Solihull, going up in flames.

It has left the Midland League Division Two outfit without facilities, requiring the first team to seek a groundshare for at least the first two months of the season. Some of the club’s other teams may still play from there with the help of the neighbouring Glades Football Centre, home of Coldlands Colts.

Chairman Scott Morrison told The NLP it is likely the building will have to be demolished and rebuilt from scratch as a result of a fire that CCTV has shown to have been started deliberately after a break in. The salvaged footage is being assessed by police.

“It is not in a great state. The clubhouse and toilets are destroyed, the dressing rooms are smoke damaged and black throughout,” said Morrison.

“It looks like it is going to have to come down, there is literally nothing left, even the plaster is peeling off the walls and the roof looks ready to come down with a good gust of wind.

“We want to rebuild it. We spent a lot of time and effort getting to where we were, the club was in a great condition and we had put together a five-year plan to get floodlights.

“That was our next goal, to drive the club forward, and this is probably going to set us back five years.”

The club is insured but with the added costs of operating while work is carried out unlikely to be recovered, Morrison has been bowled over by the support of the Non-League family – a GoFundMe page attracted more than £7,000 in donations by Friday morning.

“I have been involved with Hampton for more than 20 years and know how hard it is to run a grassroots club, for people to have helped in the way they have during hard times is absolutely fantastic, we are so grateful,” he said.

“We secured the site by putting up fences on Wednesday and asked if anyone could come up to help. There were more people than fences to put up which was really good to see.

“So many people are saying they will do everything they can to help rebuild the club. It will come back, it will take time and cost money but we will get there and be bigger and stronger than we were.”

To donate, visit: gofundme.com/f/we-areraising-money-forhampton-football-club