The American who revived southwest London’s forgotten Victorian football club

When Matthew Evans arrived at Roehampton University from South Carolina two years ago, he noticed something missing. There was no non-league football club in the area. The only one nearby was Barnes FC, and Evans, who had been working in football since he was 14, saw a gap.

He looked into it. On the FA’s list of defunct clubs, dormant since 1906, sat East Sheen FC, founded in 1873. Once one of the most ambitious clubs in southwest London, it was now just a name in a register. Evans read roughly 400 articles from the 1800s, registered a company, and got the FA to reinstate the club through that registration.

“This isn’t like we’re trying to grasp and cling on to history,” he told Putney.news. “This is more about: look at what this amazing club did before that no one knows about. And now we have a chance to bring it back for the new generation by the new generation.”

A club that toured France before most clubs had left their county

East Sheen FC began as a rugby club in 1873, added association football in 1882, and within three years had won the Surrey Senior Cup. In 1899 the club toured France, beating Paris XI twice and Paris White Rovers 6-0. Its two most celebrated players, brothers Arthur and Percy Melmoth Walters, both became England captains in the 1880s, widely regarded as the finest full-backs of their era. The club dissolved in 1906 after losing its home pitch.

For 120 years, that was it.

Building from Putney up

Evans is 23 and has just graduated. His CV is not what you might expect from someone reviving a Victorian football club on a budget: he ran the men’s football programme at the University of Hampton for two years, chaired two Step 6 clubs, and has placements from step 1 to step 8, including work for Arsenal in the US. He is clear about his role at East Sheen FC. He won’t be coaching. He is chairman and CEO; the commercial and back-end operation is his job.

Pre-season starts in July. The first competitive games are in August. There will be three men’s teams: a first team competing at step 8 (the eighth tier of the English football league pyramid), plus two development squads, and a women’s team starting in the lowest competitive women’s league. Youth teams are on the horizon for this year if the numbers come together.

Training rotates across southwest London: Putney, Barnes, Battersea, Sheen. Home games for the men’s first team will be in Chiswick. He has agreed a partnership with the University of Roehampton, with the club using some of the university’s facilities. The current squad stands at around 20 people.

“We want to build this club for 16 to 25 year olds on and off the pitch,” Evans says. The operating budget target to launch all teams is £30,000.

The vessel, not just the result

The career-development mission is central to what Evans is trying to build. He talks about football as a vessel for making better people, not just better players. The club will actively take on people in supporting roles even without the CV for it.

“I’ll say yes to someone helping out on social media, even if they don’t have the CV for it, because we can train you,” he says.

The comparison to Wrexham AFC, the non-league club turned Netflix subject, comes up. Evans accepts it but with his own framing. He is the realistic version.

“We are the lowest possible budget version of [Wrexham],” he says. “The realistic version.”

As for the Ted Lasso comparison that followed him through the national coverage: he leans into it, but redirects it. “It’s less of the ‘American working in football’… I choose to take the positive attitude of putting people first, the development side of the story.”

The long-term vision is a club where the football is eventually free. “Whether you’re in our youth program or you’re in our men’s program, football’s free. That might be a two-year goal, that might be a 10-year goal.”

Step 5 within five years is the sporting ambition. The National League and beyond is the dream.

How to get involved

The club is actively looking for players, volunteers, and sponsors. Membership is £25 a month for students and £35 a month for adults.

For local businesses, there is a more unusual opportunity. East Sheen FC is planning a fourth kit designed to carry as many sponsor logos as possible. Evans describes it as looking “a bit like a NASCAR.” The goal is to set a world record for the most sponsored football shirt ever. Sponsorship tiers are £25, £50 and £75, with price determining logo size. Evans is targeting local businesses from “Thames side, southwest London.”

Contact the club at info@eastsheenfc.com.