AFC Croydon Athletic faces five-figure cleanup bill after travellers dump rubbish at stadium

AFC Croydon Athletic has been left shouldering cleanup costs of up to £10,000 after travellers broke into the club’s Mayfield Stadium, dumped large amounts of rubbish and were later evicted, the club said.

Club officials said members of the group forced open a locked gate at the end of June and initially set up six campervans, a number that grew to eight over about two weeks. The visitors were evicted in July, but the pile-up of waste remained on the site for a further three weeks despite assurances from the council that arrangements would be made to clear it.

Paul Smith, the club secretary, said removal of several flatbed lorry loads of waste has become ‘‘not an insignificant cost’’ and that the bill would have been ‘‘beyond’’ the club’s means without investment from co-owners including rapper Stormzy and former Premier League forward Wilfried Zaha. ‘‘But obviously those are funds that could have been invested into the team instead,’’ Smith said.

Croydon Athletic, who play in the Isthmian League South East Division, said the dumped rubbish posed a threat to public safety, wildlife and community sport and forced the cancellation of a junior football event. The club also paused planned work on the pitch and reported security concerns at the site. Because the land is owned by the council, and the club said it could not re-lock the gates due to ambulance-access considerations, it sought council intervention to remove the waste.

The club added that it had been informed by the council that removal fell outside the remit of the environmental enforcement team, leaving Croydon Athletic to arrange and pay for the clear-up. The club said the disruption led to it staging some early-season home fixtures away from Mayfield Stadium; nearby Carshalton Athletic and Cobham FC have hosted fixtures while the ground was unavailable. The club was also affected by a small, unrelated fire at its clubhouse this summer.

Despite the off-field disruption, Croydon Athletic have produced positive results on the pitch. Managed by Danny Kedwell, the Rams were second in their division with 10 points from four matches at the start of the season and have advanced further into the FA Cup than any previous season, reaching the second qualifying round where they were scheduled to travel to Hampton & Richmond Borough.

Since 2023 the club has been owned by a consortium that includes Zaha, Stormzy and former Crystal Palace head of care Danny Young. Both Zaha and Stormzy grew up in Croydon; Zaha, a former Crystal Palace forward who moved to Galatasaray in 2023 and now plays in MLS for Charlotte FC, became a co-owner amid efforts to support the local community and develop the club.

Club officials said the financial hit from the cleanup — including several lorry loads of waste and associated removal costs — diverted funds that otherwise would have gone toward pitch improvements and club operations. The club has appealed to the local authority for clearer responsibility and faster action in future encampment and fly-tipping incidents to prevent similar disruption to grassroots sport.

Representatives for the council did not provide a response through the club to the Daily Mail Sport enquiry contained in the club statement. Croydon Athletic confirmed the travellers had been evicted in July and that the clean-up operation followed, with the club meeting the cost of waste removal to restore the stadium for community and competitive use.