Forget Liverpool FC... Duckpond FC hold open top bus tour

Duckpond FC spent a whopping £4,000 on an open top bus parade and a plane to fly a banner through the skies saying Duckpond FC Champions of Essex on Saturday.

The Harwich side were crowned champions of the Colchester and District Sunday League after losing only one game all season.

The team, named after Cox’s Pond in the town, also lifted the Fowler Memorial Cup.

To mark their success in the style of Liverpool FC celebrating their Champions League win earlier this month, the team hired a double-decker bus which made its way around the streets of Harwich on Saturday.

Although 750,000 fans did not flock to the streets of Harwich as they did in Liverpool for the team’s homecoming from Madrid, the champions still held up their league trophy and waved their scarves with pride to onlookers below.

Duckpond FC are now calling themselves the Champions of Essex as they can go no higher in the Sunday League in the county.

Michael Hammond, 29, who founded the club, said the celebrations on Saturday started at 10.30am in a marquee decorated in flags, banners, scarves and pictures.

He said: “We had our presentation and moved into the open top bus and had a tipper driving behind with huge printed banners of the football team.

“While we were on the bus, we had a plane fly a banner over the town.

“We spent £4,000 doing all of this and spent hours of preparation work organising it and setting it up.

“But it was worth every penny and all the time spent on it.

“All the boys, and myself included, loved it and it was a great laugh as always.

“Our banter and fun is always over the top and it was a good giggle.”

It is the second time the club has celebrated a win on such a grand scale.

Back in 2014 the club also hired a double-decker and had a flyover banner after their success in the Colchester and District Sunday League Division One.

It cost the club about £1,400 for the bus and plane that year.