Duckpond FC celebrates league win with open-top bus tour

A Sunday league football team has celebrated winning the premier division with an open-top bus parade.

Duckpond FC, formed in Harwich, Essex, in 2011, were champions of the Colchester and District league.

The club has marked each promotion since it was formed with a bus parade and party in the town. It is the third time the team has marked success in this way.

Player-manager Michael Hammond said: "We want the world to know we won."

Mr Hammond, 29, who founded the club, spent £4,000 hiring a double-decker bus, a plane banner and advertising for the day, before the tour made its way around Harwich on Saturday.

Duckpond FC topped the Premier Division of the Colchester and District league

Duckpond FC won the league and then secured the Fowler Memorial Cup Final last month, beating Harts FC 3-0 to secure a double.

The team won 15 out of 16 matches this season.

Duckpond FC celebrate promotion to the Premier Division in 2014

Mr Hammond said the celebrations on Saturday left many of the players "feeling delicate" on Fathers' Day.

"We've won all the divisions now - we're officially the best Sunday league team in Essex," he said.

"Grassroots football is dying, so many teams are folding or have quit.

"But it's on days like this you realise it's not the level of football but the passion and commitment."

The team can go no higher in the Sunday league in the county, and are now calling themselves "champions of Essex".

Mr Hammond said he was unaware of any other team at this level that celebrated in this way.

The club is named after Cox's Pond in Harwich.