How Banquet Records came to sponsor Kingstonian FC
I’ve known JT and the Kingston-based Banquet Records people for a few years now through working on a music website. Knowing how much Banquet love their football, I thought it would be fun to ask JT all about his love for his local team and how Banquet came to be the main shirt sponsor for Kingstonian…
Please introduce yourself.
I am Jon Tolley. I run Banquet Records which is an independent record shop / concert promoter in Kingston, Surrey. My life is a 3 ball juggle of music, skateboarding and football. Music’s the bigger ball, that can’t be dropped.
Who do you support and why?
Kingstonian FC. Because I live in Kingston. Its quite an obvious thing really. Too many people who live in Surrey supporting North London or North West England football clubs. It’s daft. Kingston till I die, of course. In so many ways! It’s not about having a local team as your second team. This is my only team. I wish they weren’t languishing in the Ryman Premier League, one league below what most right minded people would say is their natural level.
Can you remember how you came to love football?
No. Can anyone? Its always been there right? Kicking a ball before you could talk. Play time at School to your local Goals after work… I like to play, and am not rubbish, but not good. I play a lot of 5-aside… But football culture is something that’s always fascinated me on a number of levels. Of course we can all do away with the racism and sexism and other isms, but mostly there’s so many parts of it I love. The big match, the small match, the loyalty, the camaraderie, the actual game, the atmosphere, the banter, the despair, the road trips, the hangs with, amongst others, two of my best friends who I’ve been going to football with for well over half
my life.
Can you remember the first match you ever attended? Who played and what was the result?
As a kid I decided to support Manchester United. What a fool. It’s what was cool in the playground. I even had a £76 season ticket when I was 15. I went to a lot of renowned stadia when I was young. Been to most of the premier league grounds before it was premier league, so I guess that might be why I have no real desire to support any club that friends might view a “proper” club, cos I’ve kinda been there. My first K’s game was Kingstonian vs Peterborough in 1992, so I was 15. It was the FA Cup First round and local news picked up on this ‘big game’. I didn’t even know Kingston had a football club (no-one had the internet at home) and I was excited by something that felt so real and so community based. From that point onwards I wanted to go to every game I could, although I had no friends who wanted to accompany me there. At one very over-the-top spell of K’s fan-ness I went, on my own, to see K’s reserves away at Corinthian Casuals reserves on a rainy Tuesday night with no shelter. I was hooked! I obviously didn’t bother to renew my Man Utd season ticket!
Who is your all-time favourite player and why?
K’s player… erm, that’s a toughie, I guess in the glory days of getting promoted to the conference, most of that team, Simon Stewart, Wayne Brown, Jamie Ndah, Eddie Akuamoah, although I genuinely find it hard to remember if it was those players that were great, whether the time of supporting K’s in their first season in the conference and the FA Trophy win was so great, or whether it was just their songs were so great! There’s so little footage of them from those days anywhere!
Why did you decide to take your love of Ks further than that of the average fan and sponsor the team?
We’re going into our fourth year as shirt sponsors at Kingstonian, and as long as we can justify / afford it we’ll keep it going. I guess it’s just a lot easier to get involved with a club at this level. I have the manager and chairman’s phone numbers, im facebook friends with half the players. Not cos we’re the sponsor, but because we’re fans.. It’s a non-league thing I guess. I wish we weren’t a non league club, but this is the silver lining of a step-3 non league football cloud! Our business, Banquet Records, is very community minded, and that spirit is mirrored in Kingstonian Football Club. The club does a lot for its local community and has been in the borough for 125 years or so. To be associated with that is something good for us. Its very hard to judge how much we sponsor them for business benefits, or how much its just a perk for me, the boss of the company. Im sure it’s a grey shaded mix of both.
What advantages does that give you as a fan, a business and a member of the community?
When we decided to sponsor K’s we never thought we’d get a load of football fans rushing down to the store to buy records (although that has happened a little). Instead it is about being recognised as a Kingston business supporting the Kingston community. Its looked on favourably by the council, the local newspapers etc. We at Banquet do not exist without our local crowd, so its good to give something back to Kingston too. We take this viewpoint with our charity work, with supporting local bands and other aspects of what we do. As a fan, there’s a few perks. Which, apart from free entry to the games are all pretty rubbish! In theory I can take business associates into the board room, but really I go to K’s to get away from the stresses of the working week, so im behind the goal with the crew I’ve always stood with, for getting on to 20 years now. We range from accountants and IT programmers to students and unemployed. It’s a great mix. We’re all K’s.
When the season began, what were your realistic expectations for what you could achieve this year?
To finish top 5 and have a chance in the playoffs. We’re definitely too good to be in this league, but are still suffering from a horrendous recent history of a shocking chairman fleecing our club and selling our ground to Wimbledon. K’s should at least be Conference South.
Are you happy with the way your team finished the season? Who was your player of the year and why?
Agh, it was sohcking. The ultimate bottle job. 3-0 up on the last game of the season, a win would have got us in the play off places. We drew 3-3. terrible. I didn’t miss a league game all season this year, so it was a terrible end to the season after putting in the hours all year support. Everyone was pretty deflated after that. Player of the season for me was Rob Tolfrey, our keeper. But both full backs were great and our front two are prolific.
What needs to happen for your team to be successful next season? Given the opportunity, who would you buy?
Basically a new midfield. And a winger. And a centre back who doesn’t get injured. And for Wimbledon to move to Merton, and for a decent cup run, and for Kingston folk to remember there’s a football team that took 10,000 fans to Wembley a decade back, just down the road!
Which would you prefer – your team to win the league or England to win the World Cup?
Club over country every time.
Who is the best player in the world right now?
Messi? I saw him on fire (from a very far distance) when Arsenal went to the Nou Camp the season before this. He’s quite the player.
For more details visit http://www.banquetrecords.com
