Fan for a Match: Dagenham & Redbridge

By: Daryl | October 30th, 2009

Dagenham_and_Crest Time for another Fan for a Match, where we pick a random team to support for the weekend. Two weeks ago, we pledged our support to Sporting Clube de Goa: the Indian team with the Portuguese name. Unfortunately Sporting let a 2-1 lead slip to draw 2-2 at home to Pune FC on October 17th and then lost 3-2 at home to Salgaocar on October 25th. The two defeats leave them dead bottom of the 14 team I-League. So we’ll move on for now, but maybe revisit Sporting later in the season to find out if their fortunes have recovered. Fingers crossed we haven’t cursed them to relegation.

Our new team, by popular demand (well, LorenzoRosanero asked for it anyway) will be Dagenham & Redbridge from northeast London, who currently play in English League Two. That’s the fourth tier of English football. Read on for a quick club bio, and to see who they face this week.

First thing’s first: Dagenham & Redbridge is just one team. So this weekend’s Dagenham & Redbridge vs Port Vale game is not 22 vs 11. Just regular 11 vs 11.

Dagenham & Redbridge has such a distinctive name because it’s the result of a merger between two teams – Dagenham and Red Bridge Forest – in 1992. But the club can trace its roots back to four different teams. I’ll let Wikipedia explain:

The club can trace its origins back to four amateur clubs Ilford (formed in 1881), Leytonstone (1886), Walthamstow Avenue (1900) and Dagenham (1949). All had some success, particularly Leytonstone, who won the FA Amateur Cup three times and the Isthmian League title nine times.

In 1979, Ilford and Leytonstone merged to become Leytonstone/Ilford, and in 1988 they absorbed the struggling Walthamstow Avenue to become Redbridge Forest (although the name change was made only in the summer of 1989). Redbridge Forest achieved promotion to the Football Conference in 1991 before merging with Dagenham in 1992 to become Dagenham & Redbridge.

dandr victoria stadium Since 1992 The Daggers’ (as they’re known) history can best be described as one big bounce. They started in the Conference (fifth tier) but were relegated to the Ishthmanian Premier (sixth tier) in 1996. That was the low point. The Daggers eventually won the Ishthmanian Premier in 2000 to get promoted back to the Conference, which they then also won in 2007 to gain promotion to Football League.

Once in League Two, the Daggers final positions suggest survival (20th in 2008) followed by stability (8th in 2009). This season it looks like they’re going for promotion, as the team is currently second, just three points behind Bournemouth. Good news is that Bournemouth play third place Rochdale this weekend. A home defeat for Bournemouth would give the Daggers a chance to go top on goal difference.

Current manager is 59 year old John Still, who took over in 2004 and so can take credit for both the Daggers’ Conference title win, and the current promotion challenge. The Daggers’ star striker is Paul Benson, who was the Conference’s top socrer when the Daggers won it in 2007, and currently leads the League Two scoring charts with 9 goals. Not bad for a guy who was playing amateur football for White Ensign in the Essex Olympia League until John Still spotted him in 2005. Benson’s favourite film is Scarface, in case you wondered.

The Daggers’ stadium is the 6,000 seater Victoria Road, which dates way back to 1917, though it’s had a few upgrades since then. You can see plenty images of Victoria Road here. Saturday’s visitors are 13th place Port Vale. Full disclosure: a good fiend supports Vale and I’ve been to a few games with him, so don’t want to wish his team any bad fortune. But that said: Come on you Daggers!