Grays Athletic

Grays Athletic spent the 2023–24 season playing home matches on their local rival's pitch. Ship Lane, the ground they had called home for generations, had gone, and Tilbury FC — the other side in the Thurrock derby, known locally as "El Chavico" — took them in as tenants. The club has since bought Ship Lane back, in 2024, and is working towards a return once redevelopment there is finished, targeted for the 2026–27 season. Until then, home fixtures are played at Chadfields, also known as the EMR Stadium, which holds 4,000.

The club traces back to 1890, when Grays Juniors merged with Grays United. Its blue-and-white colours come from the arms of the Grey family.

The best spell on the pitch came in the mid-2000s. Grays Athletic won the Conference South title in 2004–05 and followed it by taking the FA Trophy in successive seasons, 2005 and 2006, becoming only the fourth club to retain it. The same run produced their deepest FA Cup run, in 2005–06, when they beat York City 3–0 in the second round before Mansfield Town ended it.

That momentum did not hold. Relegation from the Conference National followed in 2009–10, and the club resigned from the Football Conference rather than stay in it. Supporters took ownership of the club in August 2016, and Grays Athletic have since settled into non-league football with Isthmian League North Division as their current level. A ground of their own, for now, remains something still to come back to rather than something they have.