UEL have a university football team who play in Barking’s football ground Mayesbrook Park. Barking FC are a Step 5 club who got relegated in the previous season.
History:
UEL have done reasonably well historically when it comes to football. Will Ashby who works at the Sports Dock in the university echoes this statement when referring to their promotions ‘’[From] 2009 they got seven promotions in a row that led them to the BUCS Premier that would have been 2016/17. They were tier 1 until they got promoted last season’’
This shows they have done well historically as they got promoted so many times in a row.
Star Players:
In my opinion Troy Walters and Jonathan Sanchez are their star players. Troy Walters is a winger who scored six goals in his first seven games last season, and he has scored two goals so far this season. Walters possesses the skill, flair and dribbling ability to beat defenders and create chances for the team. Defender Jonathan Sanchez has a good reading of the game and has played professionally in Ecuador before coming to the university.
Michael Olatunji who plays out wide for the university agrees ‘’I would say Jonathan Sanchez over our skipper; Troy, he has got a couple of goals and Kyle’’
Last season compared to this season:
Last season they won the league only losing their first game of the season at home to St Mary’s University 4-5. They got knocked out of the cup after losing 3-1 to Nottingham University. They got promoted after being successful in the playoffs. This season is a complete contrast where they have lost five of their first six games. The team doing poorly could be due to many reasons one of which could be the players who have come in.
Walters echoes this sentiment ‘’I think the new boys that are coming in aren’t as strong as what we had last season compared to the boys that have dropped out. [We lost] a couple of our centre midfielders, one of our defenders and two of our forward players so it is quite a big change – it is nearly a whole new team.”
However, Troy believes ‘’we will pick up results soon enough’’ in relation to whether their will be an upturn in form.
Ambition for the remainder of the season:
They will be aiming to turn the season around. This is because if they don’t, they will be relegated which is far from ideal as they have just got promoted this season. Olatunji echoes this sentiment ‘’Our aim was to go on and do well and make a mark. But so far this season hasn’t gone as planned. Our results don’t outline our performances as I believe throughout our games, we have been the better team. However, with four games to go we are looking to turn our season around and get the results we desire’’
