Brian Mulligan previews the clash between Stormzy's Rams and Whyteleafe
Trickledown may not have done much for Croydon but the recent achievements of cup holders Crystal Palace seems to have had a knock-on effect on two nearby non-league clubs currently riding high in the Isthmian South East Division.
Four tiers from the Football League, promotion- chasing Croydon Athletic and Whyteleafe, eight miles and one league place apart, are thriving as phoenix clubs under ambitious owners. One is a pony-tailed tech founder who steered ‘Leafe to an FA Vase final. The other is rap star Stormzy.
Third-place host second at Church Road, Whyteleafe, on December 27.
While three dozen current Premier League players were raised in the Croydon football seedbed, most of those from the academies will not make it to pro level. When CR7 boy Stormzy, Palace patron saint Wilfred Zaha and former Head of Care at Selhurst Park Danny Young took the Rams by the horns in 2023, one key aim was to encourage local talent to stay in the game.
The impact was immediate both on and off the pitch. As home gates at the Mayfield Stadium initially tripled to nearly 600, Croydon Athletic gained promotion to the Isthmian South East the first season of the takeover.
Whatever happens next Saturday and in the Rams’ bid to reach the Isthmian Premier, local football guru and campaigning visionary Don Madgwick local football remains hopeful for the future: “The project is long-term. Now that Danny and Wilf are back, Zaha having completed an MLS season for Charlotte FC, they should be meeting with fans to update us on progress”.
Mayfield Stadium sits close to where Stormzy was born in Thornton Heath, and the community space, Merky FC, he helped launch in 2022. Located by Selhurst station and the BRIT School for performing and creative arts, this sports complex is a resource to equip youngsters of black heritage to gain the knowledge, confidence and experience they need to carve out careers across the football industry – and not just on the pitch.
Zaha, meanwhile, continues to fund Crystal Palace Women’s team, having rescued them in 2018, and run his own football academy.
You could argue that Croydon Athletic have already hit the big time, away trips to fallen giants Hastings and overseas to Jersey Bulls in the Channel Islands meaning crowds in four figures. Back on Mayfield Road, disgraced previous owner Mazhar Majeed left behind a 300-seater stand, a press box and a directors’ entrance. Promotion next spring would mean welcoming non-league royalty such as Dulwich Hamlet and Cray Wanderers.
Battling for that same status, AFC Whyteleafe were created from the ashes of Whyteleafe FC by tech mogul Kelly Waters in 2021. Inspired by the example of AFC Wimbledon and undaunted by the sale of the club’s Church Road ground to a Singaporean conglomerate, Waters led ’Leafe from the Surrey South East Combination League up the pyramid in rapid fashion.
Quickly promoted from tiers 12 to eight, their most recent accession to the Isthmian South East awarded on a technicality, Whyteleafe strode out before 38,600 at Wembley for the FA Vase final in May 2025. Losing in extra-time to Whitstable, ‘Leafe had already drawn record crowds in previous rounds to Church Road, home once more of the senior XI following an agreement between Waters and the ground’s Asian owners. A 3G pitch, however, remains in place.
With Waters leaving coaching duties to Ennio Gonnella, promotion has now pitted ’Leafe against new-found local rivals, Croydon Athletic, in the same division.
No-one understands the significance of Saturday’s clash more than visiting Rams manager Danny Kedwell, whose winning penalty as a player for AFC Wimbledon sent the Dons back to the Football League in the play-off final of 2011.
Bringing his own particular history is former Croydon Athletic defender Helge Orome, now team captain at Whyteleafe having played for its previous iteration between 2018 and 2021.
AFC Whyteleafe v Croydon Athletic, Church Road, Whyteleafe CR3 0AR. Saturday December 27, 3pm. Train from London Bridge to Whyteleafe South (40mins) via East Croydon (20mins).
