Non-League and Academy football writer

Danny Green is the club chairman of Southern Amateur League side Norsemen FC. Norsemen are a famous amateur side, who were founded in the May of 1895 (following on from Clapton based club Orion Gymnasium). Norsemen’s first team in the Southern Amateur League, play their football in Division 3 of the SAL. However, the club who have various teams throughout the club, also have a team playing at step 9 of the non-League system (which is their first team), in the Herts Senior County League Division 2, who like their first/top team in the SAL, are doing really well during the current 2024/25 season. I recently spoke to Danny Green, about Norsemen FC.

Could you talk me through a bit about your background in football, prior to joining Norsemen?

Danny: I’m 44 now, but I’ve been at Norsemen since I was a youngster, when me and the other youngsters used to play football at the back of the ground. I used to watch the games at the sports ground as well, before starting to play youth football. Strangely enough I did play a couple of games in goal for our rivals, Winchmore Hill! Then at the age of 15, me and my mates wanted to play senior football, and so back then we played for the eighth team at Norsemen, with a couple of the older lads. I haven’t really looked back since then, and I’ve gone on to play for every team at the club. Even now I’m playing for what is technically our fifth team, at the bottom levels of the SAL divisions, and we’re top of that league at the moment.

Could you talk me through a bit about the history of Norsemen FC?

Danny: Norsemen FC has been there for over 130 years, and back then the club was looking for somewhere to play. They approached Edmonton cricket club around that time, 130 years ago, and they started playing on their grounds back then, with that partnership continuing ever since. Things have obviously changed drastically since then, with the way that the club is run. I’m not just the chairman of the club, but I also run the sports and social club. Football has pretty much taken over the club these days, with Edmonton cricket club no longer there anymore, and so things really have changed a lot. Back in the day Norsemen entered the FA Vase, and they also played some charity matches with Spurs.

Norsemen as a club has always pretty much been an SAL Club. During the last couple of seasons we have seen a little bit of a drop off within adult football on a Saturday, which has affected us. So this season we have entered into the non-League pyramid, in the Herts Senior League. But we are still maintaining our SAL footprint, as well, with three teams. Also, we are trying to progress as much as we can with our Herts Senior League team, and we’re trying to get into step 7 football. I’m very good with getting funding into the club with football foundation, but if you can get onto the stepladder, then you can start looking at getting Premier League funding for the club. So that could then potentially allow us to get a 3G pitch and floodlights for our ground. So that’s my plan, with regard to getting us up the respective leagues, and the guys involved are doing a really good job at the moment.

Could you talk me through a bit about some of your recent memories/personal highlights, of being involved with the club?

Danny: There’s literally hundreds of memories. As a player I was never really that lucky with cups/finals. Although I did win a couple of leagues as a player, which are obviously highlights. After the lockdowns the SAL organised something called the Covid Cup, which was a round robin competition, which we actually managed to win for our respective league. We did go through a spell when we were a bit unsuccessful, but the last five years have been incredibly successful. So some of my personal highlights would be seeing some of our teams win doubles and trebles, which has been really good to see. And also, our youth section at the club has flourished in recent years, and seeing how well they are doing (my own team that I coach at the club, won the treble last season) is a real highlight.

Could you talk me through a bit about why you entered a team into the Herts Senior County League, for this season?

Danny: We swapped our second team around with our first team from the SAL, and we’ve then entered a team into the Herts County League. Also, a lot of our players live in Hertfordshire, and so it suits them, with the travel. Our Herts County League side are in third place in Division 2 of that league, at this moment in time.

For their quality as a team, who would you say was the toughest team that the first team played last season?

Danny: West Wickham, Nottsborough, and Polytechnic, they are always going to be tough to play against. And last season that was no different. But we were competitive again, against those teams last season.

What have you made of how the current Southern Amateur League (Senior Division Three) season (2024/25), has gone so far, at this very early stage of the season for Norsemen FC, and in general?

Danny: The first couple of games were a bit of a shock. For the first four or five years that they’ve been at the club, they’ve gone up from the bottom division, right up to Senior 3, which is ten leagues. So we had a couple of injuries earlier on in the season, which didn’t help them. But during the last three to four weeks they have really started to find their feet, and they’re really starting to go up the league. Also, for our top team in the Herts County League, they started the season really well. They then had a bit of a difficult/inconsistent spell in the league, where they’d win one and then lose one. They are currently in third place in the league table, and the top teams get promoted. So things are going well so far.

What are some of your hopes for all of Norsemen’s teams this season, in their respective divisions?

Danny: I think that anything less than promotion for both of the senior Herts teams would be a disappointment. I also think that both of those teams are on course to win stuff this season, as well. The SAL first team are pushing for promotion, which is what their aim is for this season. Our middle team in the SAL is mainly for youth players to develop, and then progress into the first team. And then for our bottom team in the SAL (I play for that team), we also hope to win that league as well. So hopefully it will be another successful season for the club.

What are some of your hopes for the club (Norsemen) in the future?

Danny: I’m someone who always has big plans. So I’m looking at things like installing floodlights for the first team pitch, to help us to progress potentially into step 6. Funding is always an issue, but if we can get to step 7, then funding changes, with Premier League funding. But ultimately I want to improve our home ground. And when you improve the ground, then players want to join the club and buy into your project.