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Red Star was founded in 1990 when a group of young Asians, frustrated at not being able to break into their local college team, set up a team with the aim to play regular football. Playing friendlies every week was the basis for recruiting new talent and discovering other teams in the same predicament.
In 1992 the Suraj Basmati League was founded, and at last a chance was created to play competitive football against organised teams. Red Stars’ first year was a success finishing 2nd in the league and narrowly missing out on the title. The next year though was a different story. Red Star romped to the League title and only just missed out on the double, losing in the final on penalties.
The phenomenon that was Asian Football was beginning to take off. More and more teams from all around London were being created and this resulted in the formation of The Asian Football League. The AFL a well organised body, set up 2 divisions and required all teams to be affiliated to the London Football Association. It was here that Red Star became Walthamstow Red Star.
The AFL conducted a great PR exercise as results and match reports appeared in National Asian newspapers. The country also saw televised documentaries upon documentaries on the rise of Asian Football in Britain.
Success was not far away, as in the first year of the AFL W Red Star won the Premier League title. The following year, after losing out on a successive title, W Red Star had the honour of winning the AFL Cup for the first time which was played at Brisbane Rd, the home ground of Leyton Orient.
Punjab Catering (PC UK Ltd) decided to reach out to the local Asian community by linking their name to the local Reds. Great progress had been made in a matter of years. W Red Star had developed from young youths kicking the ball around in a park to a well organised Amateur Football Club with their own sponsor.
W Red Stars’ final season in the AFL saw them finish 2nd in the Premier League and runners up in the AFL Cup.
The Manager then took a decision that it was an ideal time to move on and evaluate W Red Star. The only way to discover how much improvement W Red Star had made since the early days was to play in a non-Asian League against well established Sunday Morning teams.
The Corinthian League accepted W Red Stars’ application to join the League, and as a measure of their achievements of the past were drawn into the Premier League. There proved to be a great intermediary between W Red Star and Sunday Morning football. Playing against White and Black players, who had a great history of success in football, elevated the team into the limelight.
The result was arguably the greatest achievement to date. Teams soon found out that Asian Football was not just a myth and W Red Star was in the forefront in receiving praise for their commitment and style of football from all quarters. Five years in the Corinthian League did not bring League success, which was missed on several occasions by a slender margin. W Red Star were 3 times runners up in the cup competitions, but most importantly barriers were broken.
Expanding on Sunday football, Red Star have been regular entrants of the LFA Cup and made a huge impression in the 2002/03 season by reaching the quarter finals.
The forthcoming season, 2003-04 sees W Red Stars’ attempt to promote local Asian football talent to the public take another leap as they join the well established Forest District Sunday Football League.
It will be by far their greatest test but with the strength of character that has been shown over the last 13 years, Walthamstow Red Star should be well up to the task.
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