A non-league football team partly owned by Wilfried Zaha and Stormzy has criticised Croydon Council for failing to act swiftly after a group broke into Mayfield Sports Arena to drive caravans onto the pitch.
Growing piles of fly-tipped rubbish has also affected the home of AFC Croydon who say the delay is threatening public safety, wildlife, and community sport.
“It is disrupting everything really,” said Paul Pickering, Director of AFC Croydon. “We don’t feel the site is safe right now.”
The club has now been forced to cancel a junior football event scheduled for this weekend due to security fears. Officials are also worried that rubbish dumped on the site could catch fire and spread.
The illegal encampment was set up overnight on Wednesday, June 25, with members of the group allegedly breaking through a locked gate to enter the site.
With the number of campervans growing from six to eight, rubbish on site has built up. Mr Pickering says the club has had issues with fly-tipping before, but this situation is worse.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “We started to lock the gates as a deterrent… but obviously the [members of the encampment] are a different kettle of fish.”
The site is no longer secure, and now fly-tippers are taking advantage of the open gates. The club says it can’t legally relock them due to ambulance access concerns.
An AFC Croydon associate, who didn’t want to be named, said the scale of fly-tipping is rapidly growing. “The fly-tipping build-up is massive already,” they said.
They explained the rubbish is being dumped on land the club doesn’t own. He added: “The fly-tipping is taking place on unadopted land, which we have been trying to buy off the council for a long time.”
The associate said the issue is affecting the wider community, not just the club. “There are people contacting us from the local area asking what we are doing about it.
“We are saying we don’t own the ground and it’s the council’s responsibility. If they are allowed to stay there any longer, there is going to be a pretty ridiculous amount of fly-tipping to clear.”
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This recent incident is part of a wider pattern of unauthorised encampments in Croydon. Similar incidents have been reported at Duppas Hill and Purley Way Playing Fields, causing repeated concern over damage and waste.
Croydon Council didn’t respond to the club until Tuesday, July 1, nearly a week after the group arrived. “This is the first acknowledgement we have had from them since they came last week,” said Mr Pickering.
Youth trials for children aged seven to 14 were also cancelled last weekend. “They would be pretty much playing where the campervans are, so we don’t want to take a chance,” Mr Pickering said.
The club also fears damage to the playing surface and infrastructure. “It poses a big security risk for us. We are having thousands of pounds of work done on the pitch and obviously, there is a pause on it now,” said the associate.
AFC Croydon is also preparing for its FA Cup campaign, set to begin in just four weeks. “We are meant to be playing in the FA Cup in four weeks, but there is still a security risk with the gate at the moment,” said the associate.
Others using the site have raised concerns, including a horse owner worried about fly-tip related fires near animals. “He has got a conifer tree that he is worried about catching light and threatening the horses,” Mr Pickering said.
One local girl was reportedly shouted at by men from the encampment while walking nearby. “She had obscenities shouted at her as she was walking across the field,” he added.
The site is also home to wildlife, owing to its close proximity to the South Norwood Country Park next door. “We just had a two-week camera check by the Mitcham Hedgehog Project, who found that we do have hedgehogs here,” said Mr Pickering.
AFC Croydon Athletic first team play in the Isthmian League South East Division. They are currently owned by a three-man consortium including the rapper Stormzy and Crystal Palace legend Wilfred Zaha, both of whom are from the area.
A spokesperson for Croydon Council said: “As the land is leased to AFC Athletic, the responsibility for managing and evicting the group rested with them. A court summons was issued to remove the travellers, who have now moved on.
“It is unacceptable that the site was disrupted and left with large amounts of rubbish. We contacted the club immediately upon learning of the encampment to offer practical support. We will now work with the club to explore what additional measures may be needed to prevent further incidents.”
