Non league club kicked out of league for too many red cards

A few years back, fans were left shocked that a certain non league club were kicked out of their league for picking up too many red cards.

Athletic Club London, who were formed in 2012 by the then 16 year old manager and owner Prince Choudary, were forced to leave their division in 2018, before then folding in the same year.

The 17/18 season started terribly for the club, picking up FOURTEEN red cards by Christmas.

Teams in the league voted to expel the club due to concerns for their players’ welfare when facing them.

There was also two matches that AC London were unable to play due to not having enough footballers to field a team.

The club were formed in the aftermath of the London riots in 2011. In a 2017 interview with the BBC, Choudary, who grew up in one of the worst affected areas said: “They broke into my uncle’s clothes shop, causing him to sell up his livelihood. They went past our house but luckily nothing happened.

“The problem is the youth are misled in today’s society and go down the wrong path; they choose the street life.

“It was soon after the riots that I had the idea to start a new football club. There was little in terms of activities in Croydon and I wanted to make a change.”

AC London were removed from the Combined Counties League Division One with immediate affect following the outcome of an appeal.

“13 November 2018, the FA formally contacted the Combined Counties League with the verdict of the appeal hearing conducted following the decision by member clubs to remove AC London from the competition.

It has taken until now to reach this decision as submissions were made at the initial appeal hearing that the FA have thoroughly investigated. They have found these submissions to be completely false and written evidence to have been fabricated.

The FA have now placed severe sanctions against the perpetrator of these false submissions and the appeal has been concluded.

The FA has rejected the AC London appeal and found that the Combined Counties League acted fully in line with the procedures laid down and the decision was constitutional.

The FA appeal board directed that AC London should continue in membership of the competition whilst the investigations took place. Now that these have concluded the FA have directed the league to enforce the EGM decision and AC London will be removed from the competition with immediate effect.

During this process the FA instructed the Combined Counties League not to discuss the matter, which included any communication to league members.”

The story of @A_C_London. From the London riots to the FA Cup… pic.twitter.com/VK5sll6uuB

— COPA90 (@Copa90) August 24, 2017

HISTORY:

They applied to join the Kent Invicta League for the 2015–16 season, and despite initially being turned down, were eventually accepted. They finished tenth in their first season, after which they were transferred to the Combined Counties League.

At the end of the 2017–18 season, the club were expelled from the Combined Counties League following a vote at a league EGM. However, the club started the 2018–19 campaign still in the league after the club appealed and whilst a FA investigation was carried out. When the investigation was concluded in November 2018, the club were removed from the league.

It would seem that owner hasn’t decided to set up a new successor club for  AC London, and now he is left wondering what could have been after stating ‘the best is yet to come’ on his Twitter account.

AC London managed to lift one trophy, the Division One Challenge Cup, against Redhill. You can watch the highlights of that below…

During the 2015–16 season the club played at the 16,000-capacity Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, before moving to Banstead Athletic’s Merland Rise ground for 2016–17. They relocated to Whyteleafe’s Church Road ground in 2017.

Best FA Cup performance: Preliminary round, 2017–18
Best FA Vase performance: First round, 2016–17

2015–16 – Kent Invicta League – 10th pos/20
2016–17 – Combined Counties League Division One – 7th pos/18
2017–18 – Combined Counties League Division One – 8th pos/19
2018–19 – Combined Counties League Division One – EXPUNGED

Now that you have read that the non league club were kicked out of league for too many red cards, why not have a read of another story on a team getting relegated despite winning their league, see that HERE.