My early memories of going to football started at Claremont Road, home to Hendon FC. I remember using 50p vouchers from the Roy of the Rovers magazine to get in on matchdays. The club, which has a big Jewish fan-base, has experienced testing times recently including moving away from their spiritual home to the Vale Farm in Wembley, so it is great to hear that Hendon has fallen into safe hands with the club's die-hard supporters taking charge.
New chairman Simon Lawrence is one of three long-term Hendon fans who recently formed an initial Board of Directors after the Hendon FC Supporters Trust took control. The former MSFL stalwart has been playing for Norstar Old Boys in the Maccabi Masters League for several years. He has also participated in the last two Masters tours of Israel and is taking part in the latest one next month.
Lawrence said: "Taking ownership of the club has been the aim ever since the Supporters Trust was formed in 2006.
"It has taken us quite a while to get there but now the destiny of the club is in our own hands. We face a huge challenge to bounce back from the loss of Claremont Road and to ensure our survival and we appeal to all Hendon fans – past and present – to support us now and help ensure that the Hendon fans of the future are able to celebrate our bicentenary."
● Remember the name. Tamir Gonen Cohen won eight medals at the Israeli Swimming Championships. Gonen Cohen, 13, took gold in the 100m butterfly and breast-stroke, silver in the 200m, freestroke relay and medley relay as well as bronze in the 50m freestyle. She trains eight times a week at the Camden Swiss Cottage Swimming Club.
● Boxing promoter Robert Waterman has linked up with Israeli female boxing champion Hagar Shmoulefeld-Finer for her Bantamweight title fight at Casino Rama in Ontario, Canada. Shmoulefeld-Finer, 25, will come up against Germany's Julia Sahin, an opponent who has previously beaten her.
Rishpon resident Shmoulefeld-Finer is clearly not someone you would want to mess with. She is also a martial artist gaining a black belt in Karate in 2003.
Waterman has a busy couple of months coming up with boxing enthusiasts looking forward to the Jewish Care Boxing Dinner at the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair on October 7. This will be followed by the Phillip Green Memorial Trust boxing dinner on November 17 and a boxing dinner for Chabad in a big top in Bloomsbury on November 29.
● As a former South Manx player, I was gutted to see the team fold from the MSFL this week. Their demise coincided with a meeting that saw representatives from 10 league clubs bash out ideas to see if a working party should be set up to improve relations between clubs and the League Management Committee. Initial ideas include a loan system for teams struggling for players.
Lester Jacobs, chairman of Catford & Bromley Maccabi, has set up an unofficial working party on behalf of the counsel of MSFL clubs. Jacobs said: "The attendees included dedicated people. There was a mix of representatives from single and multi-club teams. We feel that we can do a job that isn't being done at the moment. Our plan is to help all clubs and represent them when we speak to the League Management Committee. Our only aim is to iron out the real issues and make life easier for the league and help improve it. I'm pretty optimistic something will happen."
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