They may be based hundreds of miles from the Hammers’ London Stadium home, but the Trans Pennine Irons continue to spread the West Ham word in the north of England with a brand new football team that has already taken its first scalp.
A pre-pandemic plan to take on Everton’s Wakefield Supporters’ Club was finally realised in June 2024, with player-manager Damian Locke and assistant Dominic Woolnough assembling a side from the group’s 230+ members, who are based as far and wide as Lincoln, Manchester and Leeds.
Having sourced a kit and lined up at the home of the West Riding FA, in the outskirts of Leeds, the West Ham representatives powered to a dramatic 4-3 win, with Damian netting a late winner in similar fashion to Jarrod Bowen’s unforgettable UEFA Europa Conference League final strike in 2023.
Since then, the team have featured in a charity game against Halifax Amateurs JFC, that finished in 7-3 defeat, and in a tournament at a charity family fun day hosted by Brighouse Town AFC, that yielded a group-stage exit, while a planned derby clash against Yorkshire Spurs was unfortunately called off last month due to a waterlogged pitch.
Damian said: “It’s been great fun so far. Trans Pennine Irons has been going for a long time, and there are a lot of West Ham fans in the north of England, so it made sense to get a team together.
“I only joined the group during the COVID pandemic, after I met one of the other members when we were both wearing West Ham shirts in the supermarket. Up until recently I had my own football team, and the group chairperson Liam Tyrell asked me if I’d like to get involved.
“There’s been a good level of interest, and people have come from all over to get stuck in. It’s obviously quite hard to get together to train, but we welcome all ages and abilities, and it’s been great to get out there, and we’ve raised some money for charity, too.
“The win over Everton was brilliant, and to score the winner did give me a good feeling. It really did feel like I’d scored for West Ham, and it was against Everton as well, who are our bogey team!”
While Damian and his teammates are hoping to finally take on Tottenham before the end of October, they are aiming to eventually join the IFA Supporters Football League, which would promise them regular fixtures against fellow fan groups.
And besides their positive on-field results, they are also seeing a number of off-field benefits, with the coming together of group members helping to boost physical and mental well-being.
“Ultimately, we would love to join a league and play some competitive games, and formalise everything up a bit,” Damian added.
“I think we’ve all really enjoyed it all so far, for a variety of reasons. I’d say the average age of our group is pushing 40, so a bit of it is about getting some of the guys back into playing football again.
“We’ve also got an Iranian lad known as ‘Hero’ who comes along, who lives and breathes football. It’s just good to get a big group together playing football, and long may it continue.”
About Trans Pennine Irons
Formed as the Northern Hammers in 1993, Trans Pennine Irons boasts members from every corner of the north of England, and aims to bring fans together and aid with tickets and transportation to games. For more information, click HERE.
