Women's FA Cup: Meet Clapton Community, the seventh-tier side making history



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A former DJ and a mother-of-two who grew up chasing paper footballs down hills on the Portuguese island of Madeira have helped the club distinguish themselves as history-making Women's FA Cup minnows.

The first club from the seventh tier to play in the third round will be the Greater London side. The fan-owned side crowdfunded their way there.

They became the first team to beat a team from four tiers higher when they beat Hounslow on penalties.

The manager of the east London club, who used to DJ at a nightclub, said he was left speechless by the club's achievements.

Maria Mendonca, a teaching assistant who has previously been to Wembley to watch the final with students, was surprised to be part of a record-breaking Women's FA Cup run.

She said she couldn't believe it when she was told that this is the real FA Cup. I knew it was a cup game, but not the FA Cup.

In the summer of 2020, Maria Mendonca joined.

Before moving to England as an 18-year-old, Mendonca had never played 11-a-side football, with much of her childhood spent with her six brothers playing football on the streets.

She said that they would use newspapers for a ball. We would play with apples.

The streets of Madeira are hills, and we were poor.

You can't imagine how much I ran to get the ball. It never stopped. I get my speed from there.

"We had rocks for goals and the neighbours would play with us and bring a ball."

She joined the local side after seeing them training near a Portuguese restaurant.

She said joining that team helped her get to grips with the English language and now she is enjoying football more than ever with Clapton after moving from Dulwich Hamlet in the summer of 2020.

She said the team will fight with all they have in their third-round tie with the same league as the one they conquered in the previous round.

Annie Lyons, 25, who works as a policy adviser, scored the decisive penalty in that match.

Lyons said it has been a dream come true. It has seemed impossible.

We've known for a long time that winning is impossible, but we've believed we can do it.

Lyons said she was proud to play for a club that represented the community around it and had a mixture of local and international players.

She said that the football world is welcoming people that might not have a place in a traditional football club.

Many of the supporters and players are lesbian, gay, or bisexual.

The club had a new member last season.

The 500-mile round trip to Plymouth for Sunday's game is a costly one in a competition that has so far yielded just $2,900 in prize money.

None of the ties have generated money as the owners have been away from home, meaning they were not entitled to a share of gate receipts.

The team crowdfunded the money needed for travel and accommodations for their tie with Plymouth and they hit their target in 24 hours.

The manager, who gave up his career in music to become a football coach, said that the club was not financially affected by the expenses.

The club is run by volunteers and gives a lot back to the community. We run sessions for young people who can't afford them.

We don't have a lot of money. We have made a lot of money, but it would cost more to travel and stay in Plymouth. A run like that in the men's competition would make a lot more.

The team's exploits in the FA Cup so far have been amazing, and the belief is definitely there that they could be in the mix when the Women's Super League clubs join the competition.

He said the club had won by reaching the third round.

We have won as a team, as a club, and as a community.