The club was set up by a local youth worker in 2017 after a fire at the Grenfell Tower claimed the lives of 72 people
By Richard Foster for The Football Mine
Hundreds of Sunday League clubs are in action up and down the country every week, but one of them stands out. Grenfell Athletic play in the premier division of the Middlesex County Sunday League and are only watched by a smattering of spectators on windswept pitches in Chiswick, where the usual collection of Sunday League players assemble, often reluctantly dragged out of their beds. The club is not yet five years old, but it has a remarkable backstory and is making waves.
Following the disastrous fire that engulfed Grenfell Tower in June 2017, Rupert Taylor, a manager of a local youth centre, set up the football club to support the shattered residents. Taylor saw football as a way of providing a positive focus for many of those affected by the tragedy. A handful of players in the team lived in the tower and the club’s manager comes from the area.
