NORTH Kensington FC are no more.
After six years of rising through the ranks to grace the Middlesex Premier League for two seasons, the man who made it all happen has wrapped up the club.
The one-man show that was Madalitso Mkoloma admitted results and the collapse of a plan for a top amateur side in Kensington were the major reasons to fold.
Mkoloma, the brother of Commonwealth Games netball star Sonia, is now considering offers from a host of clubs to link up with them, not least from neighbours Kensington Dragons and Conference South side Staines Town.
But the QPR community coach reckons he will have a long hard think before making a final choice.
“When I was looking about for a team in our neck of the woods, there were none,” he said, explaining the reason for the club’s inception in 1997.
“You had to go to places like Harrow or out west for a decent standard of football, and I thought we could change that.”
With a classy squad of like-minded mates, the team won two promotions and added a raft of junior sides.
But the writing was on the wall when helpers left and were not replaced, and the original side broke up, with lesser mortals failing to fill their boots.
As a result, North Ken finished rock bottom of the Middlesex Premier last term with three wins out of 30.
Mkoloma added: “I’ve always given 100 per cent, and when you feel you’re not getting it back, you ask yourself questions.
“Players of the standard we originally had could pick up expenses and even a wage – and that was another reason the North Kensington project became more and more difficult.”
n time: Madalitso Mkoloma Photo by Waliid Ackbar
