Known both for his long and successful football career at league and international level – he holds the record for scoring more headed goals than any other player in Premier League history – and for the robot dance craze that swept the nation, Peter Crouch may have retired but he is, by his own admission, still very busy. Following the success of his television headliner Crouchy’s Year-Late Euros and That Peter Crouch Podcast, his latest venture into TV is the Discovery+ show Save Our Beautiful Game. Highlighting the terrible plight of grassroots football clubs across the country, struggling even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the cameras roll for this eight-part series as he works with Dulwich Hamlet F.C., a club particularly close to his heart after his stint there at the age of 17.
The experience was, understandably, an emotional one. “COVID definitely accelerated things,” he explains, “but I’d been having discussions about this before [the pandemic] hit. Developers had tried to buy the Dulwich grounds in 2018 and everything was out of the club’s hands and that was when I really started paying attention. Fans started marching down the streets and there was lots of fundraising; they managed to save the club and keep the developers at bay, which is amazing in itself. Then Ben [Clasper], the chairman of the club, got really involved. And I’ve obviously had a keen eye on it because I started there as a kid at 17 and it’s close to my heart. I wanted to be more involved and, since retiring, I’ve a bit more time on my hands." He laughs and says that “it’s been like a proper job. I’m not used to it, having been playing football all these years, but it’s been really exciting.”
Crouch admits that the move to Dulwich, back when he was starting out, wasn’t initially news he received gratefully. “It was only ever going to be Dulwich I worked with for this show because I went there at 17 from Tottenham Hotspur. To be honest, I was kicking and screaming about moving there. I didn’t want to know, but it was the making of me. If they didn’t win and stay in the league it affected their lives and their families. Winning games and staying in that league was a big part of their income so I learnt what it meant to really win, rather than just being developed as a player. I saw people struggling as I hadn’t before.” Crouch admits it helped improve his physicality too, “because it was tough. The academies these days can be a cushty ride - you can stay as long as possible and you don’t really get out and play but, as much as I didn’t want to go at first, I loved it and I learnt a lot. I was really pleased to be back again for this show.”
Save Our Beautiful Game portrays how the club relied solely on ticket sales from week to week, something hard to imagine when you’re as used to very profitable Premier League games as Crouch. Dulwich’s ticket and drink sales determined what they could do from week to week, which he admits he found “mind-blowing”. “I’m trying to change that. 50 per cent of their revenue is reliant on selling drinks every Saturday. They have to get 2,000 people at each game just to break even, which is so much more than attendance figures at any other game in that league.”
Of course, multiple lockdowns made a challenging situation almost impossible. “The pressure of that every week just to keep things alive is massive,” he exclaims. “Since COVID hit, they had to cover their season with no fans there, so it was costing them to do the game and they then got fined by the league because they couldn’t complete.” Crouch is passionate when he says that “we need to be helping struggling businesses and it makes no sense that we are fining them.”
Aside from highlighting this issue and forcing it into public discourse, Crouch helps in other areas, taking part in training, fund-raising and even immersing himself in local politics. What is so striking in the show is the deep-rooted community that exists within Dulwich, only in part due to the football club, though it comes across as the very heartbeat of it all. Every person living in Dulwich is seemingly affected by the club’s struggles. Fans, family members, employees, suppliers, local shopkeepers: no one is left unscathed by what is happening. It’s just one example of a grassroots club in such a dire situation – this financial struggle affects local clubs the country over. “It’s not just Dulwich,” he says, “it’s every club that has had a nightmare, as has much of society – I’m not just sitting here crying about football clubs – but the clubs affect the whole community around them. I’ve got a friend who is a Bury [F.C.] fan and they’ve gone out of business. He has other teams in his catchment but he can’t switch allegiance. You’re talking about 100-year-old clubs, so it hits generations of fans.”
Dulwich Hamlet is presented as an extremely inclusive club, openly rejecting homophobia in football and welcoming every gender, race and sexual orientation to the club, something which is, sadly, not as common as it should be. Crouch describes how he “left school at 16 – I’m 40 now and I’ve been involved in football that whole time. I’ve never seen a club like this in my whole time. Everyone is so welcome and it’s so open. I’ll be honest – there are clubs out there where I wouldn't advise certain people to go to their games, but in Dulwich, anyone can go and anyone would be accepted. It’s sad to say, but that is rare in football.”
Aside from wanting to put his experience and celebrity status to good use, Crouch is also navigating the murky waters of retirement, having hung up his boots at 38. He admits he found the change a challenge: “You leave school at 16 and do something every day of your life until 38 – every single day – and then, all of a sudden, it’s over and you think, ‘well now what?’ I’ve always been told where to be and what to do and now I’m making my own decisions, being given all these opportunities, and I can see why people struggle.
“I’m only, hopefully, halfway through my life. I did my coaching badges and a podcast while I was still playing and I had a plan but I didn’t know where it would go.” Today, when not filming, he enjoys time with his wife Abbie Clancy and their four children, finding himself drawn to golf as often as he can get on a course: “I love getting out in the middle of nowhere with my mates. It keeps my competitive juices flowing. We play and have a beer afterwards so it feels like football in a way.” He misses football, but one senses, talking to him, that he is quickly finding his feet as a campaigner and mentor to those starting out and to the club now closest to his heart. “I’m with Dulwich Hamlet now. I’ve played with lots of clubs and I’ve affiliations with lots of them but grassroots football needs the help. It’s something I really look forward to now."
Despite his success both in the Premier League and for England, he doesn't see similarities in the struggles for smaller, local clubs: “[COVID] doesn't hit the Premier League the same. They are still buying players for £100 million. The TV money didn’t stop and, if anything, it probably increased because more people were watching than ever. But this has crippled non-league clubs.”
What is so striking about Peter Crouch, aside from his passion for the game, especially at a local level, is how truly lovely he is. Down-to-earth, self-deprecating and quick to credit anyone but himself when paid a compliment, he talks of those who have influenced him the most throughout the years, both personally and professionally. “My dad always really supported me and Harry Redknapp gave me so much belief in myself and as a player. Les Ferdinand was phenomenal with me. He just gave me time as a 17-year-old, when I went to Dulwich actually, and he was the only person I watched who folded his kit rather than throwing it in his locker after a game. He had standards and I wanted to be like Sir Les, as we called him. I wanted to be like him because of how he carried himself as a player and a person.”
Whatever Crouch is pursuing, he admits that he doesn’t take himself too seriously – “I feel if stuff fails then I shouldn’t be doing it anyway” – but when asked how he would like to be remembered he says, with absolute sincerity, “I always knew how lucky I was and I hope that comes across. I’d like to be remembered as someone who played for England and played in the Champions League but who knew how lucky he was to be doing it.”
Peter Crouch: Save Our Beautiful Game is available to stream on Discovery+ from
Tuesday 28th December
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