Sportscene Final

Netherseal St Peters  1  Castle Donington Reserves  0

Midlands Regional Alliance – First Division

It was a weekly ritual, we’d go back to my Grandmother’s in Mickleover after Dad and myself had been to the football, have a bit of tea, and then we’d head back home with my Mum and my little Sister alongside us.

Timings wise it was always the same when we set off, just prior to Sportscene Final starting up on BBC Radio Derby, presented by Alex Trelinski. The programme followed the same format every week, it would start with a match report from Derby County’s game, which was the legendary ‘considered opinion’ of Graham Richards, while a manager and player interview would usually follow.

After that the attention would move onto the two Northern Premier League sides of the time, Burton Albion and Matlock Town, with Steve Orme and Mick Tomlinson respectively providing the reports. 

After that it would drop into the lower divisions of non-league football, Ilkeston Town’s report would arrive courtesy of Rod Malcolm, Gresley Rovers via Brian Spare, Borrowash Victoria’s via Ian Collins and so on and so forth, it was very comprehensive and mightily informative for local football followers.

Netherseal St Peters

After the reports came the results round ups, which Trelinksi himself would typically read out, starting with the Central Midlands League, then onto the East Midlands Regional League, the Central Alliance and then finally the Burton & District League whereby as the final couple of results were read, the unmistakable theme tune would fade in and the programme would cease, by which stage we’d usually be very close to arriving back home.

BBC Radio Derby Sport has changed significantly since those days. I had a spell as the reporter for Belper Town and enjoyed it very much, I got paid ten quid for every game I reported on, but it didn’t come without its trials and tribulations. Dodgy phone signals, wind, rain, a complete lack of anything to talk about and the worst of all, the dry mouth and the tied tongue would all impact at some stage, but it was a laugh all the same.

Bobbly Pitch

It all changed though to a point now whereby it’s all about Derby County, a bit about Burton Albion and then the non-league scores from Steps 1-4 might get read out. It’s a shame, a great service was once provided and you felt like you knew the clubs and people involved, but not any more, as time moves on priorities change, they’d rather hear some pillock from Sinfin bemoaning Frank Lampard’s second half substitution than they would a report from Causeway Lane or Christchurch Meadow.

But, the Burton & District League results were always the final throes of the show, and I remember the names like they were yesterday. They included the likes of Overseal St Matthews, Drakelow, St Modwens, Pirelli, Robirch, Newhall Crown, Bass, Rosliston Albion, Yoxall United and of course Netherseal St Peters.

The Sports Club & Car Park

As time went by and Radio Derby ceased to update on the league, I lost all track of it, other than when I heard a couple of years ago that a once thriving Saturday league had been forced to fold due to a lack of clubs.

That was a shame, but a sign of the times, sadly. However, as we got into pre-season I went into research mode and decided to get in touch with Dan Bishop from the Midlands Regional Alliance to see what he might have for me in terms of new teams for the coming season.

It turned out that an old Burton & District League name in the shape of Netherseal St Peters were coming back to Saturday football, and not only that, Dan was going to be the Secretary following a move from neighbouring Moira United.

That was it then, first home game of the season and I was going to have a gander at this, the opposition were Castle Donington Reserves and by all accounts the local pub (The Seal) opened well before the kick off so pintage could be imbibed.

The Stand-Cum-Dugout

Netherseal, which is also spelt Netherseale,  is a pretty little village sat just off the A444 South of Swadlincote. The football pitch is located at the Sports club which lies right on the Northern edge of the village and it’s equipped with a smart clubhouse facility. There is ample car parking both to the side of the building and on a raised grass bank which runs up to the pitch.

The pitch itself is just that, no rail or rope, but, it does have a very small shelter which is effectively used as a dugout. You could go and stand in it as a spectator, but I suspect you’d get some very strange looks from the management team and the substitutes.

The pitch, again like many, was very hard and bobbly, but during a first half that was spent chatting all things local football with Dan, both sides really struggled to create any chances of significant note.

Burton & District - All Day Long

It did improve somewhat in the second half and it was the hosts who gained the initiative, creating a couple of decent chances along the way. As the game moved into its closing stages a ball was played over the top which Dante Edwards manged to get to ahead of the visiting goalkeeper and lob the ball into the net from the edge of the penalty area. It was three points to Netherseal and on balance of play they probably just about edged it.

While talking to Dan during the first half we half joked about a possible revival for a Saturday league in Burton-on-Trent given the number of clubs in South Derbyshire spread across other competitions. A pipedream maybe, but not as much as a pipedream as Radio Derby ever doing a complete u-turn and giving local football at grassroots level some much needed exposure on Sportscene Final.

I hear Frank Lampard has been spotted out jogging in Chad, now that is what you call a REAL public service broadcast....