Our History
The origins of Football Dads (FDs) date back to 2004 when on a Saturday in September a group of Fathers took their offsprings to ‘Little Foxes’ to be initiated to the beautiful game. Beings sons of their Dads, the young kids naturally developed a precocious attitude to football, showing skills and pace not common for their age while the seniors indulged in chats, banters and cappuccinos subcontracting the training to the ‘Little Foxes’ professionals.
The likes of Hardy, John, Emile, Mattias, Paul, Adrian, Garvin, Christopher, Alessandro and Osman, now famously known as the Founding Fathers, would though spare the last few minutes of the session for an inter generational football clash with their Kids thus throwing the seed of future Dads v Kids weekly games culminating in the Master Game, an unprecedented epic and confrontational match within the families where no affection or sentiment whatsoever would get in the way of achieving victory at all cost. It is in fact in the last Sunday of each April that a year long of fighting gets officially resolved in one dramatic match which nakedly exposes Dads authority, ruthlessly challenged by their own Kids.
The early strides of FDs gathered further momentum and structure when three gifted Italians (who else?) joined the Club. Giancarlo, Francesco and Tony added flair and composure to the game while introducing new diving techniques. Something was still missing: in fact it was only when Hossam and Hannes imposed themselves in defence that the game found the solidity and stamina of such an unlikely yet unparalleled combination. From there on FDs became a branded legend and the Club embarked in an unstoppable expansion which lasts to our days.
All continents, barring Antarctica soon to be conquered, have now been represented and new FDs and Foodball Kids (FKs) keeps coming in from every corner of the world with over 50 Nations acknowledged by no less than Gianni Infantino, FIFA Chairman who is considering handing FDs a wild card for the next World Cup.
The magic of one-touch football and the relentless energy and speed at which it is executed prove to these days an irresistible magnet for myriads of players though only few will be selected. Every Saturday at 10am, first in Holland Park and then in Kensington Gardens due to capacity issues, the FDs ritual is officiated by a passionate and ever growing number of players who delight an imaginary oceanic crowd of loyal and mesmerised fans who cannot believe what is unfolding before there eyes. One touch football is such a naturally rehearsed machine that it requires no coaching despite the reiterated attempts by the likes of Jose’ and Pep to get signed by the Club: as they say ‘Don’t fix what works!’
These weekly epics are captured soon after the game by a commentary written by Giancarlo or Francesco where self-celebration and self-irony keep mixing to make the line (that was before VAR) between imagination and reality a very fine one by all means. To believe the unreal you just have to turn up any given Saturday as a fan or even better as a player.
It must be one of the privileges in life to be able to fight your Kids on a football pitch hoping that the legacy will last through generations until every single Nation will have donned ‘that shirt’. And then onto Mars!
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