Beavering away. Work ethic and attention to detail at Hampton and Richmond Borough FC.

Words: Tom Reed

Images: Tom Reed

Cock up your beaver, and cock it fu' sprush!

We'll over the border and gie them a brush:

There's somebody there we'll teach better behavior -

Hey, brave Johnie lad, cock up your beaver!

Cock up your beaver. Robert Burns.

Football fans love a good moan.

It’s part of the cleansing process of going to the match.

“They haven’t got any mustard for the hot-dogs Sandra”.

“Have you seen the size of the queue for the bar Kenneth?”.

Once we have had a whinge and contemplated why we are stuck behind Sandra and Kenneth, we are ready for the pure elation of watching a goal being scored.

This means that Hampton and Richmond Borough FC are a disarming outfit, as there is virtually nothing to grumble about there.

©Tom Reed/ Terrace Edition. Hampton and Richmond Borough vs Eastleigh. On film.

For starters, the club’s nickname is “the Beavers”, possibly the best nickname in English football.

They play at the “Beveree”, again probably the greatest name for a ground in the English game and evocative of the hairy rodents having a grand time floating around on their backs in the afternoon sun.

Beavers were once pretty much extinct in London but are now thriving in this neck of the woods thanks to the “Ealing Beaver Project” which might be a conservation project or the name of a niche 1970’s jazz mag.

Nevertheless, the football club is managing to inhabit the work ethic of its namesake mammal by taking care of the ecosystem of sport in the suburb of London that TV comedy Ted Lasso pitched up in.

And while Ted Lasso nuts are busy visiting filming locations just down the road, the Hampton and Richmond Borough FC staff are preparing for an FA Cup Fourth Round Qualifying match vs Eastleigh.

©Tom Reed/ Terrace Edition. James: HRBFC Kit Man. On film.

Seb White of STAND and Mundial fame is waiting to greet the players in a very kindly act you’d expect of clubs higher in the pyramid. Seb’s only famous if you are a connoisseur of very good football magazines but he also managed to get on the board of the club at one point, which again points to someone who isn’t work shy.

James, the Hampton and Richmond Borough Kit Man is taking a breather ahead of all those smelly players arriving and ruining all his hard work.

Kit men are always mystery figures at clubs for what do they get paid with? Persil? Are their pockets full of scented tumble dryer sheets? Do they dream of DAZ?

Alas, James is charming and when we clarify that Lenor is a fabric conditioner rather than a new Spanish striker, is content to talk about disability football and all the work his family has done in making the game more accessible.

Inside this hidden gem of a non-league ground, the vista opens out to a beautiful juxtaposition of swaying autumn trees, concrete and scaffolding.

Mike Holland, who oversees the boardroom on match-day stands in the doorway and takes everything in. A quietly spoken man with a seeming sagacity of character, he surveys the Beveree, which is looking an absolute picture in the October sun.

In the distance, you can hear the fans of opponents Eastleigh chanting from the World’s End pub. They are visiting from Southampton on the piss and making a jolly good job of it.

Hampton and Richmond Borough is up there for an away day, not just for the two pubs within walking distance (see also the Jolly Coopers) but the stadium that makes the act of supporting so easy.

There’s a nice structure behind one of the goals with seating and, on the opposite end, a tin shed home end with just enough scaffolding and corrugated iron for the younger fans to make a racket.

On one side of the ground there’s a huge scaffold construction, like a 1970’s TV gantry on speed. You could imagine seeing it in the final battle of a paintball arena rather than the football but it elicits a feeling of ramshackle which connects us to the true nuts and bolts of the sport.

©Tom Reed/ Terrace Edition. Hampton and Richmond Borough vs Eastleigh. Digital.

Then there’s a further two stands down the other side of the pitch with just the right level of weathered seats to make football hipsters’ senses tingle.

The black Banbury Sportseats will be the vintage shirts of the future and there will be a large store in London with one of them on a shelf, surrounded by machine moulded rubber nerds ready to pay 500 notes for the pleasure.

What Hampton and Richmond Borough get so right is what so many top clubs in modern football get so wrong. All you need to do is give fans a place to stand or sit, a roof, a nice beer and let the people fill in the gaps, let the players make the moments and forget about palacial stadia that give nothing but artificial feeling.

At the Beveree, they go one better with a connoisseurs choice of chocolate and top-tier presentation of the confectionary.

Alongside the toffee crisp at the “Beaver’s Return” snack stand, displayed on the angle in individual boxes are Twixes, Dairy Milks and Twirls.

They even stock Freddo Bars, which, despite reaching a princely 35p, are doing their bit for affordable football.

As kick-off approaches, a superb crowd of 1345 assembles to watch two teams going for the chance to make the first round proper of the world’s oldest cup competition.

Gates are healthy at the Beveree, thanks in part to conscientious pricing that saw the club remove match-day surcharges and cap adult tickets at £15. Youth tickets for six to seventeen year-olds are a fiver and under-fives go free.

The club have also reduced all beers by 50p-£1.00 meaning there are fewer gasps from Kenneth when the head settles on an ale.

There’s no doubt the Beavers have benefited from fans at higher levels being priced out or at least looking for a cheaper day out when their team is away.

You’ll find supporters of Brentford, Crystal Palace and Fulham on the terraces at the Beveree, doing their bit for a club trying to do things right.

And it’s then that the hard work put in by the staff and volunteers of Hampton and Richmond Borough pays off.

The young active fans make a noise under the tin shed, old men lean on the pitch hoardings, the club media are up on the scaffolding, a non-league dog nestles on the terrace and an Eastleigh fan jigs with a well-poured pint bought from the “Thirsty Beaver” bar.

There’s an attention to detail at Hampton and Richmond Borough, which gives a sense of well-being. The Errea track tops are bang-on with Tudor detailing as a nod to nearby Hampton Court Palace, the signs for the hot dogs are flags not print-outs, the grass playing surface is immaculate and the ground itself is clean as a whistle.

On the day, the away team from a division higher in the National League take a two-goal league and manage the match with aplomb.

Hampton and Richmond Borough are by no means outclassed and do nice work on the counter, testing the woodwork and the palms of the opposition goalkeeper, to no avail.

Form flickers in the breeze like a 1970’s jazz mag stuck in suburban shrubbery.

Hopefully Hampton and Richmond Borough FC will be here forever, beavering away.