Words: Andrew Newton // @aa7nvii
Basildon, in Essex, is the most average place in Britain. Or, as a 2023 study conducted by The Economist dubbed it, “the most typical place”, based on factors including the home ownership rate, average qualifications, average age, average property price, and average earnings. The town has even leant its name to a political stereotype: “Basildon Man” and “Basildon Woman” are terms used to refer to the median voter, a supposed embodiment of the average Brit, the opinions they hold and the way they feel about culture, politics, and identity. Attracting this kind of aspirational working class voter is what governments of the past 50 years or so have considered to be the key to winning elections.
All of this talk of averageness could easily give you the impression that Basildon is a dreary, grey place but its numerous parks and open spaces mean that the reality is different. Some assessments of the town rather sniffily refer to its architecture being composed of grey concrete and glass but this is kind of missing the point as, when Basildon town centre was built, it was modern and exciting. Unfortunately, it’s the kind of architecture that needs to be well-maintained for its clean lines and smooth surfaces to remain looking modern and exciting. It can’t be denied that the town centre has declined to some extent in recent years, but this is something that can be said about most towns in Britain. Recent and forthcoming town centre developments are changing things (although attracting some of the big name retailers back from the edge-of-town retail parks might help) and Basildon town centre currently feels like it’s on the verge of becoming really vibrant.
Basildon Town Centre in the 1960s.
Photo credit: Basildon Borough History
I grew up in rural County Durham but I have a strong affinity with Basildon. It has, after all, been my home for the last four years and I have spent lots of time here for the last ten. I married a girl from Basildon and so have come to know the town and the surrounding area very well.
Basildon was one of eight ‘New Towns’ created in South East England after the passing of the New Towns Act in 1946. Basildon was officially designated as a New Town in 1949 and was intended to help accommodate the London population overspill after the Second World War. The town was created from the conglomeration of four small Essex villages consisting of Pitsea to the east, Laindon to the west, and Vange to the south-east, with Basildon (referred to as Belesduna in the Domesday Book of 1086) the most central. Elements of the earlier settlements from which the town was created are still visible, including the site of the former Basildon Hall, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, two 13th century churches (St Nicholas’, Laindon and St Peter’s, Nevendon), two 14th century churches (Holy Cross, Basildon and All Saints, Vange), and the site of a former moated manor house of Tudor date at Boetelers.
This history, in itself, makes Basildon an interesting place but it has never quite reached the vision of Lewis Silkin, then minister of town and country planning, who said in a speech delivered in Basildon in 1948 that the town would “become a city which people from all over the world will want to visit”. Arguably though, the town has gone some way to achieving cultural and recreational successes, as Silkin hoped it might. Basildon made a significant impact on the music scene of the 1980s with iconic acts such as Depeche Mode and Yazoo, consisting of Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke, later of Erasure, originating in the town. More recent well-known musicians from Basildon include Josh James Dubovie, who competed in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest; rapper, producer, and DJ QBoy; musician, singer, and composer Gemma Ray; singer-songwriter Emma Blackery; and 5ive singer Scott Robinson. Actress Joan Sims was born in Laindon, playwright and film maker Vincent O’Connell grew up in Basildon, and actresses Kara Tointon and Denise van Outen were born in the town. Basildon Sporting Village was used for a pre-2012 Olympics training camp by the Japanese swimming team and is the training base of British gymnasts Max Whitlock and Georgia-Mae Fenton. Notable sports people from the town include footballers Justin Edinburgh, Andy Barcham and Darren Caskey, racing driver Jay Howard, former World Snooker Champion Stuart Bingham, and current head coach of Canada’s women’s national football team, Casey Stoney.
In addition to the Sporting Village, Basildon is home to the RSPB nature reserve at Bowers Marsh, several parks and country parks, the Wat Tyler Heritage Centre, the Towngate Theatre, Britain’s largest tractor plant, the world’s largest coffee roastery, owned by Costa Coffee, and the famous Hollywood-style sign that you pass as you enter the town from the A127.
One of the town’s hidden gems is Basildon United Football Club. The club currently compete in the Isthmian League Division One North, which lies at Step 4, or the eighth tier, of the English football pyramid. The club’s striking yellow and black colours and nickname, ‘The Bees’, are symbolic not just of the initial letter of the town’s name, but of the hard working, community-minded people who first populated the New Town when it was first established. Appropriately, the club’s home ground on Gardiner’s Lane in the north of the town is known as The Hive. Bee imagery is popular in Basildon; a town centre pub is named the Beehive, the town’s Festival Leisure Park has a Turkish Restaurant called Buzz Kitchen which displays a gold bee logo on their menus, Beehive Lane is a terrace of three storey townhouses to the north of the town centre, and a community building at the United Reformed Church on Honeypot Lane is also named The Hive.
Basildon United in action earlier this season at home to Haringey Borough.
Photo Credit: John Taylor/Basildon United FC
Alongside the bee imagery, and also reflecting a significant symbol of the town, is the club’s badge. This is often a cause of curiosity amongst fans of other clubs, who often ask what the image at its centre is. It depicts the statue from the Mother and Child Fountain which lies in the town centre. The statue was created by the sculptor Maurice Lambert in 1962 and is intended to symbolise the birth of the new town. The image of the statue also appears in the town’s crest and on the mayor’s chains of office. Basildon United is one of only a handful of football clubs, also including Gateshead and Lincoln City, with a badge depicting a statue.
The current club badge, depicting Basildon’s Mother and Child Statue, as well as a worker bee.
Photo Credit: Basildon United FC
Basildon feels like a town where football is important, perhaps in part because of the working class character of the initial groups of inhabitants, who were offered council houses in this newly-built utopia rather than in the east end of London. John Sussex, who managed Basildon United in the seasons prior to the Covid pandemic, was born in the town and was part of one of the first generations to grow up there. ‘On my street, it was all young families and every household had kids’ he says.
‘There was a good community feeling and football was everything.’ John describes huge games of football, ‘sometimes 25-a-side’, as local kids, and sometimes their parents, grouped together to take advantage of the green spaces that the design of Basildon New Town afforded them. Like John, these kids and their families who had moved to Basildon from the capital, brought pre-existing football allegiances with them. As many of them came from the east end of London, Basildon is a stronghold of West Ham support, with the Eastgate Shopping Centre even housing a branch of the West Ham club shop. Other London clubs, such as Spurs and Arsenal, but also Millwall and Orient, have significant numbers of supporters in Basildon for the same reasons. Southend supporters are also well-represented as the seaside town is only a short train ride to the east and Billericay Town (the much older town of Billericay falls within the bounds of the Borough of Basildon) are a popular second team for many local people, at least partially due to a large injection of cash between 2016 and 2019 from former owner Glenn Tamplin.
Not everyone looks to the bright lights of London, the illuminations of Southend, or the nouveau riche of olde worlde Billericay for their football fix, though.
Andrew Buxton and Dave Balfour support Basildon United over any other club. Andrew, who also acts as kitman for the club and assists with their social media output, supports Arsenal in addition to The Bees, but prefers non-league football because ‘there is a more relaxed atmosphere, you meet some really nice people, and it draws you in’, he says.
Dave, whose knowledge of the history of Basildon United is second to none, went to his first game when the current ground was opened with a friendly against West Ham. This was the only game he was taken to as a child and so, despite following Chelsea from afar during the 1970s, he feels he never developed a strong connection to a Football League club. He started attending Basildon United games regularly during the 1980/81 season on the suggestion of a colleague and has been hooked since. Unlike these two long-serving fans, who both first watched The Bees in the 1970s, I am a relative newcomer, attending my first game only eight years ago.
Basildon United defender Barry Bryan in action against West Ham during the friendly game that marked the opening of The Hive on 4th August 1970.
Photo Credit: Standard Recorder
Andrew Buxton says that Basildon ‘used to be a centre of manufacturing but a lot of those big businesses have gone and its more of a commuter location now but the town still has a warm feeling’.
Andrew and Dave epitomise this warmth and generosity. In this, they are representative of much of the rest of the club’s fanbase. ‘There are lots of characters, a diverse range of people who watch the club, because it’s welcoming. We welcome people with open arms and people feel safe when they’re at the club. We strive to be like that; a safe haven for people to watch football’ says Andrew.
Not only are the fans warm and welcoming but they are deeply loyal. It is rare to hear them criticising the club’s players or management, to the extent that one former manager of the last few years felt the need to ask them to be more critical of the players in an effort to squeeze more out of the team. Even though the fans have found things tough this season during an extended spell of poor results (although few poor performances), the atmosphere amongst them remains positive overall and highly supportive. It shouldn’t be assumed that this means fans are passive or accepting of a lack of effort; rather, this attitude is born from the fact that ‘everyone wants the best for the club’.
Basildon United were formed in 1954 as Armada Sports. This club played in black and white with a skull and crossbones logo adorning their shirts; they were known as The Pirates. This was essentially a works team that played in Division One of the Southend and District League. In 1959, Armada Sports merged with Pitsea United of the London League in what was essentially an absorption of the smaller club by the team from Pitsea. By 1967, Armada Sports had disentangled themselves and had been renamed Basildon United. They joined the Thurrock Thames-side Combination League for the 1967/68 season and switched to the Reserves Division Two of the Greater London League the following season. After finishing as runners-up in 1969/70, they were promoted to Reserves Division One.
In 1971, Basildon United were founder members of the Essex Senior League and things began to take off from there. In that first season, 1971/72, The Bees finished sixth in a nine team league which also consisted of Witham Town, Billericay Town, Pegasus Athletic, Tiptree United, Saffron Walden Town, Heybridge Swifts, Southend United “A”, and Stansted. The following season, after a few comings and goings, the league expanded to ten teams and Basildon United finished as runners up, 6 points behind local rivals Billericay Town.
During this period in the 1970s, a healthy rivalry was established with Billericay due to the geographical proximity of the two towns, alongside the regular proximity of the two football clubs in the league table. Long-standing Bees fans consider Billericay to be Basildon United’s traditional rivals, although this has dimmed somewhat over the years due to the clubs competing at different levels of the football pyramid for long periods with the only meetings coming in cup competitions. Over the last twelve to fifteen years, a rivalry has developed with nearby Bowers & Pitsea, a club located on the eastern fringes of Basildon. The derby game played between the two is referred to locally as El Basico.
The teams line up at The Hive ahead of last season’s El Basico derby between Basildon United and Bowers & Pitsea.
Photo Credit: Andrew Newton
In 1974/75, Basildon United were Essex Senior League runners up again, this time by only two points from Saffron Walden Town. They finished third in a league that had expanded to 15 teams in 1975/76, with the champions that year being Billericay Town. However, the most significant event of that season would prove to be the arrival of former Spurs player Alan Reed as player-manager and former Chelsea player Ronnie Hanley as his coach.
In his second season with the club, 1976/77, Alan Reed led Basildon United to their first title, winning the Essex Senior League, finishing two points ahead of Brentwood, and four clear of Billericay Town. This was the first of four consecutive Essex Senior League titles.
Kenny Shields played for The Bees for 10 years after leaving Southend United, where he played for the reserves as a 15 year old. His time at Basildon United encompassed these golden years of consecutive championships, and he describes the Basildon United of this era as ‘a great club to play for. The focus was the clubhouse. The social side built the team spirit and it was a buzz to play there; everyone had a smile on their faces’.
Such was the atmosphere around the place that even players from clubs like Aveley and Grays Athletic who lived in the Basildon area would stop in for a drink on the way home from their own games.
When Alan Reed resigned as manager, Ronnie Hanley took over from him. Ken notes that Ronnie had a certain magnetism and brought in players who really wanted to win. The club’s success bred more success as the better they did, the more players wanted to join. The social aspects of the club that powered the team spirit and camaraderie remained key, ‘there was no money in playing for Basildon at the beginning and later you’d get a pound and a pie and a pint, but you didn’t play for the money’ and Ken says ‘training was something that you didn’t want to miss. It was hard training, but enjoyable’.
In 1977/78 Basildon United won the Essex Senior League for the second time. In those days, before the establishment of the current configuration of the non-league pyramid, there was no automatic promotion. Traditional local rivals Billericay Town had left for the Athenian League prior to the season’s start, meaning there was no chance to get one over on them. This was a particularly successful season for The Bees as they completed a treble, winning both the Essex Senior League League Cup and the Essex Elizabethan Trophy. The first of these finals was held at Clapton’s famous Old Spotted Dog Ground, the oldest senior football ground in London, which was originally the site of a hunting lodge used by Henry VIII. Basildon’s opponents were Rainham and The Bees were heavy underdogs. However, Kenny Shields wasn’t concerned by Rainham’s reputation and he remembers telling his team mates ‘they’ve all got two arms, two legs, and they’re on the same pitch we are’.
Basildon United won and Ken recalls that Rainham ‘didn’t look like they were leagues ahead on the day’.
The league title was retained in 1978/79, with The Bees finishing five points ahead of Canvey Island. The Essex Senior Trophy was also won this year. The following season, The Bees won their fourth Essex Senior League title in a row. They won 25 league games that season, drawing three and losing only twice. They scored 65 goals and conceded only 8. Early on in that season, the club inaugurated their new floodlights at the Gardiners Lane ground. Manager Ronnie Hanley had played for Essex under 15s alongside Terry Venables in the late 1950s and during the same period the two were junior players together at Chelsea; they were good friends. To help celebrate the installation of The Hive’s floodlights, future Barcelona and England manager Venables brought his Crystal Palace side to play a friendly against Basildon United on the 29th October 1979.
The team that faced Crystal Palace on 29th October 1979 to mark the opening floodlit match at The Hive. Kenny Shields is in the front row, third from the right.
Photo Credit: The Basildon Recorder
Kenny Shields remembers the game well: ‘I was playing in midfield and I was marking, well, I was playing against, this young lad, and I didn’t get a kick for 90 minutes’.
After the game, Ronnie Hanley introduced Ken to Terry Venables. Terry told Ken that Ronnie had told him all about him and asked if he’d enjoyed the game. ‘If you think chasing shadows for 90 minutes is fun, I’ve had a great night!’ responded Ken.
‘That lad’s going to make it’ Terry told him, and Ken agreed. That lad was Terry Fenwick, who went on to play 455 times in the Football League, most notably for Palace, QPR, and Tottenham, and became an established England international, playing in the infamous 1986 World Cup Quarter Final against Argentina.
Despite the tough time that Fenwick gave him, Ken recalls the game with fondness, ‘what a night!’ he says, ‘it was fantastic and the club was growing’.
Three thousand people were in attendance that evening to see The Bees beaten 6-2. For any of those in attendance that night, The Hive would still be largely recognisable today. Andrew Buxton states that the old fashioned-style stands present at the ground are one of the elements that forms part of the club’s character. The ground is one of the smallest in the Isthmian North, but it has a unique charm. Opposite the main stand and the two covered terraces, one of which has had seats installed in the last few years, is a shallow open terrace just behind the dugouts. The ground is bordered on its eastern side by a narrow but dense band of woodland. During the winter months, especially during floodlit games and in the fog, this makes for a very atmospheric setting. The northern end of the ground is known as The Onion End, named after the iconic water tower at the New Holland Tractor Plant, which dominates views of this part of the ground. At home games, when the team scores, The Hive’s PA system plays Depeche Mode’s 1981 hit ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’.
The Bees attack the iconic Onion End during this season’s home meeting with Heybridge Swifts.
Photo Credit: Andrew Newton
The club moved to this ground in 1970, having previously played at the Gloucester Park Bowl, located close to the site of the current Basildon Sporting Village, since the club’s renaming as Basildon United in 1967. Until the floodlights were installed at The Hive, night time matches were still played at the Gloucester Park Bowl.
Having won their fourth Essex Senior League title in a row, Basildon United joined the Athenian League, which Dave Balfour describes as ‘an Isthmian League Division 3 in all but name’, alongside local rivals Grays Athletic, who finished fourth. The Bees finished as runners up, missing out to Windsor & Eton who finished one point above them. This maiden Athenian League campaign also saw the club reach the quarter finals of the FA Vase, where they faced Irthlingborough Diamonds who, in 1992, would merge with Rushden Town to form Rushden & Diamonds, a club that would reach the Football League in 2001. The Bees would play out a nil-nil draw at home to Irthlingborough. In the replay in Northamptonshire, Basildon were 4-2 up with four minutes left to play but Irthlingborough scored twice in quick succession to take the game to extra time and subsequently scored twice more, knocking The Bees out 6-4.
By this time, Kenny Shields, who worked in the petrochemical industry, had left the club to take a job overseas. Although this was a great move for him, he did miss the club, particular on Saturdays when he wondered how the lads were getting on, ‘when you have that atmosphere, I think it’s hard not to bring success’ he says.
Indeed, the success did continue; following this second place finish in the Athenian League, Basildon United immediately moved on and took up a place in Division Two of the Isthmian League for 1981/82, alongside some famous non-league sides, including the iconic Corinthian-Casuals, famed proponents of amateurism in football. A solid first season at this new, higher level saw The Bees finish eleventh, firmly in mid table. The following season, Basildon improved on their mid table finish, climbing to fifth.
Dave Balfour describes the 1983/84 season as the best in the club’s history. Following eleventh and fifth place finishes in Division 2 of the Isthmian League, The Bees finished their third season at this level as champions. The Bees pipped St Albans City to the title by one point on the final day of the season. They had a good season in the cup competitions too, reaching the finals of both the Essex Senior Trophy and the Eastern Floodlight Competition. In the FA Cup, a 3-1 home win over Leytonstone Ilford in the First Qualifying Round and a 4-2 away win at Saffron Walden Town set up a meeting with Wealdstone of the Alliance Premier League, a former name for the National League. Unfortunately, these opponents were too strong for Basildon and they went out of the competition, losing 3-1 in a game that is notable as Stuart Pearce’s last game for Wealdstone before signing for Coventry City. This remains Basildon’s (joint) longest run in the FA Cup.
During their first season in Isthmian League Division 1, The Bees finished in 16th place, winning 15 of their 42 league games and losing 19. However, in 1984 legendary manager Ronnie Hanley left the club. Apparently, following promotion, the board of the time thought that a change was needed. In an interview given to the Colchester Gazette in 2002, Hanley recalled his dismissal, saying ‘I was pole-axed. I’ll never forget how sad I was, but Basildon has still remained very close to my heart’.
‘There was a succession of managers after that’, Dave Balfour says and it seems that the club’s long-standing supporters regard this as a watershed moment.
This certainly seems to be the case; in that 1984/85 season, Basildon competed in the same division as future Football League club Bromley and were a division below two other future Football League clubs, Sutton United and Wycombe Wanderers. Perhaps most notably, they were in the division above Stevenage Borough. Stevenage is also a post-World War II new town and is very similar in character to Basildon, although Basildon is larger (and comes out on top in the 80s pop icon stakes). Stevenage (who dropped the ‘Borough’ in 2010) have since established themselves as a Football League club. The fortunes of these two clubs from those quite similar towns have been very different since this point.
The south terrace at The Hive begins to fill up ahead of another home game at The Hive.
Photo Credit: Andrew Newton
In 1985/86, Basildon finished 18th in Isthmian League Division 1, avoiding relegation by just one point. The next season, things improved slightly and a 12th placed finish was achieved before, in 1987/88, they had their best Isthmian League season to this point, finishing 7th and reaching the semi-final of the Isthmian League Cup. However, 1988/89 saw Basildon United suffer the first relegation in their history, finishing bottom of a 21 team division after Oxford City pulled out of the league. They finished 7th in their first season in the lower Isthmian League Division 2 North and the 18th the following season. However, in 1991, the decision was made to de-regionalise the division for the 1991/92 season and this led to the club resigning from the Isthmian League, stating that the increased travelling that the league restructuring would entail was not viable.
Rejoining the Essex Senior League led to something of a purple patch for the club, 5th and 6th placed finishes were followed by a league and league cup double in 1993/94 under manager Vic Elsom. Basildon United finished 4 points ahead of Ford United and 8 points ahead of Canvey Island. Despite winning the Essex Senior League title, the club didn’t take promotion. The following season, 1994/95, Basildon United reached the quarter finals of the FA Vase, where they were eventually knocked out 2-0 by Raunds Town. This Vase run saw The Bees record wins over Haverhill Rovers, Royston Town, Wingate & Finchley, and Stotfold, before a dramatic 5th round tie with Eastwood Hanley in Staffordshire. Basildon were a man down after 4 minutes due to the sending off of their goalkeeper and fell two goals behind but clawed it back to win 3-2 and set up their quarter final meeting in Northamptonshire with Raunds.
Following a couple of mid table finishes, 1997/98 saw The Bees finish in 2nd place, runners-up to Concord Rangers. They also equalled Brentwood’s record of three Essex Senior League Cup wins, beating Burnham Ramblers 1-0 in the final. This was the club’s sixth appearance in the final of this competition which set another record.
A 5th place finished was achieved in the Essex Senior League in 1998/99, but thereafter, the first decade of the 2000s never saw Basildon United finish above 6th in the league with several bottom half finishes. In 2011/12, The Bees finished bottom of the league having only won three games. Dave Balfour describes this as ‘a really bad time; the club had been broken into and crowds had diminished to only 15 or 20 people’.
Furthermore, Basildon United were about to fold. At this point, up stepped club secretary, Richard Mann, who made himself, as Dave says, a bit of a ‘hero’.
Richard did a deal which effectively turned the club in to a feeder club for Canvey Island, who were in the Isthmian League Premier Division at this point, but ensured Basildon United’s survival. The arrangement with Canvey had ended by 2015 but Basildon’s fortunes had changed for the better. In 2015/16, they missed out on the league title by a point and won the Essex Senior League Cup again, beating FC Romania 3-0 in the final.
In May 2017, Basildon United appointed Marc Harrison as manager and Liam Wallace as his assistant. They joined from neighbours, Basildon Town, where they had achieved considerable success, winning the Essex Olympian League the previous season. In their first season, Harrison and Wallace brought the success they had enjoyed at Town with them, leading the club to the runners-up spot in the Essex Senior League and promotion back to the Isthmian League for the first time in 27 years. That promotion spot was secured against Redbridge in what Andrew Buxton describes as ‘An amazing night! We were getting absolutely pasted and Redbridge could have been winning 5 or 6-0.’
Nonetheless, The Bees held on and in the last minute of the game, Marcus Bowers stepped up to score a stunning free kick, propelling Basildon to the Isthmian League and ensuring legendary status for himself amongst Bees supporters.
Marcus Bowers celebrates his last minute goal against Redbridge which fired The Bees back to the Isthmian League for the first time in 27 years.
Photo Credit: Basildon United FC
The club’s first season back in the Isthmian League started very well, with them winning their first seven league games and sitting atop the league. It was during this period that I attended my first Basildon United game, one of only two occasions when I have sat in the main stand. In November of that year, the managerial team moved on and results subsequently took a downturn. Eventually, the club appointed John Sussex, who had been on the coaching staff earlier in the season, from Witham Town. He steered the club to safety following a 2-1 win away to Soham Town Rangers, ensuring that Basildon United retained their Isthmian League status, where they have remained until the present day.
John, who had previously also been at Tilbury, and went on to have stints on the coaching staff at Witham Town, Welling United, and Maldon & Tiptree says of his time in charge of Basildon United, ‘I am proud to have managed my local team. That’s a big thing for me. If I couldn’t support West Ham, I’d support Basildon. Supporting a football club is much deeper than just liking the colours or supporting a winning team. It’s about your history, your culture, your background. That’s why it means so much to us all’.
John Sussex and his squad ahead of the 2019/20 Isthmian Division One North campaign.
Photo Credit: Basildon United FC
The history of Basildon, changing from a quite rural area at the start of the 20th century to being a large town by the middle of the same century, is quite complicated. Like many of the new towns, Basildon has come to be somewhat looked down upon by outsiders. However, to the first waves of New Town ‘pioneers’, as they are often referred to, the town was a kind of paradise. Many of these families that moved out from East London had been living in temporary prefab housing or in Victorian buildings that were in a poor state of repair. The opportunity to live in a new home with a modern kitchen and bathroom was wonderful. First-hand accounts of what life was like for the new inhabitants (which can be found on the excellent Basildon History (basildon.com) and Basildon Borough Heritage Centre (basildonheritage.org.uk) websites) speak of close friendships with new neighbours, the welcoming attitude of previous pioneers, and the strong feeling of community. Like everywhere, Basildon has, of course, changed but, on personal note, as a 21st century incomer to Basildon, it is the friendliest and most welcoming place in the Home Counties that I have lived in since leaving County Durham, where I grew up. This is reflected in the welcoming character of Basildon United’s fanbase, which, as Andrew Buxton states, is an approach that supporters deliberately try to foster, echoing the way in which the ‘pioneers’ approached their lives in the new town.
By the 1980s and 90s, the political concept of ‘Basildon Man/Woman’ had developed. In some publications, ‘Basildon Man’ (or ‘Essex Man’, an interchangeable term) has been described as ‘noisily rambunctious’ and ‘lacking subtlety’, and was somewhat cruelly parodied in the BBC television series White Gold, set and filmed in and around Basildon. More balanced descriptions of this political stereotype describe aspirational working class people employed in manufacturing and skilled manual work who ‘increasingly looked to middle class professions for employment’. This is surely a positive description of hardworking people who feel that they have the ability and skills to avoid being restrained by traditional and outdated notions of class boundaries.
Certainly hard work and aspiration has been a key aspect in Basildon United’s climb to and survival in the Isthmian League for the last 7 years. Chairman Lee Connor, and everyone else involved with running the club, have achieved something very special over the last decade. Their task has not been made any easier by the fact that over the last few seasons, players and managers who have been successful at Basildon United have been lured away by clubs with more financial clout. In a recent interview with BBC Essex, Lee noted ‘it is very stressful helping run a non-league football club, you can ask any chairman, it has its good points and bad points. For Basildon, it’s a big town but it’s a bit of struggle when you haven’t got the financial backing’.
Despite the stress and the frustration, his passion for the club remains strongly evident. Following a strange season in which the Bees topped the table early on, relegation to the Essex Senior League was confirmed following a 1-1 draw away at Witham Town on 12th April. Although suffering this disappointment, the club have announced new sponsors, a new kit deal, a new deal for neighbours Basildon Town to play home games at The Hive, and new board members for next season. These are developments that, like those taking place in the town centre, hint at a bright future. The stated aim is an immediate return to the Isthmian League, demonstrating that the hard work and determination to achieve that drives the club forward has not diminished, reflecting the values that Basildon, as a town, has become famous for.
In age in which people often express feelings of disenchantment and disengagement towards an increasingly sanitised and corporate top level of football, the existence of clubs which reflect the character and culture of the localities that they represent, in the way that Basildon United do, are an increasingly important resource. Although it has become a bit of a cliché to say that non-league football is football in a purer form, the existence of clubs like this means that a football experience closer to that of the pre-Premier League era can still be found.
The players emerge from the tunnel beneath the main stand at The Hive prior to a home fixture earlier this season.
Photo Credit: Basildon United FC