Banned fan cheers on non-league team from tree

A lifelong fan of a non-league football club has resorted to cheering on his team from the branches of a nearby tree after being served with what he describes as an "unwarranted" lifetime stadium ban by the club.

Richard Lambert, 58, who has followed ninth tier Epsom & Ewell FC for almost 44 years, has been refused entry to the ground since January following a long-running series of disputes with the committee that runs the club.

He claims the suspension was ultimately issued after he upset the committee by changing the name of his personal X account to appear as though it was the official club account.

Mr Lambert has been highly critical of the club, which plays in the Combined Counties Premier Division South, from his own social media feed and website with some of that criticism personal in nature against named committee members.

Since April, BBC London has asked Epsom & Ewell on three separate occasions why Mr Lambert has been banned for life.

The club has declined to provide details, saying only: "We have had a number of issues with this supporter over the years. We do not want to discuss this any further. The matter has been dealt with."

BBC London has seen the letter the club sent to Mr Lambert notifying him of his ban. It gives the sole reason for the punishment as being his breaking of a previous agreement not to use his social media account in such a way.

The letter also refers to it as an "indefinite" ban.

After BBC London's most recent approach to the club this week, they again declined to give details but said: "The ban is now for life and that will never change."

Mr Lambert says the club has not informed him of this change to the status of the ban.

'All I want to do is see my team play'

Richard Lambert has been climbing a nearby tree to watch Epsom & Ewell FC since January

It was as a 15-year-old in 1981 that Mr Lambert watched his first Epsom & Ewell game.

He describes himself as "being bitten by the football bug" and has barely missed a match since.

Mr Lambert has acted as club historian for 20 years and writes match reports for nearly every game, something he is still doing from his new position in the trees.

"I only miss one or two games a season," he said. "All I want to do is see my team play, but I also want to see the culture at our club change towards valuing its supporters."

Lifetime stadium bans in football are rare and are usually only handed out for the most serious offences or where a supporter has broken the law, which is not the case here.

However, any football club is within its rights to ban anyone from their premises for any length of time and does not necessarily have to give a reason.

Surrey FA said they would not be commenting as it "is an internal club issue which we are not a part of".

'The club are missing a valuable supporter'

Mr Lambert has been watching the Salts play since 1981

The Football Supporters' Association – which works on behalf of fans – says it has been attempting to mediate but that the club has ignored its approaches.

"We quite often come in to act as the middleman to try and broker solutions between clubs and supporters where relationships have broken down," Garreth Cummins from the FSA told BBC London.

"Unfortunately, in this case, Epsom & Ewell have not engaged at all with that process, despite our repeated attempts and Richard's repeated attempts.

"We will always do what we can to help get the football supporter back in the ground, because, particularly at non-league level fans are the lifeblood of the game, and in a situation like this we don't see that either side is winning.

"Richard is left on the outside looking in, and the club are missing a valuable and long-serving supporter."

Epsom & Ewell is a members' club which is run by committee. Mel Tough has served as chairman and Barry Gartell as vice chairman since both being elected to their roles in August 2020.

Immediately after his ban, Mr Lambert watched matches from just outside the perimeter fence of the stadium. But in March, he says the club hired a security guard to prevent him standing there so he took to climbing a nearby tree instead.

He viewed the final games of last season from a height of around 30ft overlooking King George's Field in Surbiton, which Epsom were ground sharing with Corinthian Casuals.

This summer, Epsom returned to one of their former homes - Leg O'Mutton Field in Cobham, which they share with Cobham FC.

With the 2025-26 season already under way Mr Lambert has found a new tree to scale and is grateful he doesn't have to climb quite so high for a view of the whole pitch any more.

'I'll climb this tree for life'

"If the ban stays in place for life, then I'll be climbing this tree for the rest of my life," Mr Lambert added. "Or at least for as long as I'm physically able to.

"Every football fan understands that you never desert your team. Whatever it takes to see Epsom play, I'll continue to do it."

The Salts averaged home crowds of around 90 for league matches last season.

Founded in 1918 as Epsom Juniors, their greatest achievement was finishing as runners-up to Hoddesdon Town at Wembley in the first ever FA Vase final in 1975.

More recently they won last season's Southern Combination Challenge Cup.

They beat Abbey Rangers 1-0 in the final which took place in April at their then home ground of King George's Field.

As they lifted the trophy the Salts were cheered on by around 200 of their fans from pitch side, and one up a tree.