A 24-year-old man from Kennington is running a new football club for Southwark kids to help keep them off the streets.
Jean Murungi founded London Community Academy (LCA) with a £1,500 prize he got from an entrepreneurship scheme at the university where he did his football business degree.
Now, a year on, the under-13s boys team has won its division of the South East London and Kent youth league, while one of the players in the girls team has been signed by the West Ham academy. Next year the club will grow to have two age groups for boys and girls – under-13s and under-14s.
Although he grew up and lives near Lambeth North Tube station, Jean went to St Michael’s Catholic College in Bermondsey for secondary and sixth form. He said he founded the club because there was little provision for kids in the area when he was growing up.
“The nearest club I went to was Tulse Hill FC – we played in Dulwich Park and that was a long bus journey,” said Jean, who is also a coach for Millwall.
“My mum was a single parent. There were four of us in the house, and she couldn’t commit to taking me to matches on a Sunday. I wanted to make the club accessible in the area I predominantly spent my time in as a kid.
“Most of the boys are ten-fifteen minutes away – it’s more accessible. Parents know that it’s just fifteen minutes down the road, which is safer than travelling far.”
Jean said that he wanted to create a better programme for the kids he works with than what he experienced growing up. “When I was a kid, we just played on grass, there was training, and you’d just turn up for a match on a Sunday.”
Now his players do gym work – although obviously no weightlifting – and coaches also run video analysis of games to show the children what they could be doing better. “I wanted to just give them more than your average grassroots club, I want us to act as if we were a pro club.”
Ironically, although Jean had little opportunity to play locally growing up, two football clubs were founded in Bermondsey in the past year, both won their leagues in their first season – and both play on the pitches at the City of London Academy on Lynton Road in Bermondsey.
As the News reported earlier this month, Rise United co-founder Daniel Alfred helped set up his club “to instil discipline” and keep kids off the streets.
‘We aim to instil discipline’: Bermondsey boys’ football club wins the league in its first season
LCA Sports has a similar aim, but perhaps a slightly softer approach. Club welfare officer Sky Yanda said a big part of her job was to understand how the children were feeling.
“As I’ve gotten to know them over the year, I can see how their behaviour changes. Sometimes they come in in a certain mood, and I can overhear conversations when they’re on their little five minute break.
“I’m there to make sure they’re not harming anyone and not being harmed themselves. Even the coaches themselves, if I could see that they’re causing stress on the kid, I would tell them.”
Sky recalled one incident where the parent of one of the boys was worried about their son’s mental health, after they found worrying notes he had written.
“We made it clear we’re all here for him. It’s important to have these chats, let them talk about things. Even if they just want to sit in silence, they can. It’s more than a club, it’s a family.”
Jean runs the club with Sky and two coaches – and they are all volunteers. But the club still has to charge the kids’ parents a fee to take part.
He said: “We’re looking to get sponsorship, which would allow us to lower fees. We really want to help out more kids in the community, and the end goal is to make it a free-running club.
“One kid who joined us, his parents were struggling to pay the membership, I said for the rest of the season just come for free. This boy’s mum wants to provide everything for her child. I said that’s fine I’ll cover the costs.”
Trials for next season are taking place next Saturday (July 2). Click here to learn more and book a place.