Underdogs FC was founded in 2019 when Marty Bickers and I decided we wanted to create a football club that was based entirely around the team and their best interests.

We felt that other clubs at the time were not treating their players right. Many, didn’t seem to care about the youth or support the players. We decided to be the change we wanted to see in the football scene and created Underdogs with the intention of giving the youth a hobby, something to be passionate about and to get young men off the streets.

We help young men with their mental health and wellbeing by mentoring our young players and providing a safe environment to do something they love. Some of our players have gone on to play semi-professional football but we also encourage them with their careers outside of football, helping them to find and apply for jobs and we are there to support them in their personal lives, too.

there’s plenty of opportunities to give back the local community through getting involved in fundraising for Great Ormond Street Hospital for children and charity football games.

Cultivating an attitude of hard work and determination we have been lucky enough to have gained sponsorships, which have given us the opportunity to offer the players more training sessions and allowed us to take on more youngsters to the team. We hope to keep building our community to be able to help as many young men as we can. If we can help even just one person then we have already succeeded.

Our team is a diverse one where men of all ages and different backgrounds are welcome. Sure, it sounds like a cliche, but, honestly, our team is more like a family, than a football club – we have built a real community of people; of course, there’s our players who are so talented and dedicated, our crew that work tirelessly behind the scenes filming our games, editing and getting the footage onto YouTube. And finally, our friends, families and fans who support us and promote us on socials.

In the future, we would love to be able to start a young children’s team and a female team.

We play in the Barnet Sunday league, a well-organised league. We currently play in division three. Our home pitch is located at Firs Farm, Wetlands Park and playing fields N21 2PJ. Please do come and support the team. We’re a friendly bunch of lads and if anyone is looking to play football or join us training please contact us on Instagram @_underdogsfc, everyone is welcome.