Step off the tram and take a walk through Croydon Crematorium, following the public footpath onto a desire line worn into the ridge, and suddenly, through gaps in the fences, a football ground opens up before you. Admittedly, this is not the official entrance. That is accessed on the opposite side, through a playground or via residential streets.
The wind disturbs the netting, there to trap stray balls, atop the fences which form the stadium’s perimeter. There is one small covered stand. Not immediately obvious is the recently refurbished clubhouse with a bar for supporters to congregate.
Welcome to Thornton Heath, the Mayfield Road stadium and the home of the Rams: AFC Croydon Athletic — an English non-League side co-owned by a world-famous rapper and an Ivory Coast forward with almost 300 Premier League appearances. This is far from the luxury to which Stormzy and Wilfried Zaha have become accustomed, but that is the point. The pair, both from Croydon, bought this club a little over a year ago to give something back.
This is a deprived corner of south London, but one with a heightened sense of community — a word that is important to the pair. Advertisement Zaha graduated through nearby Crystal Palace ’s youth ranks and played 458 times for their first team, but the connections with the Premier League side whose stadium, Selhurst Park, is just two miles up the road do not end with him. Andrew Johnson, who played for Palace, Everton , Fulham and England , is the direc.
