Kick London History

Kick London was established in 2003, as an extension of Youth for Christ’s (YFC) vision of a ‘Kick’ football ministry for London. resources, advice and volunteers’ time were provided by YFC to enable the Kick London Trust to be established, with a clear mission and vision for London.

In 2004, Tom Rutter was appointed as full time Development Officer in Richmond, to establish football activities, working with schools and weekend academies, to develop football and life skills in young people.

Based on the success of Richmond’s activities, the Board of Kick London presented the Kick London concept at a public meeting at West Wickham and Shirley Baptist Church in late 2005. As a consequence of this meeting and, in part as a response to the fatal stabbing of Gavin Brown in Shirley, a management team was formed to establish Kick London in Croydon.

2006 saw the employment of Hans Sims, Kick London Croydon’s Development Officer, and the establishment of summer holiday camps, schools work and weekend academies in Croydon.

9 months after Hans’ arrival, there was the need to employ a second full time coach as the demand for Kick London sessions grew, and Lewis Farquharson was employed as Kick London’s first senior football coach.

The work of Kick London grew rapidly in Richmond, Croydon and adjacent boroughs, as schools and churches appreciated the impact on young people of highly-motivated Christian football coaches.  By 2009 Kick London full-time staff had grown to ten, including Mark Anderson as Operations and Development Manager and Philip Noel as Sales Manager. Approximately 3500 young people were being reached every week. The early work would not have been possible without gap-year students and volunteers continue to be important, particularly in the weekend academies. Currently 2 trainee coaches and 2 interns are working with Kick London.